This week started off very eventfully. The first live turtle stranding of the season was on Sunday 12th July, I just so happened to be around camp when Sammy asked me if I would like to go along with her and Anna to the rescue effort. We drove down to near the end of Mavrovouni East, where we had been informed the stranded turtle was. When we approached the water we could see the turtle and Sammy started to look at the turtle to see for any obvious injuries. The turtle was a juvenile female, about 1 years of age with an injury to its head. Every time the turtle tried to dive down into the water it's back end would bob back up like a buoy and prevent it from going down very far. Being able to be there at the stranding/rescue was very interesting, to be able to see what had to be done and to even see a live sea turtle (it was my first!). Turtles usually come up to breathe every 30-minutes, but this turtle was coming up every 30-seconds or less than that. Sammy said "the more stressed, the more breaths" when it comes to turtles.
Once the information was recorded on stranding sheets filled in by my leaders the turtle had to be safely transported from the water, into a stranding box to be transported back to camp. Once the turtle was at camp we had to organise for it to be sent by bus to the Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Athens. As the ones who rescued the turtle we were able to suggest a name for it before the Center names it themselves, we all voted on Kyma. Kyma means Wave in Greek.
My Monitoring Leader Sammy with Kyma
On Wednesday I had night patrol on Valtaki. But this night patrol wasn't like the usual ones we were doing on Mavrovouni, where we would walk until 2am and then go to camp to go to sleep. On Valtaki foxes started to become a huge problem, they would predate the nests before we got to protect them in the morning. So we began night patrols on the beach, but as we had to drive there we would also sleep over on the beach to ensure no foxes predated any nests. When me Alexus, Sammy and Anna started our night patrol immediately we found a nest, it hadn't been predated but it did mean we missed the turtle coming out of the water already. We carried on walking until 3/4am, and then proceeded to make our way back to the nest. At the nest we put pepper on it as a deterrent, and then we set up our sleeping bags and slept next to the nest. In the morning we did our morning survey on Valtaki as we were already there. It was during this night that Alexus brought up to Sammy and Anna I was thinking of extending my stay, the one of many times I did! Then after me, Alexus and Sammy had continued to do the morning survey on Selinitsa I got to camp and me and Alexus went to the wifi-wagon to see my bank account if I could extend, and it turned out I could afford it - so I got back to camp and Alexus couldn't help but share the news! I am so SO glad I extended. I was not ready to leave on the 25th July, and I as waiting to feel content with leaving camp until I stopped extending..that or I ran out of money.
If a nest was laid too close to the sea, 10m or less, or in an unfavourable place for the nest then we would do something called a relocation. This is when we would dig a new egg chamber in a safer, more suitable location (typically close to the original location where possible) to give the nest a chance of survival. On the 17th July we did just that! So just like normal after finding the top egg, the eggs were carefully removed from the chamber and placed in a relocation bucket. Each one being counted and recorded in a tally so we knew the amount of eggs counted out of the egg chamber went into the relocated one and none went missing. A new egg chamber would be dug the same or similar depth and size to the original one. That day 73 eggs were safely and successfully relocated!
And then after as a treat, which we sometimes did after morning surveys, is stop off for pita and cheese in Gythio!
From left to right: Me, Donna, Lizzie and Anna. Some of the greatest people I met!
Summary:
12/07- Turtle Stranding Kyma 11:00 ME / K 17:00-20:0013/07- K 10:00-13:00
14/07- Day off
15/07- NP V
16/07- MS V+S / ES B
17/07- MS S / Relocation V
18/07- MS ME / K 17:00-20:00
Key:
MS- Morning Survey
ES- Evening Survey
LS- Light Survey
NP- Night Patrol
K- Kiosk
BC- Basecamp
IT- Information Table
SS- Slideshow
EX - Excavation
SH- Shading
Beach Codes:
M- Mavrovouni (Whole beach)
ME- Mavrovouni East
MW- Mavrovouni West
V- Valtaki
S- Selinitsa
B- Vathi
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