Tompkins Family to the Rescue

Maruata, Michoacan

 March 11-15

If we all look a little stunned in these pictures it's because it was late at night and the boys had been woken to the excitement of hearing that Remy and I had found  baby turtles on the beach that needed our help!

It all started on our first night on the beach in Maruata. We lucked out that the moon was full and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We watched in anticipation as the sun set and the moon rose while we ate our delicious dinner on the abandoned runway.

It was quite eerie walking along the surf line at night while the waves violently hit the  shore scaring us half to death with each crash. Hollis was the first to notice a dark shadow ahead which turned out to be a turtle just returning to the sea. None of us had ever witnessed this phenomenon so even just catching a glimpse of these great huge creatures felt like a gift. We continued walking and just when the boys were getting a little too freaked to continue on we spotted another turtle coming out of the water!  She slowly made her way up to the soft sand where she began to dig a pit in which to lay her eggs. All I can say to describe it was that it was like watching a live birth. It was such a unique and special  experience, one that felt so private but there we were, watching in stunned silence on a warm beach in Mexico!

It was a slow and tiring process for her to get the pit to the right depth. She swept out the sand for about 3 strokes then rested, 3 strokes then a rest and so on....

We watched for about 45 minutes,  unsure how long she would be at this. The boys were getting  very tired so we opted to leave nature alone and get our own babies to their beds.

On our way back to the van Liz spotted something dark making its way across the sand. Was it a baby turtle? With flashlights ablazing we discovered it was a very, very large tarantula! Hollis was completely freaked but Liz knew from her pet shop employment days that  they were fairly harmless. We took a couple of neat photos and added it to the list of weird creatures we have come across on our travels so far.  Off to bed boys.

The following day we spent a great deal of time talking about what last nights experience meant to each of us . We were certain that this was a singular event that may never happen again on this trip. Now if only we could see baby turtles! That would be so cool.

That night we were tired after watching a movie and were about to get horizontal when I suggested that we take a quick walk in the moonlight just to make sure we weren't missing 
anything. We only had three nights here after all and we came in the hopes to see turtles.

So off we went leaving the boys asleep. We wandered the perimeter of the turtles "sanctuary" first when all of a sudden Liz noticed dark movement in the sand. When we illuminated our flashlights we could hardly believe our eyes! There must have been 50 of these wonderful creatures all struggling to get to the sea but the very fence that was put there to protect them was now preventing them from getting to the water. Not only that, on each of the fence posts was a preying bird just waiting to devour one of the helpless turtles.

I scared off the birds  and kept watch while Remy ran back to the van to get the camera, turtle saving bins and our boys. I managed to herd them all together by shining my flashlight in front of me and having them follow the light.

Hollis and Bowen  arrived kind of blurry from being woken but they were very eager to take direction from us and carefully load up the turtles. We had to enter the sanctuary fence and also had to be careful not to step on any or leave any behind in the dark. Hollis was sweet talking them and letting them know he was there to help them. Bowen scooped them up carefully and kept them from falling out once they were in the bin.

After we gathered them all we dashed off to the surf to set them free. It all happened so fast we didn't really get a good chance to look at them or take any great photos. For some reason Remy and I both felt we needed to get them to the water as quickly as possible. The babies crawled down the beach a ways until a big wave snatched them to safety and they were gone............

It was a deeply moving experience for all of  us, one that will ultimately be one of the defining moments of this trip that we talk about for years to come.

-Liz