Sea Turtle Save

You can imagine our excitement and happiness to learn that the location of the turtle game preserve was barely a mile from our hotel. And learning that baby turtles would be released every evening between 6 and 6:30 gave us a new timetable for the remainder of the days we'd be in Nuevo Vallarta. What a wonderful way to spend our evenings, releasing baby turtles into the beautiful sunset!

This baby turtle release had not been planned on our itenary because we didn't know of its existence. It was an added bonus for choosing Nuevo Vallarta over Puerto Vallarta. Turtles do not nest in Puerto Vallarta so tourists have to pay to take tours to the game preserve, something we didn't have to do as our hotel, the Occidental Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, was only a short walking distance to the preserve. Our hotel was also less than a five minute walk to Paradise Mall, which was convenient for doing our laundry, exchanging currency at the bank (you get the best rates from a bank), and shopping for souvenirs and delicious Mexican candy.

We took photos of the game preserve. The game preserve is run by the federal government. It's just a small building with a small fenced in area for nests. It's staffed with a very passionate biologist, other technicians and volunteers. They put up laminated informational brochures like the ones in the photos below to provide information to tourists.

(Photo 1) Olive Ridley Sea Turtles have been nesting on these beaches for millions of years.












(Photo 2) Up to a hundred turtle hatchlings can be found in one nest. Turtle hatchlings usually emerge from the sand in the early morning or late at night.

(Photo 3) The Olive Ridley Turtles are released into theocean at night to avoid the presence of predators. On liberation night, visitors to the Nuevo Vallarta turtle preserve line up to release baby sea turtles. Liberation offers public education to all ages.

(Photo 4) Up to a hundred turtle hatchlings can be found in one nest.





The photo on the left shows the fenced enclosure where eggs are placed in new nests. Most of the baby turtles are Olive Ridley but six of the seven sea turtle species nests on the shores of Neuvo Vallarta. The only species that doesn't is the Australian flatback.

Incubation generally takes about 8 weeks but the temperature of the sand governs the speed at which the embryos develop so hatching periods can range remarkably. The temperature of the sand also determines the sex of the baby turtles . The hotter the sand, the faster the embryos develop. Sea turtle eggs have no sex chromosomes to determine the sex of the embryo. Cooler sand temperatures produce male babies and warmer temperatures produce females.

Sea turtle hatchlings are on their own from the time their mother finishes covering up her nest. Digging out from the nest is a group effort that can take several days. They usually emerge from the nest at night because it is cooler. Once on the beach, the babies scramble around the top of the nest, orient themselves and dash toward the sea. However, the game preserve does not allow the babies to scramble to the sea on their own because of the presence of thousands of tourists, bright lights from hotels that have a tendency to disorient the babies and dune buggies on the beach that could kill the babies. The release is timed for sunset when most of their predators would have gone to roost and tourists are invited to participate (with a donation of 20 pesos each - $2 Canadian) so that the turtles may be released safely and with the best possible chance of survival.

Baby turtle Find

So we began walking the beach in the evening, hoping to spot baby turtles hatching or making their way to sea. On our third such trip, we'd almost given up and was on our way back to our hotel when Earl spotted a lot of people lined up near the shore about two hundred yards behind us. We ran as fast as our legs and lungs could carry us - it's hard to run on soft beach sand, especially when you have foot problems - and we made a very interesting and important discovery.

Someone in the crowd told us about the turtle game preserve located in the fenced compound about fifty yards up from the shore. He said that if baby turtles hatched that day, the biologist and staff at the preserve would release them between 6 and 6:30 PM. We'd walked up and down and missed seeing the fenced compound because of the construction of new resorts beside it. There were fences everywhere and we didn't think anything special of the little fenced compound.

In the picture above, the biologist (far left) is distributing Olive Ridley baby turtles to the lucky tourists. Everyone has to stand along the line drawn in the sand to prevent accidentally stepping upon the fragile babies. To prevent contamination of foreign substances to the tender hatchlings, we also have to coat our hands with mud from the beach before picking up the babies.

The picture on the right shows the biologist (far right) with his assistant beside him and a lady volunteer (dressed in black). She originally hailed from San Antonio, Texas and now lives in Nuevo Vallarta. She told us that volunteers like herself would sometimes patrol the beach in the wee hours of the morning, looking for turtle nests. They'd then remove the eggs and transport them to the game preserve where they would all be relocated into a new nest. The Mexican government had to do this because of the growth of resorts along the beach. This was essential to the survival of sea turtles, most of whom are endangered.

VIDEO: Olive Ridley baby turtles heading to sea. As you can see, some of them march purposefully and energetically to sea while others are tired. We found out the next day that they'd been trampling over each other all day long, maybe all night long, in the tank at the game preserve. No wonder they were exhausted! When 99% of them had made it out to sea, we were allowed to pick up the remaining ones and release them into the tide.

It was an invigorating and inspiring experience to see the hundreds of baby Olive Ridley turtles heed the call of nature and make their way out to sea in the beautiful soft evening light. We bade them goodbye and God Speed with a mixture of happiness and sadness because it is estimated that only one turtle out of a thousand will survive to grow up into a mature sea turtle that will one day return to nest on this very same beach, recreating this miraculous process all over again.

Vaya Con Dios, chiquititas!

The mystery of the baby turtles

One evening, perhaps five days after our arrival in Nuevo Vallarta, Earl returned from his evening walk with exciting news.

"I saw hundreds of baby turtles making their way out to sea!" he gushed, barely able to contain his excitement. He then described in vivid detail how small they were and how they made their way out to sea, some with great energy and drive while others struggled. He said that a large crowd had gathered to enjoy the experience.

I felt left out. For several nights, Earl and I had gone out to the beach hoping to spot Mummy Turtle wading up to lay her eggs but our efforts were in vain. Now, I was getting a vicarious thrill from him reliving his experience but oh, how I wanted to see the baby turtles. I decided that I wasn't going to leave without seeing them.

A couple evenings later, Earl returned from his walk with more baby turtle news.

"Someone was putting the baby turtles into a bucket!" he said, barely concealing his indignation at the sight he'd witnessed. "People were gathered around the baby turtles and this guy, this beach police officer, was just putting them into a bucket. He said he was going to take them to a game preserve where they would release them."

I was shocked. What a terrible thing to do to baby turtles, I thought, dumping them unceremoniously into a bucket! These beautiful creatures, so tender, so tiny who'd grow up to live for hundreds of years. How could anyone just dump them into a bucket and take them away? What if they ended up in someone's soup? Earl said someone gathered around the turtles had voiced a similar concern.

We decided that we'd patrol the beach every evening to look for the baby turtles.

Bananas and a hummingbird

What do bananas and hummingbirds have in common? They're both plentiful in Nuevo Vallarta!

Picture on the left shows Earl posing beside a banana tree growing at the Paradise Resort near our hotel. Bananas are one of Earl's favorite fruits and he can quote their price per pound anytime (at present, they sell for 85 cents Canadian per pound or 65 cents US). Bananas sold in Winnipeg are imported from Mexico so it is fitting that we spotted this banana tree near our hotel, an interesting discovery for Earl, who had never in his life seen a banana tree.

Picture on the right shows a very exhausted and disoriented hummingbird. We spotted this wee fellow flying up and down against the glass. It was obvious that he did not realize he could not fly through the glass and it was also obvious that he couldn't see the glass. Finally, after an exhausting attempt to fly through the glass, he settled down to rest on the leaf of this ivy plant. We touched him and urged him to fly away from the glass. That's the closest we've ever been to a hummingbird.

Fun end to the whalewatching tour

VIDEO: Exercise time on the Kontiki

After a glorious day spotting whales and dolphins, we began to rest as the boat began making its way back to Puerto Vallarta.

"Dolphins!" the guide shouted but most of us were too busy resting to spot the dolphins so the guide and the crew of the Kontiki decided that it was time for some exercise and the video above shows us all exercising to some lively music.

The crew came up with a game. If we were caught napping during the game, we would have to entertain the entire boat with a dance. In the videoclip below, our new friend, Mario Jr was caught napping and is being put through his paces.

VIDEO: Mario's penalty for napping!

So as you can see, we all had a terrific time on the tour. The crew of the Kontiki were knowledgeable and loads of fun. We'd do this tour again in a heartbeat!

Whalewatching tour: Part 3 - Other sightings

The Kontiki had just started out after picking up thirty plus tourists at Puerto Vallarta when we spotted this cool sea turtle. The turtle was maybe 4-5 feet long and it gave us plenty of photo opportunities as it remained on the surface for a rather long time. Nowadays, spotting a large sea turtle is a rare opportunity because very few of them survive to get to this size. Later, we'll share our excitement with you with our discovery that our resort is only about a half mile from a baby turtle conservation area, another good reason for choosing Nuevo Vallarta over Puerto Vallarta.

On the tour, we also spotted a manta ray though we were unable to get any good photos of it.

VIDEO: Pelicans flying beside our boat

Whalewatching tour: Part 2 - Whales, whales, whales

A trip to Nuevo Vallarta is incomplete without taking in a whalewatching tour. During the winter, the waters of the Banderas Bay are filled with magic as the humpbacks migrate south from the Alaskan waters to breed and calve.

For this tour, we signed up with Kontiki and boy, did we have the time of our lives. We didn't expect to see so many whales on this tour but there they were, in pods of five or more, breaching (jumping) near our boat and slapping the water. They were incredibly acrobatic, considering their massive sizes (79,000 lbs) and appeared to be having the time of their lives in the warm waters of the bay.

VIDEO: A pair of humpbacks breaching near our boat.

VIDEO: Several whales breaching and spouting.

Meet our friends on the whalewatching tour!

Before we got on board the Kontiki for our whalewatching tour, we met the family of Mario and Ross at the dock in Nuevo Vallarta. They were visiting from Celaya in the state of Guanajuato. They were so friendly and warm (that's the case with almost every Mexican we met) that it was easy to strike up an immediate conversation and friendship with them.

When they learned that we were trying to learn Spanish, they became the most patient teachers and we quickly learned simple Spanish. Because of our friendship with them, the tour was even more enjoyable as we shared the wonders and joys of spotting dolphins (delphin in Spanish), a giant turtle (tortuga), a manta ray and whales (ballena).

Video: Mario's Spanish Lessons

Video: Mario and Mario Jr watches as flocks of pelicans (pelicano) fly by.

We will always remember the family of Mario and Ross and the wonderful time we shared on this awesome tour. Even though we're thousands of miles apart, we still communicate via email. We're continuing our Spanish lessons up here in Canada. Who knows? We may be able to converse fully with Mario and his family in Spanish someday!

Buenos Noches! Hasta Luego!

Banderas Bay Whalewatching Part 1: Dolphins

Last August, we had cruised Alaska's Inside Passage. We didn't sign up for a whale-watching excursion because of the exorbitant cost of such a tour and hoped to see whales from the ship but that didn't happen.

So when we learned that Alaska whales migrate to the Banderas Bay to breed and have their young, we jumped on the opportunity to see them. It's also costs a lot less to do this in Mexico and we had such a wonderful time with the funnest crew ever! We don't think you'll have
more fun whale-watching with anyone other than the Banderas Bay Kontiki crew.

We set sail from Nuevo Vallarta to Puerto Vallarta to pick up more tourists. This is a 45-minute ride and what a lot of fun that was with dolphins riding the bow-wave of our boat and frolicking in the sea. Unfortunately, I only had my Olympus all-weather camera with me and so I was unable to get the best photos and videoclips of the dolphins. The photo above was the best photo I could get of a dolphin close to our boat.

Video: A pod of dolphins

Video: A dolphin rides the bow-wave of our boat

Mark has a much better videoclip of frolicking dolphins in Banderas Bay. Please CLICK HERE for his videoclip.