Out and About

Today we woke to soggy, windy weather, but no worries we made our own fun. We enjoyed a little balcony time, which is ALWAYS good for people watching, not to mention a nice lunch in the hotel restaurant then off to explore the area. We went back across the longest bridge in TEXAS to see the Port Isabel lighthouse. We didn't get the T-shirt but we did get the postcards!

Port Isabel Lighthouse

We also did a little window shopping in the lighthouse district which had that fun eclectic feel to it. The little square around the lighthouse is definitely worth a looksee should you make it to this area!

 The neat area around the lighthouse...

After the lighthouse excursion we did a little looking around the town before heading back out to SPI and drove the entire island, some areas had sand nearly over the road. In fact we saw the road crew removing sand in some areas so it wouldn't cover the road! Lots of undeveloped area here, which was a pleasant surprise in my book. I think it's awesome it is still all naturale'!

Then we made our way to that sea turtle place that we passed yesterday, that was closed! And THAT place my friends was the bomb in my book. Could have stayed for hours... While it is not a state of the art anything, it is obviously a labor of love and staffed by a whole slew of volunteers who share this same love and a common bond for the sea turtles. One of the volunteers presented a very informative session on the sea turtles native to this area and then told of the many dangers they face and many of them from our (human) laziness. The trash (plastics, mainly) that cause harm to sea turtles in unreal and shameful. We DID get the T-shirt here, well at least LilBlue did, and the Littles will have a new book next time we see them :)

Coolio turtle art!

 This is Fred...he lost his arm, err flipper due to a plastic fishing line that he got tangled in. They tried to re-release him on three separate occasions but it just didn't work. He is now a permanent resident at the sea turtle place, he seems pretty happy. He was flirting with LilBlue or maybe they were flirting with each other :)

 MiB with a Atlantic Green.

The Kemp ridley sea turtle is found here in Texas and they are just getting ready to begin the nesting season. They are not a turtle I had ever heard of and they seem to have a pretty rough go of it. I mean they even nest in the DAYTIME, good lord, can you say just let the predators have at it? And they do, as there survival rate is not that great. We got to see several young Kemp ridley's that had suffered from a predator attack. They will hopefully be rehabilitated and returned to the wild, however, there were so many and many more will come after this nesting/hatching season. At two years old these little guys were still pretty small!

A nearly 2 y/o Kemp ridley. This little guy survived a predator attack!

So that has been our day so far...we are getting ready to go take a walk on the beach and then find food, come back and have another session in the hot tub (if the "students" make room for us) before chillaxin' the rest of the night away! We are livin' the life here and lovin' it here on the island!

Sea Turtles are AMAZIIIING!!!

Last night we got to have the most amazing adventure we have had in a while...we were guests on a permitted turtle walk on the Cape Canaveral coast. There was a very informative program in which we learned a lot about the various species of sea turtles. The really amazing thing is that it just so happened that the turtle patrol had that morning found a hatched leatherback nest in which two hatchlings had not made it out and into the water so we were treated to seeing them, and holding them, it was sooooo cool. They were very soft and felt like velvet; it was neat, neat, neat! This is only the second time they have had hatchlings on hand for a scheduled turtle walk. Only two permitted turtle walks are held per year and we were thrilled to get this unique opportunity!

It was then time for the waiting game. We waited for the call on a nesting turtle sighting and we waited and waited and waited... And then the phone finally rang; a loggerhead sea turtle had come ashore and was beginning to nest and dig her clutch for depositing her eggs. In the next twenty minutes or so we would be able to go out and watch as she deposited the eggs, on average around 120 of them. They are about the size of ping pong balls. So we went to the 16th causeway and made our way down the beach waiting a safe distance until Martha, our guide, got word from Angy the turtle spotter, to proceed. Before we could approach the nesting turtle she had to be in the zone and laying the eggs or she would return to the sea without nesting, but once she has made the nest, dug the clutch and starts depositing eggs she will finish. This loggerhead was on the top end of her species size scale, she was 3.5-4 feet long, she was huge IMO!

Getting to receive the leatherback hatchling!
Oh, I am so amazed and thrilled to get to cuddle the hatchling!

MiB got to hold the hatching too!

Not a great picture, we could not use flash or flashlights, except for a couple turtle friendly ones, but this is a picture of the loggerheard as she is depositing her eggs in the clutch that she dug! INCREDIBLE. I already thought sea turtles were awesome, loved the ones in Finding Nemo, Crush and Squirt, but this was over the top amazingly coolio!