04/10/12 Turtle Training on Curieuse Island

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from Jeanne Mortimer, Sea turtle expert. Along with some of the Seychelles National Park Authority (SNPA) rangers, she joined us at base camp and gave in depth lectures about the turtles we encounter here on Curieuse and in the Seychelles. She also gave us invaluable advice and ideas for possible future projects.

As the Hawksbill nesting season is picking up, we are beginning to spend full days in the field patrolling Grande Anse and Anse Papaie.  We’re split into groups so we don’t miss any of the action! Over the past week we have recorded several fresh tracks and last Friday afternoon, at the end of a hot day in the field on our journey back to base, a Hawksbill turtle stopped us in our tracks.  We quietly dropped back and watched in awe – our first emerging turtle! Unfortunately, this turtle couldn’t find the right spot, however on Tuesday the group witnessed another Hawksbill emergence...and this time, she successfully laid which is a promising sign.

Over the weekend we all boarded Dexter and zipped across to Cote D’or (Praslin) for our weekend activities. Most of the group indulged in a luxury breakfast, and then explored Praslin a little more and finished off their day with afternoon cocktails! I decided to embark on the PADI Open Water course which I will be completing over the coming two weekends. I have been promised by my instructor that I’ll be diving with Whitetip sharks and hopefully even have the chance to see some turtles in the water.  

This week we are all excited to be getting knee-deep in mud, getting to grips with the new Mangrove methodology and hopefully have some exciting days out surveying more of the Coco De Mers.

04/10/12 Turtle Training on Curieuse Island