It’s not every day that you get to see new life come into the world, especially when you’re on vacation. A morning walk along Maunday’s Bay in Anguilla ended in the excitement of seeing dozens of hawksbill turtles hatching, and make their way out to sea.
We had just finished breakfast at Cap Juluca’s Cip’s and were walking back to our villa at the west end of the beach. A few people walking ahead of us stopped, and soon a small group formed. It wasn’t long before we spotted it. There was a turtle nest along the retaining wall, and the baby turtles were hatching and heading out for their first swim.
The turtles were Hawksbill turtles, noted for their sharp beak which is used to extract their food from coral reefs. Hawksbill turtles are considered critically endangered with an extremely high risk of extinction, as determined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Their numbers plummeted when they were harvested for their beautiful shells prior to the ban on the tortoiseshell trade. Hawksbill turtles are essential to coral reef health because they consume sponges, which can overgrow and suffocate coral.
Everyone was very careful not to touch the turtles or impede their path to the ocean. In fact, the small group of people on each side of the turtles’ path deterred the birds who may have ended these young lives even before their first swim. All the turtles successfully made their way to the ocean. What a great way to start the day!
For more information on sea turtles, and tips if you see sea turtles laying eggs or hatchlings on the beach, check out SEE Turtles.org or Sea Turtle Conservancy.
We have more posts to come from our January 2019 trip to Anguilla. We stop in at The Place on Rendezvous Bay for lunch with The Musical Brothers. We highlight some of our dining spots from the week. We also dig into the gear we used, and some of our film techniques. Visit again often!
All photographs in this post were shot on film, using a Mamiya 6 on Kodak Ektar 100. Processing and scanning by Richard Photo Lab.
For more posts from Anguilla…
What a great story Wendy, thanks for posting. I loved it.
Ellen, it was so amazing to see! I have seen a turtle lay her eggs with the Turtle Watch program on Jumby Bay, and it was so exciting to see turtles hatch and head out to the ocean! I know only 1 out of 1000 are estimated to survive, but it’s nice to know these had a successful start!