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sand beach and started excavating her nest chamber,
Hobete motioned me forward. The menacing glint of
moonlight on steel in Hobete’s hand may have suggested
a sharp blade for dispatching the turtle, but instead he
held a turtle tag applicator. The Tetepare Descendants’
Association (TDA) turtle team measured and tagged
every nesting leatherback and relocated all of their eggs
to a rookery that was safe from high tides, predatory
monitors and the ensnaring roots of beach vines. Last
year 1,208 hatchlings emerged from this hatchery — at
least 1,000 more than would have hatched without the
intervention of Hobete’s turtle monitors.
To finally witness a leatherback nesting was the
realization of a decade of dreams for me. While the
men worked quietly and efficiently, I was starstruck.
The turtle’s massive front flippers, each as long as my
arms but many times more powerful, sent sand and
small pebbles flying across the beach. Streams of salt-
laden tears from her dark round eyes seemed to reflect
the exertion and maybe fear inherent to returning to
nest on the same beach that she hatched from many
decades ago.
The future is perilous for the world’s largest and
most ancient living sea turtles, which have experienced
cataclysmic declines in recent years. Their critically
endangered status is not only due to being hunted
and harvested at nesting beaches but even more to
inadvertent deaths as fishery bycatch, in boating collisions
learn more
See more stunning photos of Tetepare at AlertDiver.com.
For more information on the conservation and research activities
on Tetepare or to plan a visit, go to
ANTHONY PLUMMER
