Turtely Awesome Day

Rising at 6:15am with the expectation of a heated game of soccer, the sound of wind and pouring rain quickly changed our minds. Instead, we settled for a relaxing morning of yoga after which many participated in a quick power nap to pass the time until breakfast.

no yoga mats? no problem.

After eating a light breakfast of cereal, we formed two groups where we gathered the necessary supplies for our camping trip Monday/Tuesday.  This included gathering and practicing setting up tents, which proved to be a difficult task.  We not only learned how to correctly set up tents after many failed attempts but also learned that mixing inexperienced campers with strong winds to blow away the tents was a recipe for disaster. We then gathered the rest of the items needed for the trip…preparation is key!

setting up tents in the wind is rather challenging 

For the hungry group, lunch was welcomed with incredible enthusiasm. We settled down to a meal of breakfast burritos (for lunchJ) and pizza. While everyone headed back to change and get ready for our excursion up the island to catch turtles, dish crew finished cleaning the dining hall and rushed to catch up. We piled into the vans and proceeded on a 45 minute car ride up to Tarpin Bay. While some people failed to stay awake, the rest of us rocked out to the soundtrack of Shrek 1 and 2, which included extensive singing and dancing.  This jam session continued until we reached our point of destination.

When we arrived to the beach, we were greeted by an excited Chelsea, Will, Sam, and the rest of their turtle crew.  They taught the group all the tricks to safely and effectively catching sea turtles.  After learning of the process, we proceeded to line up single file, with a large net in hand, to catch the turtles.  The first round was a success, as we caught two Green Sea Turtles.  A large portion of the group continued to repeat the netting process while a few others went to land to document, tag, and perform an esophageal lavage, in order to examine the feeding habits of the captured turtles during high tide. Then of course, many students were eager to snap photos with the adorable sea creatures before releasing them back into the water.  This process repeated with each of the 6 sea turtles caught until it was time to head back to campus. 

spooking our turtle friends so we can catch them, study them, and release them safely back!

CEI researcher William picks up the first turtle of the day!

trying our best to fit the whole crew into one photo!

The car ride back featured a beautiful coastal sunset enjoyed by all. W returned in the dark with only ten minutes to spare before dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the common space for a quick briefing on the upcoming camping trip given by Galen and Casey. Afterwards, many of us packed for tomorrow’s camping adventure and had the opportunity to call home.

Off to go prepare for the inTENTS camping trip tomorrow,

Mills and Julia

P.S. Since we will be camping tomorrow night there will be no blog posted until Tuesday