The little village of Blanchisseuse offered us sand, sea and surf, with the Marianne River just a 5 minute walk away from the little apartment we rented for the weekend.
It also gave us such a treat - sighting of 4 endangered leatherback turtles.
I've seen nesting turtles before, but it was a first for the hubby and kids. And after the encounter my husband, lover of "wild meat" hunted from the bush, officially blacklisted turtle from his menu.
Leatherback turtles spend their lives roaming the open sea, and only the females come back to shore to nest. The giant turtles (a guide estimated that 1 weighed over 1500 lbs) pull themselves up to a high point hopefully above the line of high-tide, and begin the arduous process of digging a hole deep enough for the eggs to be safe from predators. It's hard work, even without lugging all that weight around, and it's heartwrenching to see the turtles appear to gasp in exhaustion.
When she's done, she begins the journey back to sea, taking many stops to catch her breath. Amazingly, once she gets into water mere inches deep, with the next wave she completely disappears in the blink of an eye. Seriously, blink and you'll miss it.
Unfortunately, Blanchisseuse dogs are good at digging, so some nests are lost despite Mama Turtle's best efforts. Also, there seem to be so many turtles coming in to nest on the same narrow strip of beach, that some nests are uncovered by other turtles looking for a good nesting site.
The odds are against these maternal giants, but they don't give up. Well-meaning tourists taking flash-aided photos scare off incoming turtles (they only nest at night). The poor things return to deeper water to try their luck again later on.
Even harder to see is what the bright lights do to turtles who've lugged themselves up onto land and making their way to a nesting site, or already digging a hole. They become distraught by the white lights of the flash and abandon laying to make the tiring journey back out to sea, to rejuvenate themselves and try another time.
Professional nature photographers and nature guides use lights on the red spectrum since this doesn't bother the turtles.
We tagged along with a team from National Geographic who spotted nesting turtles we missed in the darkness of the beach. Along with some local tour guides, they taught us that nesting patterns are changing for the leatherback.
Previously, nesting turtles returned only to the beaches where they themselves hatched, some amazing internal compass guiding them back to the very same stretch of sand where they began their journeys.
Now, turtles are beginning to be seen here that come from as far away as Australia! What a journey that must have been!
It seems that the home beaches are becoming too polluted or too unsuitable for nesting and the turtles are seeking refuge elsewhere.
I remember in my childhood that we'd go turtlewatching and the guides would stress that there was no guarantee that we'd even see one turtles. Now... the beaches are covered with them.
As happy as I am to see them, and experience this, it worries me.
What are we doing to our Earth?
And with respect to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - what effect will this have on the next turtle nesting period? Have we finally gone too far to recover from?
The planet we share doesn't belong to us as individuals or even as "countries". Political borders for human governance mean nothing to our environment. I keep hearing about this oil spill being the worst "in US history" and it sickens me.
This isn't about the US. It's much larger than that.
An international effort is required to try to salvage this situation, BP's pride and pockets be damned.
Before the Earth we planned to share with our children is changed irrevocably right before our eyes.
We did not inherit the land from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our children. -Amish Proverb'
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