Kate took the day off today - part of a plan to for us both to get some good quality down time. While Andy is away, and we are watching his pets, we've been granted use of his house, DVD collection, large TV, and two cats to love on. So, Kate had today off, I get tomorrow off, then Kate off again, followed by me. Two days off each, with no interruptions by the hog boys...bliss. Another reason we thought this was such a great idea is because turtle activity has been ramping down, most days having just a couple of crawls.
Today however did not go according to plan. I'm not sure if the turtle gods like me, or hate me, but there was more activity today than we have seen in two weeks - 15 activities total, 8 nests, 7 false crawls. It was a long, long day for Steve.
Things actually started out well. I woke up at 4:30, sleeping on the alarm clock side of the bed and setting my own snooze schedule. I was out of bed by 5:00 or so, and had a bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant for breakfast (substitute bacon for a small Ossabaw hog loin). After loading up the Mule and hitting the fuel station to top things off, I was on my way. Kate gave me her iPhone for the day, with her great head phones. I could barely hear the Mule running as I made my way to the beach. I was on Bradley by 6:30 and the tide was just right to get across to North Middle on the Mule.
North Middle patrol had no crawls, and only took a half an hour. I was back on Bradley by 7:00am. I then started out on my journey north, and found a crawl within minutes. I had an egg in hand rather quickly, and continued north. There was another crawl, I worked it, and then another, and another... One body pit I came to had a stick sticking straight out of it. I had known the teacher group on the island had been planning a night excursion and I was happy to know they had found a turtle, watched it nest, and marked it off for me. Saving me a few precious minutes in what proved to be a long, long day.
It turned out I had five nests on Bradley beach. I also had six false crawls. Kate radioed me about the time I was finishing up the fifth nest. I wasn't sure it was the last nest for North Beach, but I was sure I was on my last set of screening materials. Of course she offered her help if I needed it, but I wanted her to enjoy her day off, and told her to stay home. But I had to cross my fingers and hope I could finish the beach without another nest, otherwise I'd be fresh out of material and pretty much screwed. Things worked out though, I only found one more false crawl north of that.
After Bradley, I was feeling good, rocking tunes, checking nests, and heading south. The only problem I had was that I had no more screens. I knew there were some out on South Middle with the ATV, but I wanted to check on South Beach first, thinking I could take note of what I would need, and bring it back on the kayak later. And so, I drove to South Beach, with no screens.
As soon as I hit the first road to South Beach I saw a crawl, not just a crawl, but an obvious nest. I cursed a little for not having screens, decided to leave it for now, and headed south for the rest of the beach. The tide was coming in and I couldn't skirt around the boneyard there, so I tried to drive up and over some of the downed trees. Kate and I have done this before, a hundred times I'm sure, but this time was different. The sand must have washed out, and the this particular palm trunk was a bit higher than usual. And so, the font tires of the Mule ran over the trunk, but then the rest of the Mule came down on the trunk, and stayed there. I was completely stuck.
I worked on that Mule for an hour or more, trying everything I could to get it unstuck. Eventually I realized the tide was coming up and there was a real possibility I wouldn't be able to get it un-stuck in time. I called Kate, interfering with her day off, and asking for rescue. I told her she could recruit Eric if he was available. I wasn't worried about seeming the fool for getting the Mule stuck, I was more worried about leaving it stuck too long and losing it to the tide, which would make me even more the fool. As they were headed down to me, I kept working to move the Mule. Eventually I found a long enough piece of driftwood that was strong enough to lever the Mule off the log. The relief I felt when I did was one of the best things that happened all day.
By this time it was about 1:00 in the afternoon. I had driven North to meet up with Kate and Eric to intercept them and let them know everything was fine. Afterward went out to South Middle and found one nest on the north end which had to be relocated. Following that I went back to South beach, dug up the nest that was sitting by the north road, and drove it down around the boneyard to be relocated on the south end. I didn't find anymore crawls on South, and finally was headed home.
After washing off the Mule and re-supplying it with screens, stakes, and posts for Kate tomorrow, I took a shower and laid down for a spell. In less than an hour I was refreshed enough to rise, and head off with Kate to visit our teacher friends at the clubhouse. They fed us chicken pot pie and other things, along with wine and stories. We mooched some educational materials off of them which we will add to our turtle library and will hopefully be able to share with friends. They're headed out again tonight, and I wish them turtle luck. But for Kate's sake, I hope there are a few less crawls than I had today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment