Week 4

Just returned from a 5 day trip in Apua! Apua is one of our backcountry beaches where we drive to the trailhead, and then have a 6.5 mile hike to our beach (we also carry all our food, gear, clothes, talk about a workout). We had a mama turtle come up our first night around 9:20pm, and she dug 12 false nests for the next 6 hours and finally returned to the ocean at 3:00am without laying her clutch. Digging false nests is common, but digging 12 is a bit unusual. Sometimes turtles just don't find the right spot and continue digging somewhere else. This turtle was in a pretty rocky area, so we think that might have something to do with it. Hopefully when/if she comes up next she goes to a sandy spot! This was a new turtle so I also got to apply tags to her back flippers. This same night we also camped with three backcountry rangers who stayed up with us the whole night (I'm not sure we could have stayed up with this turtle so late if they weren't there to talk to us and keep us awake!). They we're all super excited to see their first hawksbill, especially since seeing one is so rare! Not only are they endangered, but they also only come up on the beach to nest and then spend the rest of their life in the ocean. Males never return to the beach after they hatch.

I also got to celebrate my 20th birthday in the field! It started by staying up until 3am with that turtle and meeting our new friends from backcountry! The stars were amazing that night too, every time you looked up you'd see one or two shooting stars. Then we were able to get about 2 hours of sleep and we were up at 6am for our morning beach check. Then we had a little birthday breakfast, complete with balloons and a party hat. The guys made me a fancy birthday coffee and we got a group picture before they headed off on their hike!

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful trip, no other turtle activity, and we head back out in the field tomorrow.