Turtles on holiday

The last few nights, we've noticed a significant drop in turtles coming upmto nest. From counts of 130-200 turtles per park (we cover two areas), to now 20-90 the last few night, i cant help wonder what the cause is.

My theory, no moon and/or hot weather (nk rain until this morning). Some scientists agree. But who knows. Either way im hoping turtle nu,bers will bounce back, as we arent nearly as close to last years nesting numbers (17big ones), also... Night patrols are torturously long w/ out turtles, fighting for the handful with the greedy tourguides. (- i am getting pretty good at talking to them tho)

We have however, been getting plenty of other visits from some exotic and dangerous creatures:
- 4 scorpion visits in our dorm building (one which stung urs truly, and another one in a friends shoe today... She didnt get stung tho)
- 2 snakes, one in shower, one on its way to our dorm.
- 1 howler monkey who was showing us who's boss the other night.
- bats sleeping on our ceiling
- gekos also, and leaving friendly gifts on our beds
- and lets not forget the shark bitten horse (no horses in torutguero tho) nor the lost sloth on the beach

The funny thing is, altho i write it as an unusual occurence, here it really isnt.
"how'd it go tonight?" the possible answers could be:
" eh, not much happened, saw a dead turtle and fought with a spotter, and on the way back caught a poacher sealing a nest"
"found a ____(something that cld bite) in my ____ (something you use everyday)
- super slow. Altho mile 2 we found a poached nest, jaguar footprints, and a couple lingering hatchling, including a hawksbill (rare), and hekped them into sea, afterward greeted by a tropical storm with camera inhand and no nearby shelter (that was me today)

Also today, i had the first shift at the visitor center. A small interested group came in. What i like here is that a tourist who comes to Tortuguero is most likely to be curious about what we apr doing and conservation in general - than not. So listening and particiation is much more noticeabke. ... I also thinj that tapping into this curiousity is an oppurtunuty that ccc/ or stc has speciall access and should expand on.... hopefully i will have time to help in this department.

Point being for this blog, even a slow day is an interesting and freaky day... But here, its justanother day in Tortuguero.

Wish me luck on my midnight patrol tonight -3rd shift today!