Had a 6am-12pm hatchery shift today... which soon turned into a Hatchling crusade. I saw some vultures nearby eating something so I went over and realized it was a beheaded Olive Ridley hatchling. Fucking vultures. Saw some more picking at another hatchling and ran over to save it... Little guy on the right.

He seemed alright and eventually made it to the water under my supervision and protection... Quite a proud moment.

Found the nest after I saw another hatchling emerge from it.. about 20 feet away from the Hatchery... And then another. Scared the vultures away and watched those two make it to the water as well...

Yet another hatchling came up but this guy wasn't doing so well... Took a while and lost a lot of his gusto so I don't know how far he made it after getting to the water.

About four other hatchlings came up out of another nest that I couldn't find but by then it was nearly midday so they all got fried. I think one of them made it safely to the water... Natural Selection at its best I suppose... They generally don't emerge during the day when its so hot so the ones that are dumb enough to shouldn't survive right? Still sad though..... Only one in one thousand sea turtle hatchlings make it to adulthood... Shitty odds huh?

Its so relieving when they finally make it to the water...

They look so much better swimming rather than walking.

More patrolling tonight. Princesa, one of our leatherbacks, came last night to nest. I was fast asleep but I'm determined to photograph a leatherback before I leave! wish me luck...