Nest 4: the Beginning of the End

Sorry for the long silence. I haven't gotten a lot of sleep recently, as you will soon see.

On October 2nd, I walked down to Ho'okipa Beach. Magda was there. With her permission and instruction, I started to walk among the turtles and see if Nalu or Anuenue were there. Before I got very far, I got a call from Luke. He asked if I had checked my email. Funny how I've been checking my email compulsively but the one day that something important actually happens, I don't check it. Apparently around 30 hatchlings came out of nest 4 last night. Camping  for the nest watch was supposed to start tonight,  so I was very surprised at this news! Fortunately for the turtles, there just happened to be a few volunteers at the nest because Hannah (the woman who is the head of the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, I don't remember if I've talked about her before) had a hunch and went down to the beach.

More turtles were hatching when Luke called me. I freaked out and got to the beach as quickly as I could. This process took me about an hour, and I was afraid that most of the action would be over by the time I got there.

I didn't need to worry. As it turns out,  when I got there  there were only three hatchlings making their way to the ocean. A whole crowd of people was standing around, very excited. I am always nervous for the safety of the hatchlings when people are around , but really it's a good thing that people are able to witness this. It always inspires a sense of awe. And awe leads to appreciation, which (sometimes) leads to respect.

I waited with the volunteers at the nest all the rest of the day. A few more hatchlings emerged periodically. Two more hatchlings came in the night. Each time, Luke woke me up and I got super excited and hoped it would be the mass emergence, because I really wanted to see all the turtles crawling out of the nest at once, but that didn't happen.

(the "mass emergence" is when the majority of the hatchlings come out all at once, tumbling over each other. It literally looks like the Earth is giving birth.)

We began to think that perhaps the 30 had been the mass emergence. If so, this would be a very small success rate. Usually there are between 150 and 250 eggs per nest. Of course there are always some eggs that do not hatch, some hatchlings that don't make it out of the nest, etc. The success rate is never 100%. Occasionally, however, the final nest of a female will be smaller than the others. Additionally, Mom chose to lay this nest at the foot of a tree. I'm not sure how she was able to dig a hole because the ground is very compact and there's also roots to deal with.

(Now October 3)

I went home to get some sleep. When i returned to the nest, here was a little head poking out of the depression but the current volunteers said it hadn't moved since 5 a.m. So we sat and watched.

A shark was sighted in the water. The lifeguards got on their loudspeaker and told everyone to get out of the water, but some people kept getting back in. The loudspeaker kept having to remind them of the fact that there was a shark, and they should get out. Some people are really stupid and I would not have felt too bad if they had been eaten. At that point, you're just asking for it.

Around 5 p.m., more movement happened in the nest, and at 7:16, an eruption happened! 12 hatchlings scrambled over each other, all trying to get to the ocean as fast as they could. It was dark but thankfully there was a full moon or I wouldn't have been able to see anything. Only a few volunteers were there, because the night watch doesn't usually arrive until 7:30 or 7:45. Fortunately we had enough people to guard all the hatchlings because several tourists had stopped to watch for the past 30 minutes or so. It was really lucky.

I ran down to the water and stomped down all the crab holes. There was a crab lurking on the surface and I covered him up with sand. They live under the sand anyway.

Everyone worked together. We counted off our hatchlings until they were all accounted for. It's always kind of surreal to be part of something like this, teamwork between people who have barely met each other.

I was thrilled that I got to see an eruption! That was what I've been waiting to see for this entire trip.

There were no more hatchlings during the night.

 first picture:  hawksbill hatchlings are about 4 centimeters long.

 second picture: the little turtle is about to enter the ocean. 

 third picture: they go off into the sunset.

 fourth picture: guarding the hatchling as he approaches the ocean.