Pinch Me




I think , no I'm positive, that our first evening ashore on Ascension was the best of my life so far.

As we came into the anchorage there were magnificent green turtles in the water around the boat. Ashore on the deserted beach, turtle tracks to turtle nests.

We set off at sunset hoping to see one come ashore to lay her eggs. James has worked with sea turtles ( Is there anything this man can not do?), so he guided us on the best conservationists practice to view these precious sea creatures.

Walking in silence along the waters edge , one came ashore in front of us her shell glistening in the moonlight .We instantly lay flat on our bellies to let her go calmly by.

Once they've made their way up the beach and start to dig you can snipe up behind them and witness the miracle of their life cycle begin.

Lots of turtle digging and sand flying everywhere and lots of suppressed human giggles as she splattered us with flying sand!

Pushing ourselves forwards on our bellies propelled only by our toes we got close enough to watch her lay her 80-100 eggs then cover them patting the sand on top them covering the huge crater in the sand she had dug before heading exhausted back out to sea under the moonlight.

By 10 pm the beach was full of these wonderful animals and making our 11 pm curfew to be off the island became a challenge! We had to snipe our way back up the beach ducking and diving the nesting turtles.

None of us knew what to say, we knew we had witnessed something beyond special .

I love wildlife. I've seen grizzly's in Alaska , I have gone diving with dolphins and whale sharks, but this …. this … was my Olympic gold medal , my lotto win

Mary