The world according to me....

As much as I like to receive nicknames, so I like to give them to others. One of my favorites is Tombeur, which I gave to Philippe Rivalan after he fell into a half-finished nest cavity being prepared by a leatherback in French Guiana. The double-entendre of the definition turned out to be appropriate. However, at first he didn’t like this nickname, and I tried to explain to him that falling into nests is one of the rites of passage that everyone working on sea turtles must suffer. My personal experience in this occurred in Bahia, Brazil, when I spent one night on the beach with Manjula when she was collecting data on egg and nest size. She apparently had just received the equipment (dozens of canisters of Great Stuff) that had been held up in customs for several weeks, so when we finally came upon a nesting loggerhead, it represented the first real opportunity for her to collect data. Everything went along as planned, until the moment when we had to move the turtle off of the nest cavity. The loggerhead was heavier than I thought and I staggered a step or two, just enough to put my foot into the nest cavity that Manjula so desperately needed intact for her measurements. Now, I don’t understand Bengali, but Manjula assured me that her outburst in response to my actions was in no way bad. I am just glad she didn’t turn it into a nickname!