Hi, my name is Joe Hinnant. I am a senior here studying Natural Resource Management with a concentration Conservation Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. I had never heard of Raider Service Breaks until this semester, and I wish I had found out about opportunities about this earlier than I did. This break was focused on traveling to Playa Junquillal in Guanacaste, Costa Rica to work with the Asociación Cultural de Intercambio (ACI) and work with the local organization named Verdiazul to assist with their goal of conserving and protecting sea turtles, their nests, and their habitats. Of the seven sea turtle species left on the planet, six are endangered to some extent. Turtles like the giant leatherbacks, or “baulas” are critically endangered. Conservation projects like Verdiazul are some of these species only chance at surviving, avoiding extinction, and establishing stable populations. One of our efforts was deep cleaning the hatchery. We had to remove all of the sand that had been used for the nest of eggs that had just hatched, then transplant clean sand from the beach back into the hole. Although this may sound like an easy thing to do, this process consumed nearly an entire day to clean out a few nests. One morning we scrubbed the beach for microplastics that had been washed ashore and larger pollutants including cigarette butts, beer cans, and an array of other debris that was making its way to the Pacific Garbage Patch. This is a conglomerate of trash that has built up in the Pacific Ocean due to the gyrations of sea currents. This mass is responsible for the drowning of many sea turtles that are simply trying to catch a breath to return to the depths of the ocean. Their lives are cut short as they run out of oxygen, searching for a hole in the impenetrable wall of plastic and debris. Cleaning a beach ensures that the trash bags worth of debris we collected will not end up in the ocean. Although it is a little contribution, if everyone were to do this, it would make a significant difference. The root of this predicament lies in mass consumption and overuse of plastics by manufacturers and consumers. Lastly, we would patrol the beaches every single night searching for nests and the eggs within that sea turtles either had laid or were laying. Yes, were laying.
On multiple occasions we got to see a sea turtle laying eggs. The first of these experiences happened on our very first night patrol. We had only been in Junquillal for not even half a day and had gotten the chance to see an Olive Ridley sea turtle on the beach not even 5 minutes down the beach from the hatchery. Form there we got to see the turtle do what came to be called the “shimmy shimmy.” A dance like action done to disguise the nest so that way predators, poachers, or conservationists will have a harder time locating the eggs.
The following day we learned exactly what to look for, how to determine what species of turtle tracks we found, and how to properly locate the eggs. This was taught by one of the most incredible individuals we met while in Costa Rica, Dani. Dani was a former ecologist (and a famous cameo on a music video) and now helps out on many eco-projects like Verdiazul. That night Dani allowed us to take the reigns when we began to find the eggs on the beach that night patrol. We found over three hundred eggs that night. That is three hundred turtles that now have a much greater chance at hatching, making it to the ocean, and growing to an adult. Dani allowed us to search for the eggs within the nest, collect the eggs, and transport the eggs as he continued on to find more tracks. It was just very reassuring to see that Dani trusted us enough to get the job done without him looking over our shoulder. It was an experience that made me feel much more connected to the work I was doing, and that I actually had an impact on the project. It made me feel like I was the one contributing to the project and that I was not just doing the busywork that the long term volunteers and staff did not want to do.
After this experience, I feel like I need to connect more to others in my everyday life. This trip to Costa Rica has shown me the importance of talking to people, and reaching out to others. Dani told us about how he was worked with hotels and resorts around the beaches to reduce light pollution and to minimize disturbance of the turtles. Also, every single day we worked in the hatchery or near it, Dani was sure to involve those who were just walking by, those who just stared at what we were doing, he taught them the importance of the work we were doing, and got them excited about sea turtle conservation even just as they were going to watch the sunset. This showed me the importance of just talking to others about doing good things, not everyone has to travel all the way to Costa Rica to go change out sand in a hatchery to help the sea turtles, some people can help out sea turtles just by reducing their plastic consumption, something as simple as using a reusable water bottle, using a reusable grocery bag, or any other reduction of consumption can make a difference to these sea creatures. People do not communicate well or enough which prevents messages from being spread like the ones that Dani shared with a couple that just happened to walk by. Everyone can get involved, it can be picking up trash on your way to school, not driving to school and instead walking or riding a bike, or volunteer at an outreach event for a state park or a clean-up day at a park. Any good deed is a good thing, so go out and do good.
- Joe Hinnant