On our first day we rode bikes to the white cast compound. It was about in 2 1/2 mile bike ride that was scary. Because people drove so crazy. The weather wasn’t too bad because it was cloudy. Which made good bike riding weather that morning.

We had orientation when we arrived. During orientation they discussed then we would type of sea turtles we were going to be catching. We mainly talked about the Greenbacks and Hawks bills sea turtles. We discussed threats such as poaching, pollution, loss of habitat, disease, and climate change.

Next we went over how to restrain the turtles for examination. To restrain we hold around the shoulder of each front flipper, close to the carapace. While others support underneath the carapace. For the exam we measure the length and width of the carapace and plastron. This is the top and the bottom of the shell. Then check for tags and if necessary assist with taking tissue samples. If they are not tagged we help clean the flipper to prepare for tagging. We also measure the tale and the cloaca. The cloaca is the multipurpose whole used for waste and reproduction. Everyone has a job to do whether it’s measuring, restraining, charting info or taking pictures. It was hard work but worth it.

To catch the turtles (Tortugas) we went out onto the boats. There were two different sites that we went to. First the nets would be cast into the water. Then we would jump in the water to help straighten them out. After that we would wait on the beach until the boats brought one in. On our first day we caught three greenback turtles. There were two females and one male. The staff said that a male was rare to catch. Plus he had no tags; the females are already tagged.

In between turtles we hung out on the beach and took and all of the beautiful scenery. There was ocean, then mountains and above that beautiful clouds. It’s paradise.