Thursday, April 14/15, 1999  Back in Crews Inn, Chaguaramas Bay, Trinidad

Sorry for the delay, but I believe we have good reasons...We spent last night on the north side of Trinidad in Grand Riviere Bay. This Bay is a fantastic place to watch the giant Leatherback Seaturtle lay their eggs from March to August each year.   The female Leatherbacks come back to their place of birth as soon as they reach maturity at the age of 25 (plus or minus). They travel enormous distances and can dive up 2000-3000 ft deep. That is also why the have that softer Leathery shell, so they can not implode as their go deep.  These shy and gently giants might spent most of their life in distant places like the coasts of Africa, Indian Ocean etc. but when it time to lay their eggs they come to "their" home beach to lay 60-80 eggs every two weeks for about 4 month. 

The Grand Reviere Beach is protected and can only be accessed with guides.

Being up to 2000lbs heavy and up to 80 inches long their expedition to the beach is strenuous and very exhausting for them.  They usually come only in the dark - some as early as right after sunset.  It takes them about 90 Minutes to drag themselves up, dig a hole, lay the eggs and than cover everything back up.  And they are Masters at that.  It is very impressive to see them dig a 2-3 ft deep home for their eggs with their aft fins.  Only if it is deep enough without the sand falling back into it,  they will start dropping their eggs.   If not, they will cover the hole and try another spot.  The actual laying takes about 10 minutes.

This giant Leatherback just abandoned her first hole and will soon start the next one.

At that time they are so concentrated they do not notice anything around them.  You could probable run by with a big truck and they would not move...   Once the eggs are all in, the turtle start covering the eggs and camouflaging the spot.   Completely worn out they start their return trip to the ocean.    It takes them probably another 8-10 Minutes to cover the 30-50 ft back to the water, where they dive as soon as they gasped a couple of lungs full of air. And then 10 days later it starts all over again.  Eight weeks later up to 80 little turtles crawl out of the nest and try to reach the ocean as fast as they can.  It is a run for life.  Big Seagulls or Voltures are waiting to pick them up and feed on them.   Once they reach the ocean they are only a little safer.  Statistically only 1 out 80 make it to adulthood and come back to their beach.  Nature is incredible.  

With a help of SONY Digital Video technology we were able to take this footage with infrared light only.

Unfortunately he Leatherbacks are endangered.  Their biggest cause of death is - believe it or not - fishing.   Turtles, once caught in a net, will most likely drown if they can not reach the surface every 30-40 Minutes.   Pollution is another big cause for their death.  Leatherbacks feed mostly on jelly fish and for them a plastic back looks close enough to be eaten.....

This turtle was just comouflaging as the day started....

It was a wonderful night and after some mid-night sleep we were back at the beach before sunrise.  One large Leatherback was just finishing up the nest.


Exhausted she made it back to the Ocean.

The next 10 days the journal will make some travel before it reaches you.   I will fly to Germany tomorrow to meet with STERN and some sponsors.   The rest of the crew will stay aboard and will take the STARSHIP further south on the east coast of Southamerica.  They will write an email to me and include an image.  I will then work on it and publish it from Hamburg.  So please be patient. The next journal should be with you by Saturday....

Michael