Olive Ridley Tortugita’s Pilgrimage Home
Frizztext’s alphabet letter for the week is O! He asks us to check our tagwords for the letter O. In my archives, “O” stands for the gentle olive ridley sea turtle!
“Crawling Lessons” – watercolor – ©Lisa Brunetti
Welcome to the world of the olive ridleys that visit Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica each rainy season.
The young hatchlings face tremendous odds, and one out of one thousand lives to be an adult. Some say the figure is closer to two thousand.
Ah, how comforting it is to discover the turtles’ calling-card trail!
Most mornings find me on the beach before sunrise; there’s always a slight chance to witness an adult olive ridley finishing her egg-laying duties. The turtles leave an obvious trail, which I follow to see who reached it first: poachers or the biologists and volunteers for Pretoma.
Nest Raided By Poachers
One Egg Left Behind
This beauty provided photo ops of her egg-laying trance.
The above turtle came ashore right before sunset. The one below was a dawn surprise!
Olive Ridley Sunrise – photo copyright Lisa Brunetti
While covering her nest, this female was choked by a tangle of roots and vines. I was able to break her free.
Most of the time the turtles come ashore under the cloak of darkness. The biologists and volunteers patrol the beach during the night. They collect data and oversee the turtle until she returns to the ocean. They transfer the eggs to a nursery, where they are buried at the same depth as the original nest. In forty to sixty days, the eggs hatch and answer the call of Mother Ocean!
Ah! Tortugitas!
GPS imprint – in a dozen years she might return!
How fun it is to witness the baby turtles’ first hour of life! They emerge from the sand and instinctively veer toward the sound and aromas of the ocean.
When released from the nursery, the tortugitas stop and imprint numerous times before reaching the ocean.
How much further?
First they learn to crawl; then they learn to swim! They will travel vast distances for a dozen or more years, then magically respond to the mating call and return to their beach of origin.
Swim your heart out, little one, and carry with you the GPS positioning of your birthplace!
The beach sentinels welcome the turtles’ return.
A dozen years later internal stirrings nudge her back, and the cycle continues.
After laying her eggs, she retreats to her rightful home.
Perhaps she loiters nearby and welcomes the hatchlings.
Visit Frizztext’s Flickrcomments page for his Occupy Wall Street post, as well as other illustrations of the letter ‘O.’
They’re off! Tortugitas of Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica
How many do you think will return?
For an in depth peek into the battle to protect the olive ridleys, see THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT on my other site.
Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Wonderful pictures! The olive ridley turtle is found in the North eastern states of India too and has been in the news for its conservation and protection
how great! i don’t think the ones over here migrate that far, but if they did, i’d ask one to deliver you a token note!!!
it’s sad how they’re declining, and modern man is the biggest reason.
z
LOL!
Reblogged this on Zeebra Designs & Destinations and commented:
For those who subscribe to Playamart, perdon receiving this twice!
(And IF you subscribe to both blogs, THANK YOU SO MUCH!)
z
There is a big smile on my face right now! 🙂 Back to work…
hi Lisa, it is a wonder, isn’t it? But Salmon do this too (and me too, see my tomorrow’s post P / PAVILION – about searching for my own roots…)
thank you for: “…First they learn to crawl; then they learn to swim! They will travel vast distances for a dozen or more years, then magically respond to the mating call and return to their beach of origin….”
P.S.:
always when I read “Brunetti” I’m amused, because a famous police inspector in a German Venice TV series is called commissario “Brunetti”; the novels are written by Donna Leon…
hey
your post will surely be an interesting one. i look forward to reading it, though i will be on the road at sunrise and not back home til the end of the day. it’s nice knowing there’s a reward of a post that will be patiently awaiting my attention!
someone else has mentioned those novels; i read a LOT, and am surprised that i have not seen that series. hmmm, i will be in quito next week, and there are several nice used book stores.. i’ll have to remember to request some of the ‘brunetti’ series!\z=
z
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/story-challenge-letter-p/#comments
thank you for your comment about searching for roots:
“… i remember once i flew from washington DC to houston texas and slept most of the way. i awakened and looked out my window just in time to see the mississippi river.. i squinted and wondered what stretch i was seeing… then i spotted a bit more landscape west of the river.. and .. wow.. there’s the farm! there’s the black river! there’s the cotton gin and the grain elevator…”
yes, that was an amazing moment. it had been about twelve years since i had lived there (for ten years) and for some reason i awakened at the perfect moment. one minute later, and we would have been away from that territory. probably one minute before we had flown over/near where i grew up. maybe that’s where the nudge started!
z
Love the photo narration and really love your watercolors. So delicate. I read your red light district which is written with such depth, passion and understanding and did I say adventure through a lightening storm. Wow!
thank you so much for your tireless and genuine interest!
a friend sent photos yesterday from playa san miguel. two shrimp boats were trawling way too close to shore, which is illegal, but it’s rarely enforced.
as always, thanks for your support!
z
Need to replace the “like” button with a LOVE button 🙂 Great post, fantastic photos..love the paintings, then again, I love all your “stuff”..
Beautiful narration! Love your painting. I’m smiling, too.
Thank you! The olive ridleys are special creatures, though all of nature’s creatures are special to me!
Hold that smile! Thanks!
z
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thank you so much for the pingback!!!
lisa
Oh my word zee this is such a beautifully written, beautifully illustrated and altogether encouraging post that I’ve read it twice. How do those baby turtles know where to go? Us humans are helpless – HELPLESS – for the first few YEARS! And we’re the one’s claiming “ownership” over all gods creatures.
J’adore your paintings.
I have to ask you where you get the time and energy to write two blogs and almost every day? Do you sleep at night?
ha ha ha! actually you will be surprised that i suffer from extreme tiredness almost all of the time. most likely i have narcolepsy, and i am not one to take stimulants to stay awake. i have found that the best remedy is to stay busy! as long as i am active, i am not sleepy, but if i stop, wham! fatigue sets in! i can go to sleep in about half a minute, anywhere, any time, even if i have just slept for a ten hours! a ten-minute nap in the daytime does wonders for me, and i am up and ready to roll again… or i surrender and sleep … but if i get five or if i get ten, i still feel the same fatigue, so i get up and roll when i first awaken1!!
when i go drift off, the dreams are up and running like movies!
i eat well, get plenty of exercise, and i try to get 8 hours’ sleep each night, but when i am working on a painting or a post, i work until it’s finished or i reach a good stopping point!
thanks!
i am honored that you enjoyed the olive ridley post. it’s amazing to witness those little turtles from the moment they emerge from the sand.. they make me aware of the ocean’s mist/sound,smell – all which certainly plays a role in their urge to go to the water. at night the lights from civilization compete with the light on the waves/phosphorescence and they go to the strongest light source. modern mad oftentimes negates mother nature’s progress.
thanks again!
z
Wonderful post. And your watercolours are exquisite!
Grracias, Amiga! I packed my watercolors and brushes for this trip and hope to find some quality time while travelling. So far I have not, but think that on Thursday and Friday, I will.
z
Amazing post and pictures! Witnessing such a birth must really make you realize the beauty of nature! 🙂
they turtles make people slow down and ponder the mystery of life. z
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Thanks so much for the link to get here Lisa, this was a magical post. I wonder what it is about these wonderful creatures that captures all our hearts!