8
Location: Anegada
Today started with a lethargic wake-up at 7 am that quickly transformed into a busy morning with more than a little help from Hannah’s directions. Turtle tagging was on the agenda, and we needed to get organized and moving quickly. In our list of equipment was the turtle box, an igloo filled with water, and a cooler containing lunch and snacks, it was getting hot quickly, and we were going to be out all day. We managed to get everything to shore in two trips; there we met up with the Questers and Rondal, the taxi driver who ferried us to the commercial dock where our turtle hunting expedition would be based. We set our gear and sent out two groups of four with Rondal and Richard, who drove the boats. The method that we used today was different that which we used on Virgin Gorda, instead of being towed behind the dinghy, Richard and Rondal drove us out in boats, and we caught the turtles by jumping from the boat when we got close enough. After a bit of downtime on the dock, the first groups came back, and the real work started. We set to work measuring the turtles and tagging them. Each group came back with one or two, one of the Questers came back with a turtle that was maybe fifty pounds, by far the biggest of the day, although Rondal insisted that it was nowhere near the biggest he had seen. The turtles kept coming in as groups went out. Most were green turtles, but we had one hawksbill. Most were untagged, though there were a few that had been caught previously and we even managed to catch a turtle that we had caught earlier in the day. The last groups came in about mid-afternoon, and we cleaned up and got back to the boat at about 3:30. We went for a well deserved and enthusiastic swim around the boat during which we encountered a barracuda chilling under the boat. After our swim, we motored to Pomato Point where we hung out and made dinner.