We had heard that the sea turtles hatch on the beach in Todos Santos, we also knew that March is the end of the hatching season. We were back on highway 1, which is under construction several places. No pilotcars like in the USA, but instead the detour was on a gravel road, that they had build next to highway 1.
All we did was chasing and passing both the cars and Harley Davidson motorcycle’s, that were moving as slow as turtles. When we got back on the pavement, they came blasting right pass us. We got to the beach just north of Todos Santos, were they have a greenhouse for the turtles nests.
We could camp for free on the beach and every morning walk up to the incubation greenhouse, to see if any of the turtles had hatched.
Todos Santos is at the west coast of Baja California, and Esben got this shot with our PRISM camera from SENA
The next morning we talked to one of the volunteers, who was working for Tortugueros Las Playitas A.C. (click on the name to follow them on Facebook). The Incubation Greenhouse stabilizes sand temperatures creating an ideal nest habitat, where hatch rates are maximized and gender ratios are balanced. If the greenhouse was not there, all the turtle eggs would not be able to develop and hatch because of low temperatures at night during the winter months. One of their goals is help restore the critically endangered pacific leatherback population, which is on the verge of extinction. You can read more about donations and volunteering (internships or vacations) on their website: http://www.todostortugueros.org/index.html.
Here you see at baby turtle that didn’t make it out of its shell
Keeping records of eggs in total (left picture), infertile eggs, dead turtles and turtles going into the ocean is just some of the things the volunteers keep records of. In the right picture you se turtle tracks.
You can’t rush the turtles to hatch, so we just had to wait… while waiting we visited Todos Santos. We had read about an ice cream place, that had homemade ice cream, which were our first stop.
The ice cream was amazing, and we went there several times to try as many as possible of the about 30 different flavors. We had avocado, garlic, chocolate, mango, coconut, coconut/mango, coffee, pistachio, banana/pecan, cranberry, almond, mint chocolate chip and apple. These are the ones I remember my favorite was to coconut and Esben loved the mix of the chocolate and coffee ice cream. After all that Ice cream we had to exercise, and we went to the local GYM “Aldo’s Gym”.
Deadlift and leg curl – the old fashion style!
After that there was room for more of the local cuisine. From the left beef tacos, grilled chicken and Esben eating the grilled chicken
NO – we have not been sick after eating anything! Not yet, and we plan to keep it that way.
The next three days we were just hanging out in Todos Santos… and Esben hung out with one of the locals
Visiting the dead…
Walking around downtown Todos Santos. In the left picture you see the very well maintained mission in town.
When I got tired of walking around Todos Santos…
Killing time at our campsite by the beach. I am trying to select pictures for our website (YES – it is the one you are on right now!), but the sun made it impossible to see what as going on the computer screen. Just made my own small “office” by using one of the towels. It worked!
Homemade fish tacos for dinner…
After three days of waiting the nest we had been waiting for to hatch had not hatched. The woman in charge decided to dig up the nest and it turned out that all the eggs were infertile – No turtles this time. The next nest was scheduled a week later, so we decided to pack our belongings and drive to Cabo San Lucas that same day.
In Cabo San Lucas we stayed in an apartment, which is owned by our amazing friends. You know who you are – we love and miss you. Cabo will not been the same without you, but we love your place. We are in Cabo the next week, where we will relax, visit friends, do laundry and so on.
Who said that laundry is boring? Not with this view and in this weather!
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