This morning we woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and finished packing for our move to the beach. On the way over we stopped at a shopping center and a souvenir shop to buy snacks and trinkets. After that we only got lost once on the rest of the trip to the research center. Upon arrival, we selected our rooms, had lunch, and then hopped into a tractor trailer on a trip to search for monkeys. We saw a monkey family from the road, so we stopped and ventured into the jungle to get a closer look. Once we returned to the research center we were treated to a presentation on sea turtles. Director of the Gold Ring Marine Biology station at Playa Grande, Dr. Bebe Santidran, the presenter works with two different types of turtle species: the Leatherback and Black (also known as Green and Pacific Rim). We learned that lately breeding numbers of all migrating turtles have been declining due to human distruption, and climate change. So tonight we're going to the beach to hopefully observe a mother turtle coming ashore to lay her eggs and to track breeding activity for use in population estimates. This project with the black turtles is in it's beginning stages for the Gold Ring group. It is our hope that Minnetonka schools and Seeds of Change participants will collaborate to install and use GPS tracking devices for study of Black turtle migration, conservation and ecology. The beach trip will last from eight o'clock to around three in the morning, so right now everyone is taking their last opportunity of the day to relax, and perhaps catch a bit of shut eye.
Until next time,
Matt (added comments by Norton and Joel)
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