We climbed into the tiny speedboat and puttered off towards slightly-more-than-sandbar islands. Our ride lasted about 45 minutes, and we cruised along the beach, looking at each of the hotels built out on piers over the water. The driver quickly maneuvered us along the dock of our hotel of choice, and we climbed up, tossed our bags into a room, and settled into deep relaxation.
After catching our breath, Megan and I wandered around the island -- literally. The island is tiny and requires about 30 minutes to circumnavigate.
Because of our curiousity, the sun began to set as we curved around back towards our hotel. Each time we ventured out along a pier, we encountered numerous sea turtles drifting along, gracefully searching for evening snacks.
Back at the hotel, we sat down with the other guests to eat dinner, and Jeanette, a frisky and elderly French woman, introduced us to the local employee of the World Wildlife Foundation. Yusef's job is to monitor the nests of sea turtles, and to relocate the eggs to a secured area where the eggs can incubate without the risk of being dug up and cooked. Apparently turtle eggs are quite tastey.
The full moon guaranteed that eggs would be laid, and we set out with flashlights, following Yusef to the popular parts of the beach for egg-laying. Eventually, we heard the scraping and huffing of a digging turtle.
She panted and groaned as she whipped sand out of the way with her flippers, eventually filling back over the hole after depositing about 50 eggs. She seemed to collapse, her head and fins laying lifeless on the sand. With a raspy gasp, she lifted her head and began her painful, syncopated scramble back towards the sea.
We followed her, mesmerized by her size and movements, each of us willing her closer to the water. When the tide finally lapped up over her fins, we all breathed a sigh of relief, and watched her sway out into the waves.
After following Yusef to re-bury the eggs in a safe location, we wandered back to the hotel along the beach, lit up by the moonlight. Maybe it was the warm breeze, but it was hard to control the shivers traveling down my spine as I tried to record every second of my visit to the island in my mind.
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