Rain Delay

We awoke and began our day like most.  We were a bit behind schedule, so we had cereal for breakfast.  Kate tried out a small French press we purchased from the thrift shop quite awhile back.  It was supposed to be for the RV, but we never got to use it, and now it's here.  It worked pretty well, and I was glad for the caffeine.

I went outside to start loading the Mule and realized everything outside was wet.  It wasn't raining then, but it had been.  I checked the hourly forecast and saw it was supposed to rain most of the morning, and build to thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Kate and I broke out the rain jackets we picked up last time we were in town, along with some rain pants we bought before leaving Florida.  We thought that would be enough.  We were sorely mistaken.

Along with loading the Mule, we attached a vinyl roof for it that we luckily found while cleaning the turtle shed.  When we discovered it, we thought it would make a great sun shade, but it proved today to be far more valuable for rain protection.  All loaded up and ready for the rain, we headed south.  It didn't take long for the rain to start, and by the time we were halfway to the beach, it was really coming down.  The roads were full of puddles, some a foot deep or more.  We couldn't drive fast, because of the raindrops pelting our faces and blinding us from seeing the road.  Things were beginning to seem worse than we had prepared for.  When we finally left the protection of the forest, and drove out into the clearing before the access to North Beach, we realized it wasn't just a little rain, it was a full blown storm.

We had been told during training that the rain shouldn't keep us from our work, and that it is even more important to get out there early, because the rain washes away many signs we need to find the nests.  And though we originally thought we could brave the weather, we couldn't.  We didn't make it to North Beach then.  Just as we had navigated the last large puddle and were about to cross over the dune and onto the beach, the wind and rain became too fierce.  We decided to turn around and head to a small pavilion type shelter, named the "Shorter Pavilion", which was not to far away.  By the time we reached it, we were wet, cold, and disheartened.  Our "100% waterproof" rain jackets from Coleman had shown themselves to be about 80% waterproof.  Our pants, which we thought had leaked, turned out to work well, it wet feeling being only the cold.  We parked the Mule under the shelter and began to wait out the rain.

We watched the beach, the waves, and the clouds from the pavilion.  Several egrets seemed to be enjoying the weather, along with the frogs, which were making their calls.  It began to thunder and lightning over the water, and now we were happy with our decision.  While we'd been told to work through the rain, we were also told not to mess around with lightning.  There's little protection on the beach, a human being taller than most other things there.  We continued to wait, until around 8:00.

The lightning had let up and we were determined to get out there and start working.  We bundled back up and started backing out the Mule.  Just then the wind and rain picked up significantly.  So back in we went, and waited some more.  After a little while, we told ourselves, "F it, we've got to get it done," and backed out again.  Nature was telling us something, because just as we did the wind and rain picked up again.  This time we didn't quit and drove on to the beach.  When we got there, things got really bad.  We made a right and surveyed the few hundred meters of the southern end of North.  The rain was sheeting over the sand, and we could barely see anything.  When we turned around at the tip and headed north, into the wind, we were completely blind.  Just then the lightning returned, and by the timing of the thunder, we knew it was close.  Kate drove fast back to the road, me yelling to warn her to stay away from the giant metal red #4 buoy that sits stranded on the beach there.  I figured it might be a good lightning target.  We sat parked on the road, our backs to the wind for a minute of two when more lightning came.  Then we boogied out of there.

We decided not to go back to the shelter, but to push on through the rain and head for home.  We were both wet and cold.  By the time we got half way home, we saw the skies over the beach begin to clear.  We could hardly believe it.  Still we weren't about to turn around, we need to warm up.  We got to the house, jumped in a warm shower, made hot miso soup, and got under the covers.  Half an hour later, the sky was clear, the sun was out, and we knew we had to get back to work.  We had been hoping it would be bad all day, and we'd catch a break, but the storms here have a reputation of blowing through quickly, and this one was true to form.

For the first time, we both donned shoes and socks for our patrol - our feet being the only thing that didn't warm back up.  We didn't need to wear all the rain gear this time, but we brought it along just in case.  We headed back to the beach, navigated all the now giant puddles, and pulled out onto the sand.  The beach had changed from all the rain.  There were little streams flowing toward the ocean.  Most of our Mule tracks along with all of our footprints and previous turtle crawls had been erased.  It was like a new beach altogether.

We drove along at a very slow pace, unsure if we'd be able to spot a crawl.  The tide was high last night, which alone makes things difficult, and with the rain, it was doubly hard.  We didn't think we'd see the tracks in the wet sand as we normally do, so we were looking high in the dune.  Then we came across a track in the sand we couldn't identify.  It looked somewhat like a terrapin track (a true turtle), but it may have been an alligator track that was washed down to appear different.  While we were out looking at it, Kate saw, just a few meters north, a turtle crawl!  It was true, there were no tracks in the wet sand below the wrack.  But it was there, clear as it could be, so we went to work.

This turtle went far up the beach, much further back than we have seen.  I suppose she knew to get high and dry, as the high tide and strong northeastern winds had washed over much of the beach.  We couldn't find the nest at first.  Probing was proving difficult as the rain had made much of the sand harder than usual.  We had to go through the skimming down routine again, but eventually we found the eggs, right where we thought they should be.  No relocation required, so we screened it off, and moved on.  We didn't find anything else on North Beach, and the weather was looking good.

It was my turn to do North Middle, so I went across and got on the bike.  I made it to the south end quickly and with minimal effort.  I thought it was because the sand was hard and I could go faster.  I realized once I turned around and headed north that it was because I'd had the wind at my back.  Going north wasn't so easy, and I still think I could have walked the bike back faster.  Along the way I found an old vodka bottle to add to our growing collection of antique bottles.  This island has tons of interesting old things.

Kate and I then headed off to do the south beaches.  We tried to avoid the washed out parts of the road, but it's difficult, as there aren't many alternatives.  On South Beach, we encountered two people walking the beach, but no turtle crawls.  We inspected our incubating nests, all of which looked good, then headed for South Middle.  We kayaked across to the ATV together, me enjoying the front seat for a change.  We brought some extra gear (a bucket, shovel and hammer) that we brought specifically to leave there, lessening the load of future trips.  Kate drove the ATV, me behind, and we headed out to the beach.

Again scanning slowly, we drove along.  Toward the north end, we saw something about a dune that seemed different.  There were no turtle tracks, but the sand was a different color in the shape of a body pit.  It had some escarpment on one side, and we started thinking it could be a nest, or maybe a false crawl, or possibly nothing to do with sea turtles at all.  We treated it like a nest, and started working it up.  Our efforts paid off, and we soon had eggs in hand.  This one needed to be relocated, as it was right in the wrack line.  Kate took the ATV and finished the beach while I moved the eggs to a better spot.  When we were done, Kate showed me her troublesome crawl from yesterday.

It was a really weird spot for certain, and I could see how it would be troublesome.  I probed around and didn't get anything.  We decided to spend half an hour on it anyway.  I went to work with the shovel, pealing back all the loose sand to get down to an area that could be probed.  As I was digging, I unearthed an egg, miraculously without breaking any.  Kate was truly upset.  She'd spent 2 hours working this crawl, even digging and probing all around where I'd managed to find the eggs in about 5 minutes.  There's a lot of luck in all this Kate, so don't beat yourself up.

Finally we were done the day.  We got off the beach at 5pm.  The only good part about being done so late was the fact that there were lots of animals out along our way home.  We crossed paths with 3 armadillos, 1 dear, many birds, frogs and crabs, and one HUGE alligator.  We had a gigantic pasta dinner when we got to the house, as we hadn't eaten anything but some trail mix for over 12 hours.  It was a long and hard day, but finding three nests, and knowing we've done our part to protect them, makes it all worth it.