4am came early to those who slept but for those who never fell asleep (✋) it was a relief. Elise didn't wake up and since Alena was declining in favor of. . .well anything haha, I decided to let her sleep. I regretted it every minute afterward. Had I known how wonderful our experience would be I would've gotten her out of bed and carried her until she woke up. The beach was still dark during the walk out but without the violence of the wind we were able to enjoy things more. The sky brightened quickly and we saw some Mamas still finishing their big job.I had imagined nests of tiny turtles all scrambling toward the ocean and was disappointed not to see any. Sam was the first, of course, to spot a tiny, lone exhausted baby making his way in. What a celebration, we were so excited. Stecher family cheering squad. There were so many tired Mamas hauling themselves back to the ocean. They made incredible tracks. I wish I could've cheered them on too. What an amazing effort.All those tracks from all those turtles coming and going all night long.
All those lumps in the background are Mama Turtles. Those who finished late.Endless nests of baby turtles made by digging out the hole, then filling it by making another hole. It was pretty crazy walking around, turtle nests and Mama turtles everywhere.So the babies who are still trying to make it out by this time of morning have often gotten lost or trapped or buried or something. We would find them up in the cratered sand just struggling. Our first attempts at support were to flatten some of the tracks and surround them on their journey. We really didn't want to see them eaten by the seagulls that were flocking. The guide came by smiling at our concern and said we could totally help them out. That's all I needed. Other dangers they face are getting lost and dying in the desert, getting eaten by the MANY foxes we saw running around, Seagulls get them for the first 3 days before they are ready to dive deep and I'm sure other sea predators. Tiny Turtle Tracks💕💕💕💕
Always on the look out, this was the most interesting mantis I've seen.
Our tent during the day. We really liked the facility and would love to go back. They had a lovely breakfast buffet. Some of us hiked around. Matt took Alena for breakfast. I crawled back into bed with Elise who was still asleep and got a little hour of reprieve from my headache. Eventually others came in for brief naps but not Brigham. He climbed around finding all sorts of treasures. It wasn't everyone's favorite experience of Oman but it certainly was mine. I regret not insisting the other girls join us but since the night before had been so underwhelming I didn't have huge expectations. This exceeded them by far. We'll have a chance to go back and let Elise save baby turtles too.
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