18/11/11 It's gone turtle crazy on Curieuse!

We`re in our second week now of life on Curieuse island. We`ve adjusted to the heat, the walking, and the 6:30 am starts. We enjoy our morning tea after our duties and look out over the tropical ocean with a sea breeze gently cooling us.

It`s been an exciting week. We all got the benefits of a free mud spa whilst monitoring mangroves, and learnt how to identify all the different species by their leaves, roots, flowers, and fruits. Our 4-legged spectators “flocked” to watch our muddy activities – as quickly as giant tortoises are able to, anyway.

On our first weekend off, we decided to explore Cote D`Or, on the neighbouring island of Praslin. We were desperate for civilization, our eyes started to mist at the site of the souvenir stores. We bought cokes at the first store, admired the cheese (while being stared at by the shocked tourists), spent hours in all the stores trying on dresses and looking at the things to buy. After the purchase of a few dresses and earrings, we nearly felt like women again 🙂 We had a glorious lunch in a beautiful restaurant while looking out across the ocean. Then came the highlight of the day… the Internet!

We saw four nesting turtles this week and were able to count the eggs on two of the lays. This was a magical experience. The eggs reminded us of ping-pong balls, and each turtle lays between 150 and 200 of them.

We woke up at 5am this morning to see the sunrise from the lookout out across the turtle pond, and then continued on our turtle surveying walk and saw a staggering 19 turtle activities. It was a tough morning but we were rewarded with a relaxing lie on the beach watching the ocean and hoping for turtles. Our highlight of the week was seeing baby Lemon sharks in the shallows off the beach of Anse Papaie next to the Ranger’s station.

We haven`t seen baby turtles yet but we expect our first hatchlings in 10 days…we can`t wait…watch this space…!