Rick Starr
07-21-2007, 11:06 AM
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01282.jpg
Buck Island Reef National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/buis/) has, among many other unique features, one of the longest running sea turtle conservation projects in the world. Buck Island is a protected nesting beach for endangered Leatherbacks, Greens, Loggerheads and primarily Hawksbills. Every year volunteer researchers come here to do the fieldwork for this program. Every nesting female is monitored, measured, photographed and tagged, nests are measured and relocated if necessary, and so on.
One of the many ways I support this program is by being a boat operator (and all around boat guy). Although I am a volunteer, I’ve gotten the certification to operate motor vessels for the Department of the Interior, which in the Virgin Islands primarily includes the National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. On my recent trip to the States I obtained additional certification as an instructor for DOI Motor Vessel Operators.
Buck Island is an offshore island park so the turtle team needs to get out to the island to do their thing. Several nights a week it is my job to take them out and drop them off around sunset, returning to pick them up in the early morning.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC00022.jpg
This morning, like most, I got up at 0400, make a traveling cup of coffee and head out the door. The drive to the marina is short, and some mornings I have the pleasure of waking up the security guard at the gate, although the guy working this morning was on the ball.
I run through the usual checks, cast off and get underway. As I round the breakwater I contact the team via radio to advise them that I’m en route and to give them an ETA. Usually they are ready on the dock when I arrive, but this morning they have a late turtle who is just finishing her nest, so I make a leisurely 10 kts so as not to spill my coffee and to save us taxpayers some money in gas. The morning constellations are a sight to see. Cassiopeia and the Pleiades are high overhead.
I throttle back as I approach the no wake zone around the island. As I ready lines and fenders for the dock, the radio crackles announcing that Cindy has just gotten another late turtle! The rest of the team responds to help her do the workup, and, it being early in the season, I remind them to take their time and do their thing—I’m at their service and I don’t mind waiting as long as needed. The eastern sky is beginning to glow with the approach of dawn.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01288.jpg
The tropical wave just passed has left our seas calm, and docking is a cinch despite the very exposed dock at the island. Ordinarily I just kiss up to the windward side if I’m picking up or dropping off the team and their gear, but since I’m going to be here a while I make up to the lee of the dock and set springs. Although it’s still quite dark, the stars have vanished. A planet remains visible but the sun is on the rise.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01291.jpg
The turtle is just to the east up the beach from the dock. To my utter astonishment I actually have my camera with me in my boat bag, so I grab it and go off to join the team. She has begun laying her eggs; typically 150 or more soft eggs the size roughly the size of ping pong balls. When she is finished laying she begins covering the nest with a careful motion that has been choreographed over millennia. She then scatters sand everywhere to camouflage the nest and cover her tracks before scuttling off the beach.
Video of her covering her nest (youtube link) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UcYP-op2YM)
Once she is laying her eggs she is not disturbed by activity, so the team moves in. They take tissue samples for genetic analysis, make measurements and do their normal workup. This lady is untagged so she gets both inconel tags and a PIT tag. It’s always a treat to see new turtles come to the beach. They always return to the beach of their birth to nest, and the Buck Island project has been going on long enough that some of the hatchlings from the early years of the program are returning as nesting adult females. Since Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) take 20-25 years to reach sexual maturity, it is very rewarding to see the recent increase in the number of new recruits, indicating the effectiveness of the early conservation program.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01305.jpg
She leaves the beach. While on land she has respirated more than she would have if she had been in the water, so she is temporarily buoyant and remains near the surface while swimming off.
Video of her leaving the nesting beach (youtube link) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf4AwZ-cCVg)
The sun is well up by now, and the ride back to the marina is a pleasant one, the water and sky are clear and the sea is calm. On the way back we see a Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) basking on the surface.
It’s 0645 and time for another cup of coffee.
Buck Island Reef National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/buis/) has, among many other unique features, one of the longest running sea turtle conservation projects in the world. Buck Island is a protected nesting beach for endangered Leatherbacks, Greens, Loggerheads and primarily Hawksbills. Every year volunteer researchers come here to do the fieldwork for this program. Every nesting female is monitored, measured, photographed and tagged, nests are measured and relocated if necessary, and so on.
One of the many ways I support this program is by being a boat operator (and all around boat guy). Although I am a volunteer, I’ve gotten the certification to operate motor vessels for the Department of the Interior, which in the Virgin Islands primarily includes the National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. On my recent trip to the States I obtained additional certification as an instructor for DOI Motor Vessel Operators.
Buck Island is an offshore island park so the turtle team needs to get out to the island to do their thing. Several nights a week it is my job to take them out and drop them off around sunset, returning to pick them up in the early morning.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC00022.jpg
This morning, like most, I got up at 0400, make a traveling cup of coffee and head out the door. The drive to the marina is short, and some mornings I have the pleasure of waking up the security guard at the gate, although the guy working this morning was on the ball.
I run through the usual checks, cast off and get underway. As I round the breakwater I contact the team via radio to advise them that I’m en route and to give them an ETA. Usually they are ready on the dock when I arrive, but this morning they have a late turtle who is just finishing her nest, so I make a leisurely 10 kts so as not to spill my coffee and to save us taxpayers some money in gas. The morning constellations are a sight to see. Cassiopeia and the Pleiades are high overhead.
I throttle back as I approach the no wake zone around the island. As I ready lines and fenders for the dock, the radio crackles announcing that Cindy has just gotten another late turtle! The rest of the team responds to help her do the workup, and, it being early in the season, I remind them to take their time and do their thing—I’m at their service and I don’t mind waiting as long as needed. The eastern sky is beginning to glow with the approach of dawn.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01288.jpg
The tropical wave just passed has left our seas calm, and docking is a cinch despite the very exposed dock at the island. Ordinarily I just kiss up to the windward side if I’m picking up or dropping off the team and their gear, but since I’m going to be here a while I make up to the lee of the dock and set springs. Although it’s still quite dark, the stars have vanished. A planet remains visible but the sun is on the rise.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01291.jpg
The turtle is just to the east up the beach from the dock. To my utter astonishment I actually have my camera with me in my boat bag, so I grab it and go off to join the team. She has begun laying her eggs; typically 150 or more soft eggs the size roughly the size of ping pong balls. When she is finished laying she begins covering the nest with a careful motion that has been choreographed over millennia. She then scatters sand everywhere to camouflage the nest and cover her tracks before scuttling off the beach.
Video of her covering her nest (youtube link) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UcYP-op2YM)
Once she is laying her eggs she is not disturbed by activity, so the team moves in. They take tissue samples for genetic analysis, make measurements and do their normal workup. This lady is untagged so she gets both inconel tags and a PIT tag. It’s always a treat to see new turtles come to the beach. They always return to the beach of their birth to nest, and the Buck Island project has been going on long enough that some of the hatchlings from the early years of the program are returning as nesting adult females. Since Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) take 20-25 years to reach sexual maturity, it is very rewarding to see the recent increase in the number of new recruits, indicating the effectiveness of the early conservation program.
http://www.boats.rkstarr.com/turtlesn/DSC01305.jpg
She leaves the beach. While on land she has respirated more than she would have if she had been in the water, so she is temporarily buoyant and remains near the surface while swimming off.
Video of her leaving the nesting beach (youtube link) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf4AwZ-cCVg)
The sun is well up by now, and the ride back to the marina is a pleasant one, the water and sky are clear and the sea is calm. On the way back we see a Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) basking on the surface.
It’s 0645 and time for another cup of coffee.