Swimming with Turtles

Four weeks earlier I had arrived at the town of Rethymno on the north coast of Crete as a volunteer to help the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece (STPS) in their efforts to prevent the extinction of the loggerhead turtle. My luxurious ferry docked at Rethymno before dawn and pandemonium ensued as tourists arrived and Cretans returned from the mainland along with lorries of food and livestock, all disembarking in the darkness amid the futile whistles of a couple of policemen. I made my way to the seafront through the old port’s narrow streets. When I arrived I was rudely awakened from my naive dream of an idyllic stretch of sand as the sun rose over the beachside tavernas and the stragglers from the previous night staggered back down the littered street to their hotels to recover until the sun sank again. I realised why the loggerhead was fighting a losing battle in trying to nest on these beaches.

I took a bus to the STPS campsite 5 miles along the coast road. A short trek brought me to an olive grove in the hills overlooking the sea. Thirty or so tents nestled in the shade of the trees, their inhabitants snoozing between being woken by the occasional thud of an olive falling on the roof. The facilities were basic but quite ingenious. Tent fly-sheets served as walls in our shower and you had to be careful when standing on the two planks which separated you from the toilet pit and the possibility of standing knee-deep in shit. You could watch the sun set over Rethymno as you stirred your typical meal of pasta in the al fresco kitchen.

My fellow volunteers included Germans, French, Australians, Scandinavians, Britons and Israelis as well as Greeks. Between us we covered the 11 km of beach where the mother turtles nested. There are several other nesting sites, all with teams of volunteers, on a few of the other islands (the most important site in the Mediterranean being Zakynthos) and the mainland of Greece and Turkey. It was mid August and hatchlings were emerging each night from their nests buried in the sand where the mother’s had laid clutches of about a hundred eggs two months earlier. I was sad to have missed the amazing experience of witnessing a mother turtle coming ashore to nest but saw plenty of the cute hatchlings. After hatching, the young turtles dig their way up through a foot of sand and lay torpid just beneath the surface until a drop in temperature triggers them to emerge under the cover and less dehydrating conditions of darkness. They scramble over the sand like little wind up toys, using the reflection of the moon on the sea to direct them to the watery world where, if they’re very lucky, they will live for perhaps a hundred years. Females are mature at around twenty-five years and, somehow, they manage to return to the beach from which they hatched to lay the next generation and repeat a cycle which has been going on since the age of the dinosaurs.

However, if care is not taken they may have the same fate as their extinct relatives. The older citizens of Crete can remember a time when the beaches turned black with masses of hatchlings. The recent development of tourism in this area is gradually turning them white again. Mother’s are deterred from coming ashore at night by beach furniture left out and the noise from hotels, tavernas and couples bonking on the beach. The nests are at risk from vehicles and being stabbed with umbrella stands. Hatchlings confuse the lights of the hotels with the sea’s horizon and wander around until they dehydrate. Propellers and fishing nets maim and drown adult turtles.

Fortunately there are organisations like the STPS which are making an effort to ensure the survival of the loggerhead. Their work is both scientific and practical. The volunteers set off before dawn and search the beach for nests laid in the night. The number of eggs are counted and then protective cages are placed around the nests. Mother turtles are tagged after they have finished laying so that individuals can be recognised again and their movements recorded. They have a rescue centre which rehabilitates injured turtles and returns them to the sea. The STPS are also trying to stop the problem at its source by working with local people such as fishermen and hoteliers and giving slide shows to tourists at night. The work’s hard but very rewarding.

So if you’re looking for something constructive to do this summer I can think of one organisation who want to hear from you