El Salvador - Turtle Power

November 17

Hello everyone!

I’ve mentioned before that one thing I miss about living in Africa is going on safari: the chance to see nature in the wild. El Salvador is very different in that regard, though it does have some special fauna of its own. Particularly…turtles!

A baby Olive Ridley turtle

A bale of baby turtles

I have seen turtles before, being lucky enough to witness one coming onto shore to lay and hide its many, many eggs one night in Costa Rica. If that event was nearer the start of the reproductive cycle, what I’m writing about today is closer to its end…

Divots such as these indicate a turtle nesting area -
this was in Tortuguero, in Costa Rica

Other species lay larger eggs than the Olive Ridley -
here are some in the company's information centre

With many other people connected to school, I headed down to Playa San Blas on a surprisingly dreary Sunday morning. The mission: to release baby turtles into the Pacific Ocean.

San Blas is next to El Tunco, which is El Salvador's 'Surf City' area

That dreary Sunday morning later turned to non-stop rain for over 24 hours,
resulting in having to teach online on the Tuesday

I mean baby. They hatched the night before. They had been alive for less than 24 hours. Of course, in the wild they would head to the water as soon as they had broken out of their egg shell. Unfortunately, human intervention is needed to protect the eggs to even allow the little reptiles the chance to scamper to the sea.

The eggs are maintained and checked here - there
could be dozens of eggs in just one little square! 

The turtles' first-class carriage to the beach

Before helping the little creatures scamper to the ocean, we had a talk from the team who organise the release. This is one of many which exist on the shores of El Salvador. With the chances of a hatchling surviving to adulthood being judged to be 1 out of 1,000, it’s probably a good thing that there are a multitude of them.

Art on the wall on the way to the information centre

Our information talk went through this board

The talk was in Spanish, but one of our friends speaks Spanish and was able to translate for us. They told us that four of the seven species of turtle visit Salvadorean shores. The most common one, which we were dealing with, is the Olive Ridley turtle. 

Class as 'vulnerable', the Olive Ridley is nonetheless
by far the most seen turtle in the area

When laying eggs, many turtles will try to return to the beach where they were born. The problem with this are the large construction projects being undertaken in many countries, not just El Salvador, which now encroach on these beaches. This, in addition to darker elements such as illegally selling the eggs, are reasons that companies need to intervene to protect the turtles.

Life cycle of a turtle

More restaurants, bars and accommodation are
being built on or close to the beaches

After the talk, we came to the beach to get our turtle. You can’t simply plop them in the ocean; they need to be able to get there themselves. We stood on a line, pinched the sides of the shell of our tiny creature, and slowly lowered it onto the black sand. 

Preparing to release the turtles

I called mine Shelly

My turtle made good progress, its little limbs flapping and flailing as it headed slightly diagonally towards the foam. It soon got swept up in the sea…and brought back almost to the start. Undeterred, it did make it to the water without being munched by a bird or crushed by a child. 

Shelly starting strong...

...getting ever closer to the Pacific...

The morning was a nice way to feel like we are contributing in a positive way. Hopefully at least some of these turtles survive in the big ocean and they return to keep the cycle going in the future.

Which one will survive?

Turtle Power!

Love you all,

Matt