"11.09.56N 60.50.46W"
Starcharger
Tue 1 Jul 2014 13:47
Whilst still in Grenada we went to see Leatherback turtles laying eggs and others hatching out! So cool, the females are huge some 2 metres long! And they weigh around 450kg....
They haul themselves up the beach and then dig a hole in the sand using their back flippers. Once down about 1.5 metres they start laying. One we watched lay 114 fertilised eggs and 20 smaller unfertilised eggs. They lay unfertilised eggs to act as a buffer for the fertilised. They can lay half a dozen times a season, but the survival to fully grown adult is only 1 in 1000.....
The female then buries the eggs, compacts the sand and then roughs up the surface to make it look like nothing was there. The whole process takes about 4 hours.
The little hatchlings are only a couple of cm long and have to dig their way out and set off down the beach to the sea...just awesome to watch if ever you get a chance, go and see it.
We had a lovely overnight sail down here, checked out the facilities....there are none! Well apart from Bob's beach bar.... But at least we know the score if we have to escape down here.
Kim and David have now flown home so we are looking to pull out tomorrow heading North towards Bequia. Then a week sailing down through the Grenadines back to Grenada.
Stay safe and have fun
Love Alasdair, Gill, Habitat, Pickles and Star Charger
Sent from Alasdair's iPad