So there are 2 important things to know about my recent trip to Shell Beach: #1: Getting there requires a 5 hour open air speedboat ride. #2: We planned our trip during prime turtle egg laying season, which also happens to be monsoon season in Guyana. That should begin to paint a picture for everyone...
Last weekend myself and 10 other PC volunteers took our long awaited trip to Shell Beach, which is a remote beach near the Guyana-Venezuela border where every summer giant leatherback turtles come and lay their eggs. This is one of the few places where this happens and they've been doing it since the dinosaurs. Getting to Shell Beach is not easy, one can either fly to Region 1 (and pay way way more money) and then take an hour boat ride from there. We opted for the cheaper and more adventurous option of the 5 hour speedboat ride that takes you up the Pomeroon and Whiney rivers, through the rain forest, and out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Our boat left from Charity Friday morning and our guide and boat driver was a man named Romeo, who has been doing this same trip for years and is also a Shell Beach ranger. During the boat trip there it rained pretty much the whole way. We all had rain jackets and ponchos on but when you're going 40 mph in an open air speedboat, rain jackets don't really do that much. And as an added bonus I found out that the $10 rain jacket I bought at Salvation Army before I left is not, in fact, waterproof. Always a nice surprise.
We somehow made it to Shell Beach in one wet piece around 4pm Friday afternoon. The beach is incredibly remote, there is only the guesthouse where we stayed and a few other houses where the rangers and other workers stay. The bathroom is either a wooden outhouse or the bush and the shower was a bucket bath. The owner of Shell Beach is an Amerindian man named Audley who bought the land on a 50 year lease from the government when he decided that the turtles, traditionally hunted and eaten, needed to be protected and preserved. He now has funding from all over the world from organizations like the WWF so that he can protect the turtles and their habitat. He also earns money from tourism groups like ours, who pay a set price that includes lodging, 3 home cooked meals a day, and 2 night time turtle hikes. I highly highly recommend this trip for anyone who likes outdoorsy/camping/Eco-tourism type stuff. Not only is it an amazing experience, but all the money goes to protect the turtles.
Friday night we ate a delicious meal prepared by Violet, Audley's wife before heading out on the hike. The rangers go out every night and walk up and down the beach from about 8 pm-2am checking for turtles. The guide at the front is allowed to have a small flashlight but no other lights are allowed because it might scare away the turtles. You are essentially hiking in complete darkness, using only the moonlight, as you try to navigate down the beach and in and out of the jungle. I probably fell down at least 3 or 4 times, tripping over fallen palm trees and coconuts. The rangers look for the tracks that the turtle makes out of the water and, once you find one, the rangers turn on special red lights so that we can see. Once the turtle starts laying her eggs, she goes into this hypnotic trance like state and you can take flash pictures and she won't react at all. On the Friday night hike we didn't see any big turtles but we helped the rangers release some baby turtles that had just hatched into the ocean. When the mother lays her eggs too close to the water, the rangers move the eggs and keep them until they hatch so they don't get swept away by the tide. The baby turtles were adorable and it was funny to watch them try and make their way to the waves. Only about 1 in 1000 baby turtles actually make it to adulthood, most will be eaten by sharks or catfish. We got back to camp at about midnight and pretty much fell into bed exhausted. We all slept in bunk beds covered by mosquito nets out on the open air porch
Since there are no turtles laying eggs during the day , all day Saturday we just hung out at the beach, took naps, and explored. The ocean was beautiful and it was so hot out, it felt like we were literally standing on the sun. I must of swam for 5 or 6 hours on Saturday and spent the rest of the afternoon walking up and down the beach, collecting shells and getting unbelievably sunburned. Saturday night we went out on the hike at around 9pm and just about an hour and a half into the walk we came across a giant leatherback turtle. The ranger said this is one of the biggest turtles that they've seen on the beach. We watched it dig the hole, which it does with it's back flippers, just scooping out dirt until there's a 2 ft deep hole. The turtles move so slow that this part can take up to an hour. Then she lays her eggs, this species lays about 70-80. We all took about a million pictures and videos, it was pretty amazing to watch. This turtle had a tracking device on it's back so that the rangers can monitor where it is and how many times it lays eggs. I asked Romeo if they name the turtles they track and he said that yes they do and that this turtles name was Alma, which I thought was pretty funny :) After the leatherback was done laying eggs, we started walking back down the beach towards the camp when we stumbled across a 2nd turtle who had just started laying her eggs. She was one of the smaller species but she lays almost 200 eggs each time she comes on shore. We were very lucky that we not only got to see baby turtles but also 2 different species of the adult turtles. As soon as we left to walk back at around 1am, it started to downpour rain. By the time we got back to camp we were all soaked completely but we were all so excited about seeing the turtles that I don't think anyone cared.
We left to travel home early Sunday morning, around 8am. It only rained a little on the way home, for most of the ride it was sunny. Getting home required the 5 hour speedboat ride, followed by a 45 minute car ride, then another 30 minute speedboat, and finally a 30 minute minibus ride. Getting anywhere in Guyana takes a minimum of 2 types of transportation every time :)
The trip to Shell Beach will always be one of my most amazing and incredible experiences ever, not just during my Peace Corps service. It was so awesome to see these turtles, who have been following the same migratory and nesting patterns since the dinosaurs, out in their natural habitat. Shell Beach itself is such a beautiful, calming, and relaxing place, it was easy to feel satisfied and at peace the whole time. If I could, I would go back there tomorrow and stay longer. Anyone who wants to visit me here in beautiful Guyana, this is probably the trip I am going to make you take so be prepared :) Below is a link to just some of the 300 plus pictures I took. Enjoy!!!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3243886977521.2126900.1277258438&type=3&l=378c24f4f9
