Ophelia

Another Tropical Storm out at sea. Ophelia. With the very first predictions showing she was coming towards Antigua we waited expectantly to see her path. She is tracking well north of us. Nothing to see, nothing to worry about. 

Satellite image and projected path of Ophelia. www.meteo.gp

Maybe a bit of storm surge? Listening to the (French) news this morning (Friday), I caught the weather forecast and they mentioned the Caribbean weather. Une fois n'est pas coutume. Courtesy of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana. They had warnings for strong swells. Well I guess we are seeing them. Or it is just exceptionally high tide – similar to those of TS Irene and Maria this year.

Storm surge / swell? ©D.Tilley/JBHP

On the second patrol of the night, we find a turtle down on the eastern end of the beach (-4). She has a twisted flipper and has difficulty digging. I start to help whilst Rob walks up the beach. A few minutes later the radio crackles into life. ‘Dom, there is a girl laying at 20. She’s a neophyte. And she is in the water’. No urgency then. Nicola – the EAG team leader – takes over the digging duties whilst I sprint up the beach. 400m in soft sand (mixed with sargassum and rocks in places) along with the swell slapping the legs took all of two minutes. I am out of shape; that was hard!

Sargassum along Pasture Beach. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

The turtle, we shall refer to as Ophelia from now on, had barely made it out of the water; only her head and fore flippers were on dry sand. 

Ophelia nesting in water. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

She made no effort to crawl up the bank – it is steep, it is difficult, but not impossible. She decided she had made enough of an effort, or she was desperate. We aren’t sure how much of a nest she dug as the waves were crashing onto her rear end and filling the ‘nest’ with water. Nevertheless she was laying. And seemed quite happy. Rob rapidly diving in to save the eggs whilst I work her up. She gets her jewellery, measurements are done and a tissue sample taken. 

Saving the eggs. ©D.Tilley/JBHP

After about 10 minutes she decides starts to cover. It is comical. She is trying to put wet sand into a hole, which is already full of wet sand and the waves keep washing her rear flipper clean. She manages to prop her front end up whilst undermining her rear end. She is now tipping dangerously and risks flipping herself over. Rob relocates the eggs to safer grounds; 139 of them with 26 of them fused in pairs. As I get back to the first girl, she is just about to lay. Nicola stays in position and starts counting the eggs. She lays 149 that fit perfectly in the nest. Good work Momma!

Back up with Ophelia, Rob gently rotates her 90° so she doesn’t flip herself over. Undeterred she carries on masking for a few minutes before slowly making it back to sea.

Welcome to Pasture Beach Ophelia.