Introducing this week’s celebrity, Bridgette. She has traveled to Grenada the past two summers to not only soak up the sun and create great memories but to save turtles!! Who woudn’t want to work in the sun all day on such a beautiful island while also helping to protect the cutest baby animals!?
First can you tell about the trip and what you did this past summer?
So my internship was on the little island called Grenada in the West Indies, off the coast of Venezuela. I was there for three memorable weeks, with ten other girls from all over the world!
Levera Beach, is the beach that the program Ocean Spirits monitors all year. Levera beach is one of the top three beaches in the world for Leatherback Sea Turtle nesting. With so many leatherbacks coming to this beach it is very important to do anything and everything possible to make sure the mother turtles and hatchlings are safe.
Ocean Spirits is a small but up and coming organization that was created in 1999. There are three research supervisors, four local volunteers and then 10-20 research assistants per session.
How did you get involved with this trip?
My sophomore year I took Gregg Moore’s tropical ecology course, which is a J-term two week course in Grenada. Our other supervisor, for the trip was one of Dr. Moore’s very close friend’s and also a island local, names Tyrone. One afternoon I had been talking with Tyrone about how badly I wanted to come back to the Island. He had suggested I apply for an internship with Ocean Spirits which is run through the organization, Working Abroad. After I got home, all I could think about was going back so I applied for the internship as one of Ocean Spirits research assistants. Before I knew it, I got the internship! So that following summer I was able to go back for a three week internship with the program.
What was you’re favorite part about going to Grenada to save turtles?
Oh gosh there are so many favorite parts! Haha
I think my favorite part was knowing that in a small but big way, I was helping make a difference in these turtles lives. I guess my favorite part was, one day we were on site excavating a nest that had been dug up by local dogs and many of the hatchling had not made it but as we kept digging and we found two little hatchlings that were the lone survivors from this nest. We took them back to our head quarters so they could stay cool during the day then we would release them at night. That night when two of the girls and I set them free, it was an indescribable feeling knowing they you are setting them off into the unknown with no idea their fate but you have to let them go.
Why did you choose to get involved with this and how? Is there some type of group that does this or did you go on your own?
I had not heard of ocean spirits till my professor’s friend Tyrone, who helps with the organization, suggested I apply for the program.
Ocean Spirits is run through a larger non-profit organization called Working Abroad, which is the program I went through. I was one of two girls who came from the US, but having the island culture and the other girls being from all over the world on the project with me was an amazing experience.
What was the overall experience like?
My overall experience was better than I could have ever dreamt of it being. I was such an amazing experience sometimes I feel like it did not even really happen. There were so many factors that helped make it so unbelievable such as, the staff, the other girls who were interns as well, the locals who were so warm and welcoming and of course living in a tropical paradise was not too bad either.
Describe a typical day for you while you were in Grenada?
Because it is a program designed around leatherback sea turtles the hours are not “normal” in a sense. Three to Four nights a week I worked on the beach with three other research assistants and two local supervisors. The night shift is 8pm to 6am, every 30 minutes you have to walk the two mile long beach and be on the lookout for leatherbacks coming ashore to nest. If while you are walking you see a turtle coming up, you stay there and do not leave the turtle till she has laid her eggs and gone back into the ocean. Almost all of the leatherback sea turtles have tags and or chips so we are able to track their migration during the year, so as a turtle comes up we have a standard procedure in order to collect the correct data. The night watches can be long and quiet tiring but it’s all worth it because, when else would one be able to witness a six foot long leatherback sea turtle coming ashore and laying eggs. Some nights if we were lucky we would be able to see hatching heading out to sea, seeing them scurry to the sea might be one of the cutest things I will ever see in my entire life. So there is night duty, then there is morning duty when you get up before the sun rises and you walk to beaches and cover up any tracks left by the turtles so the poachers so not find the nests. And the third job is once or twice a week we go in teams and walk the beach and measure erosion, vegetation etc. Every nest is recorded with measurements so we know where every nest is located on the beach. Sometimes if the nest has not hatched and it is way past its due date we have to excavate and try and figure out why the none of the eggs hatched. Our nights are very busy working on site but we have free time during the day to go to the beach, watch a local football game, take the bus into town or my favorite go scuba diving! There are many snorkeling and scuba diving sites all around the island, that are absolutely breathe taking!
I think it is very important to branch out of one’s comfort zones and just pick up and go somewhere completely different from what you know. It teaches us to find our passions and helps one fulfill hopes and dreams. I found my calling on a little island in the west indies whether you find your calling in Grenada or anywhere else in the world you will not know until you go!
Will you continue to do this in the future?
Yes, as of right now I am planning on going back to Ocean Spirits for the entire summer to work on their research team! I am so excited, I can not wait to go back!
How would other students go about getting involved if this were something that they were interested in?
How other students can get involved, is by visiting the ocean spirits website or the working abroad projects website and there is a link to apply for ocean spirits and or hundreds of different projects all over the world!
Here are the websites
http://www.oceanspirits.org/
And if anyone has any questions they can always feel free to email me as well, brj34@wildcats.unh.edu