LAST EXCAVATION OF THE SEASON!

Come to the goatshed at 6 tonight for your last chance to see an excavation for the season.

laura x

Sorry guys...

Theres no excavation or release today so our volunteers are short of jobs to do , come by and have a chat with us.

OTHER NEWS:
-An annonymous volunteer likes to eat sweetcorn out of the tin, with the brine.
-The sea onions are not onions.
-We had jacket potatoes for dinner last night and they were lush.

laura x

Excavation tonight!

Hi all you tremendous turkish turtle followers!

Today we excavate the second from last nest on Alagadi, and to mark the occasion, we would love you all to come along. Its a green nest and has had a few hatchlings emerging over the last couple of nights, so she's ready to see the world. you guys know the drill... pop down to the goatshed at Alagadi for 6pm and we'll walk you on down to bay 2 where you can watch our volenteers dig down and hopefully find lots of hatchlings!
Depending on how many we find, there might be a release, so just ask us if there's lots and you may find its a buy-one-get-one-free!

other news
We now only have 2 kittens up for grabs, but as the season is getting very near the end, these guys need a home very soon, so when you're down for the excavation ask to see the little guys!

hope to see you soon!
Rach x

Never drop your phone in a revolving door...

So theres no excavation or release today but there is a strong likeliehood of an excavation tomorow evening at 6, so give us a ring or come over after 10 am tomorow to double check.

Other news:

-CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! To Simge and Turgut who tied the knot yesterday, we had a great time celebrating with you , thank you :o)
-Town on sunday is not worth the effort.
-Steve got blisters from too much clicking!
-The kittens are still up for grabs.
-Only 3 nests left on Alagadi!!!

Laura x

No Excavation Today

I'm sorry to say that as the season is slowing down we do not have an Excavaion or a Release today but we are still open for information and have plenty of goodies up for sale so you are more than welcome to pop over for a chat and find out what we do.

In other news:

We have become home to 3 very cute and affectionate kittens who are in need of a loving home before the volunteers leave, so if you are living in the area and think you can help please ring us on (009)05338798533 or come over to our base in Alagadi to meet them.

Laura x

Goodbye and no excavation!

Good morning turtle bloggers,

So it is finally here the last blog of my season until next year. Thank you all for visiting the blog, and I hope that you will continue to visit our blog until the very end… I know I will be keeping an eye on it all.

Sadly we do not have an excavation on this evening or a release, but it is looking like we might have one tomorrow evening. However just double check in the morning.

I hope that you all have a good day, and I will be seeing you all next year so until then goodbye.

Collsyxxx

Excavation tonight!

Hi Turtle enthusiasts!

Its all go at the goatshed today, we're repairing the roof on the gazebo, but although there's bamboo all around, we're still hanging around waiting to talk to you all about turtle things great and small.
Today we have an excavation, so if you pop down to the goatshed for 6pm, we'll walk you on down to the beach and dig up one of the last 5 nests on Alagadi! We don't have a release today unfortunately as we just don't have any hatchlings, however if there are enough hatchlings out of the excavation nest then we might be able to do one this evening after all. So if we get a few, ask us and we'll try to to fit you in!
Hope to see you soon,
Rach of the Turtle Project

***No excavation to night***

Good morning turtle bloggers,

I am sorry to say that again we do not have an excavation on this evening, and our release is already full booked for this evening.

If you are looking to come down for an excavation make sure that you give us a call in the mornings, sooner rather than later, as our nest numbers are now down to only 6!!!

Don’t forget that we are always open for any general information that you may want. So please don’t hesitate to drop in for info.

Thank you and hopefully we will have an excavation on in the next couple of evenings.

Collsyxxx

No excavation this evening

Good morning turtle followers,

I am sorry to announce that we do not have an excavation or a release this evening as nothing is hatching at the moment.

We are still however open for any information and questions you may have, so please do not hesitate to visit us in Alagadi for more information.

Hope you have a good day
Collsyxxx

Excavation tonight!!

Hello turtle bloggers,

Sorry for the late update but we do have an excavation on this evening at the usual time of 6pm meet at the goatshed.

Today’s nest is located on our third bay, and to make a difference from green nests the nest is a logger nest YAY!! We don’t know whether or not we have a release on tonight, as no hatchlings came off the beach this morning. But if the nest has plenty out of it we will hopefully be able to book a few people on at the excavation itself.

So we hope many of you can join us tonight!
See you there
Collsyxxx

***Excavation this evening***

Merhaba turtle followers,

I am happy to announce that we do have an excavation on this evening. Sorry for the late update of the blog, our internet dongle was playing hid and seek!! So the excavation is on Alagadi, and for those who have mobility issues, can meet us down at eh beach bar where you should see some volunteers in red t-shirts followed by hopefully a reasonable sized crowd at around 6:15pmish.

The nest this evening is a green nest which has been hatching now for 48 hours so it is time to see whether there are any stragglers left in the nest that just need a helping hand out of the egg chamber.

We are starting to slow up now on the excavation front, with our season now almost coming to an end. We only have a remaining 10 or so nests left now, so those who would like to come to an excavation please do keep checking the blog and giving us a call as time is sadly coming to an end…but not just yet so please keep supporting us in any way that you can and we hope that we can provide you with a few more excavations yet to come. Incidentally we are not sure yet whether or not we are having a release this evening, as no hatchling came of and morning walks. So we will wait until the excavation and see if we have any hatchlings out of the nest, and then we can hopefully book some people in. If not again do keep giving us a call in the mornings and hopefully we will be having a release.

Our number is; (009)05338798533
Hope to see as many people as possible tonight,

Collsyxxx

Excavation tonight

There will be an excavation tonight at Alagadi 6pm. Also a release at 9pm. Please call to book if you would like to see the release 05338798533. No need to book for the excavation.

Robbo

No excavation this evening

Good morning turtle followers,

I am sorry but this evening we do not have an excavation or a release on. We may have one on tomorrow, but to make sure that we do have one on, give us a ring at 10am in the morning.

We are still open though for any information you may want. So don’t hesitate to come and visit us at the goatshed for information and souvenirs.

Have a good day and don’t forget to call in the morning,
Collsy xxx

***Excavation this evening***

Good morning trusty turtle followers,

I am glad to announce that we do indeed have an excavation on this evening, and that we still have many spaces left on our release this evening. The difference with the excavation this evening is that the excavation is on our second beach, so we ask those who are going to come down this evening to meet at the goatshed for the usual time of 6pm, where we will then be convoying it over to Iki at around ten past six.

The nest is a green nest, and we have had around 30 out of the nest already, but expect more to be making an appearance at the excavation this evening.

As I say we do have a release on this evening, and still have another 25 spaces or so left. So if you would like to experience releasing your own hatchling on its first leg to its start in life, then please call us or ask to be booked in at the excavation.

No flash photography can be used at either event, and donations are greatly appreciated due to our project being funded and kept open by all your generous donations, so let us continue and keep supporting us :D

Thank you and we hope to see many people as possible here for the excavation and release.

Collsy xxx

No excavation BUT news flash!

Good morning turtle followers,

Sorry for the late update, the blog this morning would not co-operate thus the lack of an update! However, we are not having an excavation or a release on this evening. But please don't stop giving us a call in the mornings, and keep coming down to visit us. Although the holiday season is finishing, the turtle project is still open for business.

We would like to thank the Russian family for their cake making skills last night for the release! - You know how to make a group of volunteers very happy!! AMAZING!

NEWS FLASH....
-JB/monkey's morning hair is amazing!
-Collsy and Laura are dying or Errol aids!
-Laura diminished a pot of chocolate spread - with a spoon!
-Afro goat licked Laura's hand!
-Smallest Loggerhead EVER from North!
-Kim is complaining about reversing 20m after a missed turn….. awww diddums
-Kim is now having a tantrum double diddums!!
-Caterpillar just crawled up from sleepy…LAZY!
-Westies are returning back to the Goatshed as our west base closes for the season.
-Thus turtle project is going well!!!

Collsyxxx

UPDATE: Excavation tonight and a release!!

Good morning turtle bloggers,

Great news, we now have an excavation tonight and if you would like to come please get to the turtle project base (Goatshed) at 6pm tonight. Sorry for the initial confusion but we still won’t have one tomorrow. We do however this evening have another 20 places for a hatchling release this evening. So in order to secure yourself a space on the release please call us on the Goatshed phone;

05338798533

We hope that you can book a place on this event tonight.

See you then
Collsy xxx

Excavation this evening!!

Good morning one and all,

I am happy to say that we do have an excavation on this evening at the usual time of the 6pm meet at the goatshed. The nest that we will be excavating this evening is a green nest that has been hatching now for 48 hours, so it is time for the hatchling team to excavate it.

The nest in question is on our second bay from our base, which if you are coming down from the beach bar is on the left hand bay. From there you should be able to see, by about 10 past 6, a couple of red t-shirts setting up in preparation for the event. We invite anyone who wishes to come down and see the excavation to come down.

May I just remind you that we ask that no flash photography is used, and that we are a charity organisation, and any donations or purchases of our souvenirs would be greatly appreciated.

Hope to see you all there
Collsyxxx

No excavation this evening

Good morning turtle follower,

I must apologise for the blog not being updated yesterday morning, our internet stick had run out of credit! So on with today, I am sorry to announce that there is no excavation on this evening, and we are still waiting for our north base to get in contact with us to see whether we have any hatchlings to release, our Aligadi team came off the beach with no hatchlings this morning and thus we depend now on the north coast team. So we ask that if you are interested in coming to a release and you would like to potentially book in today, that you give us a call on the Goatshed for 12pm and we should then be able to tell whether or not we will be having a release. We will however not be taking any bookings before 12pm. We hope you have a good day!

Collsyxxx

Excavation tonight!!!

Good morning one and all,

We do have an excavation on this evening at the usual time of 6pm. This nest is our third bay which is on the right if you are coming down from the beach bar. This nest is a green nest, and it has been hatching now for a couple of days, so it is time to excavate it.

As usual (I am sorry to nag) but NO flash photography is to be used during the excavation. There is enough light for descent pictures without the flash, as the flash is so intense that it can damage the eyes and thus will reduce their chance of survival. Again we are a charity organisation and we ask that any donations you can give will be greatly appreciated.

We hope that many people turn up again for the exo. Just a reminder that we are still taking people down for the releasing of the hatchlings so if you are interested in coming to see this, don’t forget to give us a call at 10am.

Hope you all have a good day,
Collsy xx

Good morning to all!

Good morning turtle followers,

Sorry for the late update, but we are having an excavation on this evening at 6pm as usual at the goatshed. The nest is in the middle of our 3rd bay, which is to the right of the beach bar. So for those with mobility issues can make their way down to the beach bar and someone will walk through the bar to show people the way to the nest. Otherwise just meet at the goatshed and we will walk you down from there.

As usual we ask that during the excavation that no flash photography is used, and we only ask for donations in the form of souvenirs or donations.

Hope to say many people there,
Collsy xx

Turtle excavation this evening!!!

Good morning turtle followers,

I am happy to announce that we do have an excavation on this evening. It is on Bay 3 (right of the beach bar). It is a Green nest that has been hatching for 48 hours now, so it is ready to be excavated. We do have a release on this evening, and those who have managed to book a place should meet at our base for 9pm. We are sorry to say that the release has now been fully booked, and most days are booked with in the first 5 minutes of the lines officially opening at 10am. Therefore I say to anyone that wishes to book for one of our releases to have us in speed dial for 10.

For those who are going to meet us for the excavation should meet at our base in Alagadi village for 6pm, where we will take you down to the nest and excavate it. Don't panic if there are no hatchlings found in the nest, we will always bring some that have been excavated this morning for you all to see and take pictures.

Two things that we ask are: 1) no flash photography is to be used during the excavation, it is light enough without the flash, as this can damage the hatchlings eyes and thus their sight. 2) We are a charity organisation and in order to remain running, we ask for any contribution in the form of donations or souvenirs would be greatly appreciated.

We hope to see many people at the excavation tonight,
See you then
Collsyxxx

Good morning, good morning!

Good morning, good morning
We have no excavation
Good morning, good morning
But we do have a turtle release!

Same as usual; give us a call no earlier than 10a.m. to book a place on the release. Be quick as the places we fill up fast and there is only room for 20 tonight!

If you're lucky enough to get a place, meet us at the Goat Shed no earlier than 8.50. We will then walk you down to the beach to release the hatchlings and answer any questions you have. You are welcome to bring cameras but we ask that you do not use the flash as it disorientates the little hatchlings and could cause damage to their eyesight.

Look forward to the release tonight, all the best bloggers.

Collsy xxx and ~JB~

Jam-packed day!

Hey again bloggers. Today is going to be a busy turtle day.

First off, we have a Turtle Fun Day at Lapethos Aqua-Park in Lapta. The tickets are a special price of 10TL and there will be stalls, raffles and games for everyone. Proceeds will be going towards our Project as well as S.P.O.T.; so please come join us at the Aqua-park today from 10am until 5pm - I promise you wont be disappointed and the project will greatly appreciate the support we recieve.

Shortly following our Turtle Fun Day, we will be having another public excavation, same time (6p.m.) and same place (meet at our Alagadi base, the Goatshed). Today's excavation is located on Bay 3 of Alagadi beach, in fact it is about one metre away from yesterday's very successful excavation.
Once again, if you have mobility difficulties you are welcome to wait at the Alagadi beach bar and join us when you see a group of volunteers in red shirts walking across the beach. Hope to see lots of people at 6pm for another informative and eventful excavation.

Finally, we will round of the day with another hatchling release. Unfortunately today's release will be limited to 10 people as we have not found many hatchlings during our morning walks. If you would like to attend please give us a call on 009 0533 879 8533 dead on 10 a.m. (not before!).

So here's to a fun filled and exciting turtle day! Hope everyone can join us and we'll look forward to meeting you all! Keep well bloggers~

~JB~

We've got an Excavation tonight!

Howdy bloggers!

Excavation tonight at 6pm. Meet at the Goatshed and we'll walk you all down to the beach. As usual we'll be giving you a talk on the whole project (what we do, the people involved and the techniques we use for turtle conservation). It's an informative and worthwhile experience, which will take about 30-45 minutes of your time.

Goatshed news:
- We're adopting a hedgehog
- Our fridge is still broken
- Alison is sunburnt
- And we've run out of squash! D=

Hope to see you all at the excavation! Till next time!

~JB~

No excavation tonight

Good morning bloggers,

I am afraid that there are no excavations tonight, and the release has been fully booked already. May I remind people that if they are looking to book for a release they need to be calling at 10am, and from then our bookings to tend to fill up extremely quickly.

Collsy x

***Excavation tonight***

Good morning turtle bloggers,

I'm happy to announce that we do have an excavation on this evening. We have however already been fully booked for our release this morning but do keep calling in the mornings at 10am to try and book places on other nights!

The nest is located on our second bay, and is thus easily accessible for those with mobility issues - instead of walking down the steps there is at the end of the car park a gradual slope for those who would find it easier to access the beach.

As always we say that no flash photography is used during the excavation as not only does it damage the hatchlings eyes but it also shows how dirty the volunteers are :D. This experience is free of charge, but this project is a charity organisation and thus depends on any donations to maintain the project.

We hope to see many people at the excavation tonight which as usual at 6pm at our base.
Collsy xxx

Excavation this evening

Good Morning turtle bloggers,

Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you and fond farewell to Farid who after being with the project from the beginning has just left for home in Pakistan. Thank you Faird for all your help and wonderful cooking I don’t know how we are going to survive now!! Have a safe journey home!! – We are all going to be lost without you!

On other news, we do not have an excavation on this evening, but we are having a release, we have 10 spaces remaining, so if you are interested in coming down for the release please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Hope you all have a good day and hopefully we will have an excavation on tomorrow, but we are not certain so give us a call in the morning and we will let you know.

We are always open to the general public for any information, so please to hesitate to come down and find out about the project and souvenirs are always on sale.

All the best
Collsy xxx

***Excavation tonight***

Good morning Turtle followers!

I am glad to write that we do have an excavation on this evening at the usual time of 6:00pm. Our nest is on our second bay so there is less of a walk for those with mobility issues. Although if you do struggle the beach bar is the other option of getting down to the beach, but you will need to walk back on yourself towards Alagadi until you meet the excavation team.

The nest that we will be excavating this evening is a Loggerhead nest, and has been hatching for a couple of days, and it has now been 48hours after the last hatchling emerged so it is ready to be excavated.

Although we can not guarantee that any hatchlings will still be remaining in the nest, we will always have some to show everyone, which our morning hatches have just collected from their morning walks. So have no fear you will all see some hatchlings.

The one thing that we do ask of you all that not flash photography is used during the excavation as it can damage the eye sight of the hatchlings due to its intensity. We also ask that any donations during the excavation or even of the perches of souvenirs would be greatly appreciated, as we are a charity organisation, and without your help we can not continue our work here, so please if you are feeling generous please dig deep into your pockets and give any thing you can and help us stay out here and continue to help conserve the turtles!

Excavation Tonight!!!

Hello Turtle Lovers!!

Just a little update, there will be a nest excavation tonight at 6pm. The nest being excavated is at bay 3 of Alagadi, it is a green turtle nest so we are expecting a nice amount of eggs and hopefully some hatchlings for everyone to see!

There will be some hatchlings brought down to the excavations so everyone will get a chance to see them and take some pictures. We do stress that that all flashes are turned off as they can damage the hatchlings eyesight.

We will meet at the goatshed at 6pm but if anyone has any mobility issues then you can wait at the beach bar until you see a large group of people being led by the red shirted volunteers!

Donations are gratefully received and as this is a charity organisation we run on them, there are also many souvenirs available at the info room!

Hope to see all you turtle enthusiasts tonight!

Errol

***Public Excavation Tonight***

Hi there everyone!

Just letting you know that we have both a public excavation and hatchling release tonight. Unfortunately our hatchling release is already fully booked; if you would like to experience a hatchling release please give us a call (0095.338.798.533) at 10a.m. the day you would like to come. Please note, releases do not occur every day and numbers are limited.

This evenings excavation is on Bay 3 of Alagadi beach. If you would like to attend please meet at our base camp at 6pm and we will escort everyone down to the designated site.
If you do have mobility difficulties, there is a car park located half way along the beach at the beach bar. Just look out for volunteers in red tshirts and a large mass of people walking down the beach just after 6pm.

Also, I would like to stress that flash photography is not allowed as it can damage the hatchlings eyesight.

We hope that many can make it tonight! We look forward to showing you what turtle conservation is all about!

~JB~

***Excavation this evening at 6pm***

Good morning everyone!

I hope that we find you well this morning!! I'm glad to say that we do have an excavation on this morning, but our release is already fully booked.

As with yesterday the excavation is going to be on Iki our second beach, and will be convoying it over to the nest.

The nest is a green nest and has been hatching only for a couple of days. We have not had many out of this nest so far, so we hope that we will find some still struggling up through the sand.

I am sorry to keep mentioning it but we still need to drill in the message that no flash photography is to be used during the excavation, as it can impair the hatchling's sight.

We hope that many people will turn up this evening!!
Hope to see you there
Collsyxxx

***Excavation for the Nation!***

Good morning turtle bloggers!

I am glad to inform you that we do have an excavation on this evening!!
The nest that we will be excavating will be on our second beach over on Iki. This means that we require people to meet us at the goatshed, and we will form a convoy over to the next beach. There will be a volunteer at the turn off of the road so that any stragglers in the convoy know the way to go.

This nest is going to be a logger nest, and has been hatchling for a couple of days, so we hope that there will still be some stragglers left in the nest.

I am afraid that our release to night is already fully booked so for those who are attending the excavation, arrive at the goatshed at 6:00pm.

The one thing that we ask is that no flash photography is used and these experiences are free of charge, so we ask for any donations would be greatly appreciated!

We hope to see you all tonight!
Have a good day.
Collsyxxx

No excavation this evening :(!!!

Good morning fellow bloggers, I hope we find you well this fine morning!!

I am afraid that there is no public excavation on this evening and our release is fully booked. We will not know whether there is an excavation on tomorrow until morning, so all I can say is keep your eyes peeled and you thumbs hovering over the dial pad for the goatshed and we will hopefully know soon!

We will know whether or not we will be having an excavation first thing in the morning, but we will not know about a release until us morning hatchers return from the beach from our mornings work hopefully with prize hatchlings in hand. Hopefully we will be off the beach by 10 and able to start booking people in for the releases.

Have a good day!
Collsyxxx

Excavation Tonight!!

Merhaba,

I hope all our blog readers are well and enjoying the lovley weather out here in North Cyprus!

Just to let everyone know there will be an excavation tonight at the usual time of 6pm. It is a green turtle nest and we are hoping we will find some live hatchlings! But as usual we will bring some hatchlings for all to see.

We will meet at the goatshed at 6pm but if anyone has any mobility issues then you can wait at the beach bar until you see a large group of people being led by the red shirted volunteers!

We do ask that there is no flash photography as it affects the sight of the hatchlings. This is a charity that runs totally on donations so any donations will be gratefully received, there are also many souvenirs available at the info room!

I look forward to seeing everyone tonight!!

Errol

Excavation Tonight!

Hi Everyone

Just to let you all know that there will be an excavation tonight at 6pm. It's a Loggerhead nest that has been hatching for two days so hopefully we will be expecting some live hatchlings... fingers crossed!!! We will however also have some hatchlings for you all to see when we are down there which hatched last night.

We must stress that there is to be no flash photography due to the damage it inflicts on the sight of the hatchlings. Any donations gratefully recieved!!!

Hope to see you all down there :)

x Alice x

****Excavation****

Good morning to all,

We have another excavation on this evening. However today is a little different. The nest that we will be excavating is located on the second beach over the headland from Alagadi. As normal we will be asking people to meet at our Goatshed for 6:00pm. From then we will jump in the cars and convoy you all round to the next car park and bay.

The nest is a Green nest that has been hatching for just over 24 hours, so hopefully we will still find some live hatchlings in the chamber still!! - Although we can not promise you that you will see the hatchlings emerging from the nest, we will have some hatchlings that have been collected from the beach this morning for you all to see and have a photo opportunity. We do stress though that no flash photography is used, as it can seriously impair the sight of the hatchlings.

We welcome all to come and visit us tonight, and I look forward to seeing many faces at our excavation!

Collsy xxx

***Excavation tonigh!!!***

Good morning bloggers,

We do have another excavation on this evening, so we would like people to arrive at our base for 6:00om. We will not be releasing any of the hatchlings out of the nest. We have got a release on this morning, however we are booking up fast and so far tonight only have 2 more places remaining.

All are welcome to come down to the excavation so please feel free to come and visit us. We only ask that no flash photography is used during the excavation as it will be light enough to take pictures. We also ask that any donations that you can give would be gratefully appreciated in keeping the project funded!

We hope many of you can make it tonight.
See you soon
Collsy xxx

Excavation tonight!!

Good morning turtle followers!!

I am happy to say that we have an excavation on this evening and we invite anyone who wishes to attend to come down and see it.

The nest is on Bay 3, so for those with mobility issues may want to drive straight down to the beach bar and keep an eye out for red t-shirts who will be able to lead you to the nest.

So we would like everyone to meet at a slightly different time 6:45 - 7:00 where upon volunteers will lead you down to the nest and commence the excavation. We will not be releasing any of the hatchlings found in this nest, but we will be releasing the few that braved coming up on this mornings walk.

So we welcome anyone who wishes to come and watch our excavation and release. We do however, ask that no flash photography is used during the excavation as it can damage the sight of the hatchlings. At the end of the night we do also ask for any donations that you are willing to give, as we are a none funded charity organisation that relies on the volunteers fee to come on the project, and donations to buy equipment, and to keep the project alive and running. So any donations would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hope to see many faces this evening!

Collsy xxx

My Turtle Experience by Errol Ibrahim

In just a week of working for the Marine Turtle Project I have witnessed some of the most amazing events of my 22 year life, so far. I am very familiar with North Cyprus and have been to its beautiful beaches and climbed the barren mountains, but seeing a Green Turtle hatchling rising from the sand to see the star lit sky for the first time is something I find very hard to describe in words.

When first arriving here at Alagadi I didn’t know quite what to expect, but I was thrown into the deep end on my first walk. An adult Green Turtle had emerged from the water and began its search for a suitable area to lay its eggs, making sure I could not be seen by the turtle I began to army crawl behind and watched it dig out a body pit with its powerful flippers. After around an hour of digging the body pit and then the egg chamber she started to lay her eggs, hopefully not in vain as only 1 hatchling in a 1,000 makes it to maturity (around 20-30 years old). Not only was I lucky to see a laying turtle on my first ever walk but this turtle needed a satellite attached which I watched in an almost trance like state, I will definitely be looking out at www.seaturtle.org where you can follow the movements of turtles which have a satellite.

The nesting season has now almost come to an end, with three days of no nesting activity we are beginning to accept that those types of experiences are coming to an end. However the end of the nesting season marks the beginning of the hatching season which is every bit as amazing. So far I have been lucky enough to see 36 Green hatchlings emerge from a nest and other nests with one or two hatchlings appear (these nests are expected to “boom” very soon). Once hatchlings are found and measured they can be released back to the sea, each time it amazes me how their natural instincts guide them to the vast Mediterranean Sea where they will hopefully mature into adults and return to Alagadi.

Public excavations and releases are now taking place; to book a space to come along please check this blog (www.turtleproject2010.blogspot.com) for updates or call 0090 533 879 8533 and hopefully you can experience one of nature’s greatest shows!

Errol Ibrahim

Excavation for the nation!!!!

Hello to all you turtle followers out there - I am sorry that it has taken me a while to announce this excavation for today but better late than never!!

We do have an excavation on this evening, and we ask that visitors who would like to come watch tonight, to meet at the goatshed at around 6:15pm where we hope to start the exo around 6:30pm. For those who have mobility problems the excavation this evening is right next to the beach bar so alternatively you can meet us there, just look for a mass of red t-shirts.

We strongly ask visitors who would like to take pictures to make sure that the flash is off as the light is so intense that it can damage the sight of the hatchlings.

I forgot to say one more thing - we will not be releasing the hatchlings that come out of the nest today, as our protocol has changed from last year. Any hatchings that we excavate will be taken back to our base and will be released at 9 that night. For future excavations we will be taking bookings for hatchling releases of up to 30 visitors. However, for the rest of this week we are still having visitors down on the beach for night work and thus we can not take any more people down to the beach until this has finished on the 4th of next month (August).

So please come down and visit us and the hatchlings!
Collsyxxx

Public excavation

There is going to be public excavation at 7:30 PM.Meet at Goatshed

This season so far.......By John Larner

Volunteers from North Cyprus, UK and other countries have been working hard on the beaches across North Cyprus since May 2010. This mid season update will hopefully give you a good idea of how the project is going and more importantly some useful information on how the turtles are doing this season.

The Loggerheads and Greens are laying their final egg clutches for the season. To date there have been 35 loggerhead nests and 70 green nests on the primary nesting ground of Alagadi. In addition to this there have been 184 loggerhead nests and 29 green nests on the other beaches along the West and Northern Cyprus coastline. Furthermore the locally led turtle conservation project operating on the Karpas peninsula has recorded many Green nests this year.

One of the primary successes to surface from this season so far is the relationship that has been established by the MTRG with the local fishermen. Communication has vastly improved which has lead to an improved relationship and has acted as a catalyst for improved conservation efforts and new branches of research into how fishing affects sea turtles in the Mediterranean. This morning a loggerhead turtle was caught in a net by a fisherman at Kaplica. After the fishermen contacted us we received the turtle at the harbour, tagged it and released it at Kaplica. Perhaps the adult female turtle will some day lay eggs on Alagadi beach, or it may be recaptured by fishermen in the future, providing information on her movements.

As the season moves into the second phase, we are starting to see the first hatchlings emerge from the beaches. Clearly this is a massively rewarding part of the project, and we invite people to come down to Alagadi beach to experience the hatchlings bravely making it to the sea for themselves.

Anyone wanting to see the hatchlings is advised to ring the MTRG project base (AKA the goatshed) to find out when the next hatchling excavation will be. As the season moves into August, this will be an almost daily occurrence! Remember only one hatchling in a thousand will survive to adulthood, so we welcome you to egg them on! The telephone number is: 0090 (0)5338798533. Also keep an eye on this blog, which will be updated daily by 9am with details of any excavations planned day to day.

Farid's Story

I belong to Pakistan where I live in a big city, Lahore, where you can’t see the wonders of nature and wildlife. Since my childhood I was deeply attached to nature and wildlife. Being a shy guy most of my time I spend in my home with my plants and pets. They are very close to my heart. I always wanted to work for wildlife and the environment, but never had a chance. I studied Journalism and Sociology, which doesn’t connect me with my passion and dreams. But I believe if passion is true you can achieve everything. So my Life took a new turn when I applied for this project. Most of the volunteers are from Europe. I asked the project leader Robin Snape before applying and he suggested I give it a try. In the beginning of 2010 I got email from Robin. He asked will I be free in summer. After reading this I was jumping.

This happiness brought worries. How was I going to arrange money? I was in need of 2 hundred thousand rupees! But God sent a miracle. My cousin agreed to lend me some of the money and for the rest I had to sell my most precious thing, my motorbike. It was so hard. There was only one thing in my mind I have to make it. There were so many hurdles in my way to get North Cyprus money, visa and biggest problem was how to send Robin my contribution to the project? It took weeks to figure it out. But in the end I was finally ready to fly.

The hardest thing was to leave my mother. I had not been away from my mother for a single day in the past 20 years. But that’s life and I left home and travelled to another big city called Karachi where I took the long journey to Isatanbul. I was so happy to see Istanbul airport and then travel onwards to Ercan. After a number of hours dealing with visa issues, I took a long breath in the fresh air of North Cyprus. I hadn’t seen the Sea in my whole life so it was mind blowing.

When I arrived there was just me and 3 more people. In the beginning I was terribly home sick and I shed a thousand tears on the roof top of Goatshed. The worst thing was that I wasn’t able to call my mother for 5 days. When I finally talked to my mother it was a great relief. The first 3 weeks were hardest weeks of my life. But now I am getting to know everyone.

Seeing turtles and working with them makes me feel like I am living in the National Geographic Channel. Everything is amazing. This project is very important and special to me. I know in the end its going to open new door in my destiny. I love the struggle of female turtles how much effort they put to give birth to new life. They spend hours and hours to secure their hatchlings. Its amazing and makes me realize the importance of struggle. Now the Goat Shed is full of people. But its good. We have so many differences because I came from another part of the world. Many of their views and ideas are different to mine but its good because I am learning so many things from them. Everyday is new lesson here. When I am done with this project I hope I’ll have changed a lot. The turtles are now special part of my life and always will be. I hope my journey will go well. I am going to see the Karpas soon. So I can see other sides of North Cyprus.
FARID AHMED