Last night (around 1 am) one of our night patrol groups found a female Olive Ridley on the beach. We came across the turtle tracks that lead us to her and the nest that she was building! Elsie got to catch the eggs as the female turtle laid them. She counted 101 eggs in total (like the dalmations) however this number changed later on. After the female was done laying the eggs the other half of our group came over to watch her cover up her nest and walk back to the ocean. Once the turtle was safely back in the ocean we went back to the hatchery to find a good place to make a makeshift nest for the eggs while the building of the hatchery was completed. Pablo (one of Turtle Trax volunteers) dug the nest that looked like an upside-down mushroom and then I (Siena) got to recount and place all of the turtle eggs into the nest while Sam wrote down the numbers. The final number we came to was 103 eggs!
That morning our whole group headed down to Costa de Oro (a different beach) and split into three groups to do different activities. One group weeded, the second group marked out 100-meter sections and the third group marked the sections with paint and logs or trees. We then came back to the house to rest and eat lunch and dinner. Everyone is currently preparing for their rounds of night patrol. Hopefully, we find more turtle nests!