Manjula goes blogging...

We were out looking for turtles with the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group on Melbourne Beach. Finally, someone spotted a familiar dome-shape in the surf ahead. We dropped to the sand and waited for her to emerge…many, many minutes passed…there was no progress up the beach. A hot debate ensued whether it was a log or a turtle and finally someone went to check. It certainly was a female loggerhead, but she was on her carapace with flippers flailing in the air! We couldn’t figure out how that may have happened. The ocean wasn’t particularly rough…

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my favorite parts about walking the beach at night for turtles is when you reach the end of a stretch and have to wait for a while before you walk back the length of the beach. It is then that you can lie on your back in the sand, listen to the waves, take in all the scents of the night on the sea breeze and watch the stars and let your thoughts wander till you perhaps doze off for a little while….herein lie some of the short, sweet pleasures of night beach patrols…

(Painting of Tortuguero Beach by Deirdre Hyde)

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 11:43 PM | Permalink

I was digging up a clutch on Melbourne Beach, Florida. An old man on his early morning beach walk stopped to watch and we got chatting about sea turtles. Eventually he inquired how hatchlings know when to emerge from the nest. When I got through giving him a thorough biological explanation, he shook his head and said, “God tells them” and walked on…

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 11:48 PM | Permalink