MORE BABIES!

It seems that it is baby boom time here in Turkey, after our first turtles at Sarigerme hatched, we have now had two nights of hatchlings here in Dalyan! 
The excitement of seeing the first tracks going in utterly the wrong way and for what seemed miles was a welcomed adrenalin rush after only 2 hours sleep and I eagerly followed the tracks to look for our very first (and very lost) Dalyan hatchling. Sure enough in the distance I spotted some movement among the sun beds. Like any female when they see babies my voice went squeeky and high and my hormones brought me close to tears at seeing such a small, defenceless baby. Everyones smiles were from ear to ear as the cameras were whipped out to take pictures.

The baby turtles that we find are the hatchlings that don't make it out of the nest during the night or have gone the wrong way and if left would die of dehydration, predation or just pure exhaustion. 

The turtles are carried back in a bucket to the centre where we keep them for the day in some water to get their energy back, and then they are released in the evening out to sea to begin their lives. Out of all the hatchlings we will have here only around 0.3% will survive to adulthood which works out at about 45 adults sea turtles of the thousands of hatchlings we will have.







The tracks of the baby turtles in the early hours of the morning. Happily, most of the tracks are going the right way and there has been no predators attacking the hatchlings yet.



Total number of nests: 250
Total number of rescued hatchlings: 22! YAY!