Granada, Lake Nicaragua, and La Flor Sea Turtle Reserve
Despite a full day of enjoying the colorful colonial town of Granada, and a lovely repast on a secluded islet along the shoreline of Lake Nicaragua, excitement mounted towards sunset. Contact with local biologists confirmed that Olive Ridley sea turtles had started their annual nesting cycle on a remote beach south of San Juan Del Sur.
High tide, quarter moon, and other mysterious clues seem to be converging, which suggested we might be able to witness one of the “great arrivals”. Reenacting an ancient ritual, hundreds of Ridley sea turtles may suddenly emerge on the same night to nest. Such “arribadas” are known to occur on only five beaches worldwide and then only on rare nights in the late fall.
A tangerine sky welcomed us at the remote reserve. Before beginning our watch, we were allowed to participate in the release of hatchling turtles that emerged during the day or had not extricated themselves from their sandy nests. Dozens of Oreo-sized hatchlings, once getting their bearing, made a made scramble towards the luminescent surf line and an uncertain future. As dusk thickened, we walked with local rangers and were fortunate to discover an early arrival. Under starlight we watched as the adult female, which doesn’t reproduce until thirty years of age, patiently scooped out an urn-shape hole some two feet deep using unusual twists of her hind flippers. Then her chalky-white eggs began to drop rapidly, filling the hole with forty or more ping-pong sized leathery eggs.
A mass nesting seems to be a strategy to overwhelm potential predators that abound in the surrounding lowland rainforests. Although the female may return to lay eggs again in a few months, her only care of the nest is a slow packing of sand and smoothing the surface to hide any sign of her presence.
Fireflies blinked, waves crashed, and we silently wished the old female a safe return to her mysterious life in the ocean. Distant heat lightning showed her silhouette as she dove into the surf. Then reverently, we looked down at our feet to her hopeful clutch safely tucked into a warm tropical sandy bed.
Despite a full day of enjoying the colorful colonial town of Granada, and a lovely repast on a secluded islet along the shoreline of Lake Nicaragua, excitement mounted towards sunset. Contact with local biologists confirmed that Olive Ridley sea turtles had started their annual nesting cycle on a remote beach south of San Juan Del Sur.
High tide, quarter moon, and other mysterious clues seem to be converging, which suggested we might be able to witness one of the “great arrivals”. Reenacting an ancient ritual, hundreds of Ridley sea turtles may suddenly emerge on the same night to nest. Such “arribadas” are known to occur on only five beaches worldwide and then only on rare nights in the late fall.
A tangerine sky welcomed us at the remote reserve. Before beginning our watch, we were allowed to participate in the release of hatchling turtles that emerged during the day or had not extricated themselves from their sandy nests. Dozens of Oreo-sized hatchlings, once getting their bearing, made a made scramble towards the luminescent surf line and an uncertain future. As dusk thickened, we walked with local rangers and were fortunate to discover an early arrival. Under starlight we watched as the adult female, which doesn’t reproduce until thirty years of age, patiently scooped out an urn-shape hole some two feet deep using unusual twists of her hind flippers. Then her chalky-white eggs began to drop rapidly, filling the hole with forty or more ping-pong sized leathery eggs.
A mass nesting seems to be a strategy to overwhelm potential predators that abound in the surrounding lowland rainforests. Although the female may return to lay eggs again in a few months, her only care of the nest is a slow packing of sand and smoothing the surface to hide any sign of her presence.
Fireflies blinked, waves crashed, and we silently wished the old female a safe return to her mysterious life in the ocean. Distant heat lightning showed her silhouette as she dove into the surf. Then reverently, we looked down at our feet to her hopeful clutch safely tucked into a warm tropical sandy bed.
