Nesting of the Giant Leatherback Turtles, Grand Riviere, Trinidad

by Karen Walrond on

This weekend, my husband, daughter and I took a road trip to the north coast of Trinidad for the nesting of the giant leatherback turtles in the village of Grand Riviere.  From about May through August, thousands of giant leatherbacks return to the beach on Grand Riviere to lay their eggs — currently, between 300 to 500 come ashore each night, each of them laying between 80 to 100 eggs in each nest.
It’s an amazing experience to watch these giant reptiles lumber ashore to find the perfect spot for their nests.  It is illegal to go on the beach at night without the company of a certified guide and payment of a license fee — however, the nominal fee is well worth the excursion.  Guides take groups of people out onto the beach with the help of a red light (regular flashlights disorient the turtles), and each guide is trained and knowledgeable about anything you’d ever want to learn about the turtles — the fact that it is believed that the turtles return to the beach on which they were hatched; that they generally love the waters of the arctic and northern oceans, and actually travel thousands of miles to the Caribbean and South America to lay their eggs, so that the warm sands provide the proper temperature for incubation; and that while they seem clumsy on land, they are incredibly fast in the ocean, able to outswim sharks, and dive deeper than whales.

Because flashbulbs are prohibited at night, it can be very difficult to photograph the turtles after sundown; however, in the morning at dawn, the most intrepid of turtlewatchers can return to the beach to catch the last glimpse of the last of the turtles finishing their nests and returning to sea.  The photos you see here were taken yesterday morning at dawn.

Enjoy.


Vulture, waiting to scavenge for turtle eggs, or worse, new hatchlings.


Giant leatherback patting down her nest, before returning to sea.


On her way home.

Blogging New Orleans!

by Adrienne Wilson on

How sooo out of the loop I feel these days trying to get more Americans to walk and exercise! Perhaps I missed a memo that went out, but where and when did our sister site, Blogging New Orleans come around? Seriously? I was scrolling down just to see what has been happening on sister sites across the board when I discovered one I never knew existed!

Anyhow, Blogging New Orleans looks quite up-and-coming and focuses on everything you’d want to know about the city and more. After reading two pages of posts I’ve caught up on some of the latest Katrina updates, the current road conditions, places to dine, places to hang and other Nawlin’s ramblings from Heidi, Kelly, Steve, Henry, Jay and all the rest of the bloggers on deck. If you’re working up a summer time vaca to New Orleans you’ll want to check them out. I’ve already found one place I’d like to visit on my next march through the town – the Audubon Aquarium.

Thanks a mil and welcome!

Following Scott’s Footsteps

by Erik Olsen on

History buffs, particularly those with an Antarctic bent, all know the tale of Sir Robert Falcon Scott’s epic walk to the South Pole. It was, in a word, gnarly. And no one has really duplicated the feat, that is of making the trek to the South Pole and back.

Well, Ben Saunders, said to be “one of today’s most exciting and successful polar athletes” (or so says his site), is attempting a rather amazing feat starting this October. Ben and his team will manhaul 400 pound sleds from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, some 1,800 miles. Wow.

We’ll try our best to keep an eye on the team as they gear up and get ready. But for now, check out their site and if you feel like it, kick in $100 to “buy a mile”.

Red Corner: The Aral Sea(less)

by Neil Woodburn on

Spare a moment for the fisherman of the Aral Sea.

50 years ago they pulled 50,000 tons of fish out of this body of water annually. Today, the water is all but gone and the fish replaced with camels.

Located mostly in Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once one of our planet’s largest bodies of water–until, that is, the Soviets started dabbling with Mother Nature. In the 1960s they began tapping into the rivers that fed the Aral and diverting their waters eastward to grow cotton in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. These were not natural cotton growing regions; they were mostly desert. But the Soviet decided to force the issue nonetheless.

Over the next 30 years, the sea shrank to half its size, causing the salinity of its waters to increase to the point where fish could no longer survive. By the 1970s they had all died off. Flounders–which thrive in high salinity–were eventually introduced to the waters, but this wasn’t enough. So much of the sea had disappeared that one can stand on old docks and see nothing but sand, camels, and ships marooned in the desert. In fact, many young people who live in Aral City, once a thriving fishing town on the shoreline, have never even seen the ocean it has receded so far away.

I tried visiting about ten years ago to check it out for myself, but every Uzbek I met told me how the region was rife with disease and airborne toxins blowing through the desert.

Although the Aral Sea catastrophe is truly one of mankind’s greatest ecological disasters, there is now a slim sliver of hope. The LA Times is reporting that a new dam has recently been built on the Kazak side. It has raised the water level and fishermen are starting to dream again. But a dream it will remain. There are no plans or money to increase the dam to a size which would return the waters to the levels they once were. The Aral Sea will remain dead and lifeless for many years to come and the bizarre sight of fishing vessels buried in sand dunes will continue to amaze.

Potts on Yahoo

by Erik Olsen on

One of our favorite travel writers and, well, sometime, bloggers Rolf Potts seems to have landed himself a great gig over at Yahoo. He’s got a new column called Traveling Light where he ruminates on the Art of Independent Travel. The most recent piece examines Pushkar, the Hindu holy town in India. It’s a nice little peice with real Pottsian flair. Of Pushkar, Potts writes: Pushkar didn’t seem much like a Tourist Zone: There were no glitzy hotels, no air-conditioned knickknack boutiques, no busloads of sunburned Germans and chubby Texans.

But he soon discovers that Pushkar is indeed a Tourist Zone, where monk-like sadhus approach to have their photos taken for money, and a New york City-like array of international foods are at one’s fingertips. We’ll keep checking in on Pott’s peices here, as we’re always eager to see what he has to say.