I am back home after spending 2 weeks on Boavista. What an amazing place and an amazing experience. Boavista is so different than where I live – it’s a dry desert that seems almost barren on the land, surrounded by deep blue ocean filled with life – tropical fishes; dolphins, whales and sharks at certain times of the year; and of course, sea turtles. There are osprey, and kestrels, and the magnificent frigatebird (I didn’t see that one, though). And the people are unfailingly friendly, smiling, and wonderful. A place you easily feel at home, and makes it hard to leave.
I arrive in early June, before the turtles start nesting. My plan was to help with the Cape Verde Sea Turtle Network meeting and and help set up Turtle Foundation’s field camps. But the meeting is postponed, and the 2 containers with all our camp gear haven’t arrived in Boavista yet. I’m afraid I’m not as helpful to the team as I’d hoped to be. But I accompany Lead Biologist Christian Roder and Volunteer Coordinator Joana Hancock on the beach surveys to see how the beaches have changed since last year, and to see if any turtle tracks indicate any early nesters. We walk the beaches of Boa Esperança, Norte and Canto in the north, and Lacacão and Curral Velho in the south. The beaches in the north are covered with plastic. Where does it all come from? Turtle Foundation holds several beach clean-ups each season. On Norte we find the carcasses, many months old, of 11 whales that have apparently beached themselves. Later we hear there were 40 that stranded. (I’m having a whale expert friend try to identify our photos.) There is one turtle track on Lacacão – a turtle has nested, then walked for ages along the shore before returning to the sea. The track is directly in front of the huge new Riu hotel currently under construction, which will have 3500 beds. It seems to stretch forever along the shore. We have to wonder if something from the construction has disoriented the turtle, and we wonder how many turtles and hatchlings will be disoriented by the hotel lights when it is up and running. One of TF’s goals is to work with Riu to make the hotel as turtle-friendly as possible, minimizing lights facing the beach and keeping construction from destroying nesting habitat. On our way to the beach, though, we pass a billboard that shows a massive golf and beach resort planned on this beach, that literally dwarfs the existing hotel. This would devastate the nesting habitat in this area, not to mention the rest of the environmental impacts. How can they even consider this?
Joana and Christian organize a meeting in the village of Fundo das Figueiras. The locals from all the nearby villages are invited, to ask questions and get information about Turtle Foundation’s project. We hope some of the poachers are there. Alternative sources of income, such as tourism, craft production, and providing homestays for Turtle Foundation volunteers are discussed. We ask for volunteers to help patrol the beaches and learn about the turtles – if they prove reliable, there may be jobs as rangers or tour guides in the future. The meeting is spirited, with lots of participation. This is great – the locals know Turtle Foundation cares about them as well as the turtles, and wants to hear their input.
We get a chance to go scuba diving and jump on it. Joana and I are lucky enough to see a large male Loggerhead turtle in the water. He is magnificent. The females, when they come ashore to nest, are so ungainly. It is clearly an effort for them to move on land, but in the water they are so graceful and powerful. It reminds us, again, of why it is so important to protect these wonderful creatures.
The two weeks is up too soon, and I am hugging everyone goodbye and promising to come back. I mean it, too. I wish the Turtle Foundation team and all the turtles a successful nesting season. Be safe all of you.