Over I stroll and OMG OMG OMG OMG it is a nest of sea turtles hatching out!! Right in the middle of a busy man made, man groomed beach every night out is popping baby sea turtle after baby sea turtle!!
No idea how long they'd been appearing but one after the other like clockwork the heads were popping up through the sand and out they came flapping their way to the ocean.
And naturally I only had my small old hand held Nikon point and shoot! UGH! however it was totally a once in a life time phenomenal sight to see these little guys parading down the beach towards the water although almost each and every one of them veered to the left of the nest towards the sun keeping the ocean on the right. They all were doing a 45 degree to the water (not heading in a straight line to it).
Saw the birds get a few but there was soon enough tourists to watch the parade of turtles make it down to the water and not get picked off on the beach. Waves have been really high and "manta ray" warnings posted with RED flags waving indicating 'stay out' but a few men did wade into the water and flapped their t-shirts at the birds 'til the turtles basically disappeared from view.
So, am a bit burned but it was worth it watching the turtles emerge and make their way to the water.
Last year there was a big sign with a fenced off area where there was a turtle nest and the Resort forbid anybody to even go near it. They must have missed this one and all the sand between the nest and the beach had been groomed flat at some point during the night but then totally walked on by umpteen tourists leaving crater sized landscape for these tiny turtle to navigate. Quite a few were falling into deep foot imprints but they were definitely mightly flapping the legs to get out and continue the quest.
Super interesting morning today! A 'once in a lifetime experience'
