17/05/2013 Flo's Thoughts
It feels like we have only just waved
goodbye to the last lot of volunteers and yet we are already well into week two
of what will be my third month on Curieuse - looking back, the last 9 weeks
have flown by. Having been lucky enough to witness a turtle laying her nest in
my first week here, it was amazing to then excavate the same nest once it had
hatched. We combined the excavation with a long tweet and had our fingers
crossed that the two new volunteers, Phil and Jimmy would get to see some
hatchlings. They did! Unfortunately neither were still alive, however it was a
huge triumph as 74 of 77 eggs had hatched successfully.
There has been chaos in the kitchen
finishing off the renovation. The cupboards, walls, ovens and work surfaces are
now sparkly clean and although we have enjoyed cooking outside for a few days
it was nice to move back inside and appreciate all our handiwork.
Tuesday came around and a snurtle was
scheduled and we saw a few guinea fowl puffer fish, unbelievably the two new
boys are yet to see a turtle so with luck they will see one in the next few
days. Thursday was swiftly upon us and we headed out on the second coco de mer
of the week, we equalled the previous record of 141 trees in one morning!
Luckily Noel had made some delicious cinnamon rolls the night before to keep us
going as we got pretty peckish whilst out in the field.
There was more excitement today when Jimmy
spotted a huge skink roaming around. He alerted the staff who came running with
cameras and measuring tape to try and record its size as it was at least twice
as big as the Seychelles skink that we have here on Curieuse. It was too speedy
for the camera so we are now all on skink watch just in case it pops up again. 
The staff
completed their tortoise tagging workshop at the end of last week with Dr Jeanne
Mortimer and as volunteers we cannot wait to get started on a new survey. Despite
the camp being very quiet with only six of us we are enjoying the perks of
having extra space, 2nds at breakfast and quiet often 3rds at dinner! Flo
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