Dear friends,
Earlier this spring I found myself in Puerto Escondido off the coast of Oaxaca in Mexico, where I had the opportunity to partake in releasing baby sea turtles into the sea.
Almost every evening, depending on the amount of eggs that hatched that morning, the release is held in Bacocho beach, right around sunset.
A local organization called Vive Mar is the one leading the conservation efforts in helping to protect sea turtles.
The beach, which is not suitable for swimming due to strong surf, has a section cordoned off in order to provide a safe area both the arrival of the turtles to lay the eggs and also to liberate the turtles once they have hatched inside the hut showed in one of the photos above.
I was surprised to see many visitors from all over the world wanting to chip in and participate in the experience / effort.
The way it works is that the center asks for a donation of roughly $10 USD ($200 MXN) per turtle you wish to release.
Before the release, a volunteer gives a brief talk on how they operate, chances of survival of the turtles and some instructions as to how to go about in releasing them.
As baby turtles should not be touched, they swoop them in these little jicaro bowls into another which one has previously been handed.
Now it is time to release this fellow!
Off they go!
Thank your for reading and for coming along this wonderful experience,
Alex