LONG OR SHORT TAIL

Todos Santos, Baja California Del Sur, Mexico - Thursday, January 18, 2018; Day #4. After 3 days of herding turtles (couldn’t help myself, couldn’t resist the metaphor) we get a day off. Yesterday was strange. Tuesday night we heard the surf pounding but didn’t know how big it was. No way for us to know how far the big waves traveled or how long it took for them to get here but the sky was clear and winds were soft. All there was, was the boom, boom, boom of gigantic waves. No action in the greenhouse but the big surf blew out several natural turtle nests down the beach that had not been discovered. Their eggs were scattered across the sand. They were reported and in the end, we received about 30 eggs at who knows what stage of development, but were deemed to have at least a remote chance of survival. The gut feeling is; they are doomed to spoil but it gave Sharon a chance to transplant a nest into the greenhouse which is good experience for her.

They found two babies on the sand, headed for the water but one had already died and the distance was too much for the other one. The coincidence that they were emerging as the storm hit is one in a million. Someone named it Henry and we nurtured it all day, getting rest and rehydration it was the only turtle taking the plunge last evening. Pay attention and you learn: a general indicator of gender with Olive Ridleys is tail length. Males are longer, females shorter and Henry had a short tail. So we changed the name for our own sense of accuracy. The night before we bid bon voyage to Pancho & Pepi without knowing the difference and they didn’t complain. There are 3 nests in the greenhouse that are due to hatch/emerge any day; maybe today already. We have the potential to release over a hundred little turtles tonight.

Here at the hacienda it’s a slow morning. The tortilla, apple, cheese & avocado rollup is still a great breakfast and I bought coffee last night at the mercado so we had that too. I’m looking off our balcony, through palms and over a low hill to the Pacific, about half a mile away. It’s not particularly beautiful. I’ve seen plenty of scenery that could only be described as Stunning or Spectacular and today’s view off the balcony is neither but it’s what we’ve got and I like it just the same. Two kittens live here, maybe 6 months; the cute stage. They have adopted us by now, curling up with us if they can slip in a window or through a door left ajar. One is between my butt and the chair back right now. Normally I shun cats but not today. Not that I don’t like them, I do; but at a distance. It’s Mexico and around here, whatever it is that seems askew is forgiven by that fact. I’ll be careful when I get up, not to disturb the cat. I don’t think the length of its tail has any bearing on anything I need to know.