Camilla from Denmark, September 2005 and September 2006
Hello. I decided that I wanted to write about what we did in a normal day and I also started off in that way. But somehow I ended up writing only about one of the most memorable moments from my stay. Perhaps it won’t help you much or describe much of the work that we did, but I hope that it will give you some impression of the place.
Beep, beep, beep…beep, beep, beep… It's early morning, 6.15, and I reach out for my alarm clock. I sit up in my tent, put on my head torch and try to look through a big bunch of clothes to find a pair of reasonably clean shorts and a t-shirt. Slightly dizzy from sleeping I get out of my tent; it's still dark outside and I look at the sky. The stars are out, so I guess it’s going to be another sunny day. But it’s the end of the season and we have had quite a bit of rain and wind lately.
I am the first one up this morning, and I go down to the kitchen and turn on the lights. I see that there have been mice in the kitchen… again… I eat my breakfast, brush my teeth, and pack my bag with the stuff that I need for this morning survey – which isn’t much today. A towel, some water, my bikini, flippers, snorkel and goggles. The rest of the stuff – the measuring tape, papers with nest positions, pen etc. is already on the beach in a secret place.
I see the others come out of their tents, rubbing their eyes, heading for the kitchen and eating their breakfast. Manu comes in the car and we are soon ready to go.
We drive up the hill and through the small villages; we drive past trucks and donkey riding old men and David Bowie is in the speakers while the sun is slowly rising. Also today we survive, fingers crossed, the very steep slope to get to the first beach and we get out and grab our stuff. If it had been any other day during the summer we would have first driven to one beach and then the other. But we have discovered that we can swim instead of driving. So here is the plan; we split up, one will look for tracks on the first beach and two will swim to the next beach and look for tracks there, then we will meet at the second beach one hour later and swim back together!
When I put on my swimming gear and tie on my flip flops to my bikini, I’m asking myself why on earth I’m doing this when we could just go in the nice warm car. At first the water is cold, but I soon realise that it is warmer than the morning air. And when we start swimming I get the answer to my question. It is amazing under the surface; different kinds of fish, rocks, sea grass, sharks, turtles, sperm whales, dolphins, manatees, flying fish, monkfish and worst of all the egg jellyfish! Okay, maybe that’s slightly exaggerated, but we did see flying fish and terrifying egg-like jellyfish (which might sting). However with a little imagination they were all there.
23 minutes and 47 seconds later we arrive on the beach. It is cold to get out of the water but we will quickly warm up when we start walking, but first of all we have to go and get the papers and measuring tape where we hid it the day before.
The beach is stunning and it is different from day to day; the sea level changes and the pebbles move. But we are not the only ones on this beautiful spot… the cows from the farm nearby are out for an early morning walk as well. We just greet each other and pass but the younger ones are curious and come closer. We see 1000s of prints in the sand but unfortunately they are all made by bird feet and not baby turtle feet.
On the way back we can see rays of sunshine through the water. My arms get heavy and tired and I get water into my goggles all the time. I’m happy when I can see in the distance our clothes and towels waiting for us on the beach. The sun is up but still needs to turn the corner of the cliffs to make us warm. We go back in the car with Jimi Hendrix and chocolate biscuits and I’m looking forward to my next breakfast. We didn’t see any tracks this morning…