Whether it's the comfy bed or just the noise of the waves, we slept for ages again and were close to missing breakfast two days in a row. We had a Tesero Club sandwich - ham, cheese and a fried egg on a 'Johnny Cake'. A Johnny Cake turns out to be a bit like a bagel without the hole in it. Tasty enough and quite filling when washed down with a mug of coffee.

We walked back to the lodge with the pool we visited on Saturday. Maria wanted to use the pool and David wanted to watch the Germany-Portugal match. Unfortunately, the TV was broken because of last night's storm so David had to rely on updates from the barman who was receiving TXTs from his boss in town. Maria had no problems with the pool and was perfectly content.

The Dutch couple came by with two of the dogs from Tesoro Escondido, the dogs had just followed them and were quite happy to lie around our feet until we all decided to return to the hostel.

We had been discussing, during the day and over dinner, that we should push to be taken on the Turtle Nesting Tour today. The swell was not easing and wouldn't for another week so we were of the mindset, if we don't try to see them, then we definitely won't see them.

Good news came as we were finishing dinner that the tour would be going ahead but we had to remember that there wasn't much 'dry' beach left because of the swell.

We made our way up the dark road to the meeting point at 8:30pm for our briefing of the evening and some education on the turtles and their breeding lifecycle. It was possible that we might encounter a big Leatherback or the smaller Hawksbill turtle. We were told again that the sea was still huge, the only guarantee was we would get wet and if were really lucky we might see tracks or even a turtle at the end of it.

We moved down onto the beach to start our walk to the far end, 2.5km away. It should be pointed out at this stage that you are not allowed any white light on the beach because it disorientates the turtles and they are easily scared back into the sea. Only our guide was allowed a torch with a red LED light and the batteries weren't so great in it. We were therefore walking pretty much blind along a very narrow stretch of beach with a vicious shore break. It wasn't long before a big set of waves came through, the first wave wetting our feet, the second coming up to our knees and the biggest coming up to our waist. It was quickly decided to get back onto the road and make our way to wider part of the beach just in case someone was swept out to sea.

After a five minute walk on the road we were back on the beach, and this time the beach was wider with some sand that wouldn't get wet with the sweeping waves. The sand was very soft and the walking was hard going. After 30 minutes we were wondering if we might be walking the entire length of the beach without much hope of a turtle when the guide suddenly stopped us in our tracks and said that there might be a turtle on the beach. In the gloom, there was just a dark blob, but off he went with his red torch to check. David thought it was 'part of the show' to keep our spirits up for our long trudge along the beach but was quickly proved wrong. The guide came back to our group and very excitedly told us that it was in fact a Leatherback turtle.

Everyone was a bit taken aback at first until it dawned on us that we were actually going to get to see a turtle laying it's eggs on the beach. By the time we reached the turtle, it was at the top of the beach and ready to start digging. It digs a bed maybe 30cm deep before digging a hole about 70cm deep and 30cm across for the eggs. It was fascinating to watch this huge turtle, it's shell was 150cm long, digging the hole so precisely with it's back flippers. The flippers could reach down onto the hole and scrape a 'handful' of sand out in much the same way as a human hand would.

After about an hour, the turtle started to lay her eggs quite oblivious that we were within touching distance of her. About 100 eggs were laid in the hole before it was covered over in sand and 'disguised'. A lot of time and effort was spent by the turtle to cover up and hide the nest but in reality, the trail left on the beach is a bit of a giveaway - the track is nearly 2 metres wide.

Two and half hours after we stumbled across the turtle, we watched her finally make it back down the beach and into the surf. She was no doubt exhausted and we were still in a bit of disbelief about really having witnessed this most amazing event.

Walking back down the beach, Maria spotted a trail for a Hawksbill turtle. It had made it's way to the top of the beach but decided not to lay eggs for some reason or another and just turned round, back to the sea.