Turtles, San Agustinillo

One of the mornings we were down on the sand before sunrise we noticed we almost stepped on a baby turtle. As our eyes focused in the low light we realised there were lots more all struggling to make it to the rapidly retreating water as the tide went out. We quickly helped the ones we could find into the water.

Widely known as a place to find sea turtles, Mazunte was once the centre of turtle hunting for turtle meat and their eggs. Thanks to extensive conservation efforts, the beaches along the Oaxacan coastline have remained as nesting sites. However despite all these efforts, they say that only 1 in 100 actually survive.

Despite knowing this was a turtle nesting area, we never could’ve imagined that the same beaches we were running on each morning would be those nesting places. To put it into context, these beaches are the ones that are lined with bars and accommodations. I assumed the turtles would pick a more remote beach to lay their eggs so initially I assumed that these baby turtles had been washed up in the tide from a nearby beach.

Only a day or 2 later we were out again early morning and came across the clear tracks of a mumma turtle dragging itself from the water up into the soft sand and digging its nest. Very cool!Read more