Up at 5 ish and out at 6 am onto the veranda to see what life was about. A UK biology teacher was already there watching a ferruginous pgmy owl - it looked like a small rufous addition to the branch! The other new birds we saw were the Trinidad mot mot and a northern waterthrush. At 0830, after breakfast, we went down the discovery trail with Molly our guide for our orientation walk, we were joined by another British family. We saw golden headed manakin in their lek area - but no females- so there were no displays; similarly we saw the white bearded manakins in their lek but not displaying- their display area has to be kept spotless otherwise the female is not interested! We also saw a tiger lizard crossing the path - stripes like a tiger. Next we were in the bell bird territories - and with some persistence we saw the male - even though his call is the loudest in the bird kingdoms we could hear him but it took a while to spot his white front and black and white beard. On the way back we saw a female collared trogon.....with a beautiful red chest and chestnut brown body .....the male is apparently blue in colour. Back at the lodge we sat on the veranda enjoying the views and sorting out the blurred from the ok photos!
At 1630 we headed off to Matura a town on the coast which has taken it upon itself to protect the leatherback turtle - the biggest species. En route to the beach we picked up, Francis our local guide. On arrival at 6ish because it was still light we tucked into supper - we had asked for hot - so had spaghetti and vegetables plus salad- with additional chicken for John - washed down with juice. We were offered rum but declined - wishing to see the right amount of turtles and not double the numbers!
At 6.30 we walked down to the beach, surveyed it - nothing so far - so we walked along it to see if a turtle had come ashore further up (they have 8km of protected beach) - still nothing but the tide was dropping and it was a full moon, all good signs according to Francis. As we walked he regaled us with facts about the leatherback -they eat jelly fish - a 1000 pound turtle eats twice it's body weight of jelly fish each day; they are solitary and would have mated off shore - the female mates with several males and stores the sperm in a sperm duct to fertilise the eggs. She comes ashore approx 5 times during the season and lays 80-100 eggs each time using the stored sperm to fertilise them - she nests higher up the beach for warm temps and female offspring, lower down, nearer the water, for cooler temps and male offspring. They tag the turtles so know they come down from Nova Scotia and have travelled within a few days of leaving Trinidad to Madagascar. They can dive deep and swim fast to escape their predators and catch their prey and because they can regulate their temperature they go further north than other turtles.
At 1945 after wondering if any would come ashore - we saw Francis flash his red light,he had gone to check in the opposite direction for signs of turtles. We could see a black blob emerge from the ocean - it looked small but as it got closer and through my binoculars I could see a large ridged turtle making its way slowly up the beach - stopping to rest now and again as it hauled its great bulk forward up the sloping shore. When she reached the soft dry sand, after 20 minutes, she started to make her anchor platform where she anchored the front part of her body while carefully digging the egg chamber with her back flippers; by feel alone she made sure it was the right depth and temperature. She then started laying; while she laid the eggs she was in a trance like state and the red lights they had been using could now be turned to white and photos could be taken with flash (which I didn't have- but got some good pictures by torchlight anyway!) The guides took this opportunity to measure and tag her; she measured 157cm long and 141cm wide and was probably 900 pounds. A tag was applied to a rear flipper and she was scanned for a microchip - one was found - it was a Trinidad chip. A previous night one of the first females chipped in 1995 came ashore she was 178cm long - my height 5'10"!
Francis pulled back her flipper and you could see the eggs dropping into the carefully excavated hole - fertile eggs and infertile eggs of varying sizes which are laid to allow gas exchange and give space when the babies emerge. While in the trance I was able to touch her - she felt smooth and the surface was more thick 'skin like' than shell. She then covered the eggs packing down the sand really hard - she would next camouflage the area and make some false nesting sites. It was now just after 9 and time to leave - about 4 other turtles had come ashore and 50-60 other tourists had arrived with guides - mainly Trinidadians which is all good for the future of these wonderful creatures. We felt privileged that we had had the beach and this turtle to ourselves for so long - a great experience. We returned to a full car park and bought a momento from the locals who run the protection programme - last year they funded a visit to Nova Scotia to learn more about the turtles - what a great conservation initiative. We got back to the centre at 1015 tired but very content.