Blatts in Nicaragua: Olive Ridley Turtle Lays Her Eggs

She had come up out of the sea just before sunset to lay her eggs: An enormous Olive Ridley turtle.

It was unusual in June, as the season doesn't usually start until August; and even rarer that she would lay her eggs in broad daylight. But the strong winds and full moon must have confused her.  So, heavy with her 35 or so ping pong ball sized eggs, she came out of the sea about an hour before sunset.

It was our third day in Nicaragua and we were at quiet Marsella Beach, near San Juan del Sur . . .  yes, the same place they filmed Survivor!  Steve had suggested that we walk down the isolated beach for a romantic stroll.  Suddenly, we saw another tourist running towards us . . . "There's a turtle on the beach!"  he shouted.  

Steve ran for the kids and his camera.  He returned minutes later with both. 

Once she had made her way high above the waterline, she chose a suitable spot and began to dig a nest for her offspring using her back legs and shovels, scooping the dirt out of the hole below her.  Then, hovering over the nest, she began to plop egg after egg into the sandy pit.  A group of tourists had gathered and we watched with awe and took plenty of photos as the eggs slipped out from behind her tail. In about 10 minutes she had released all her eggs into the pit below her.  Then she started filling in the nest with sand, using her agile back legs to scoop sand over her eggs.

Then she flipped flopped back and forth, packing the sand down, to hide her eggs under the coming and goings of tourists on the beach.  After resting up for a few minutes she slipped back into the sea and swam away.

We were stupefied by the display and felt honored to have watched it.  Shortly after she had returned to the sea, a man and a woman, locals, appeared on the beach.  They had come to dig up the eggs.

"Hey what are you doing?"  we incensed tourists wondered. They asked us to help them gather the eggs and take them a short walk down the beach to a refuge nearby to protect them until they hatched. We weren't sure whether or not we should believe them so we followed them to the turtle refuge where eggs were labeled with the dates of when they were laid and the hatching dates as well.

We dug up the eggs, but it wasn't easy.  Even having witnessed the whole spectacle, it took us about 10 minutes of frantic digging before we could locate the nest of eggs.  Then, we each had the opportunity to pick up the freshly nested eggs and place them in a bucket.  They were cool and wet and felt like a deflated ping pong ball.  

It was an incredible experience that I doubt any of us will ever forget.