I Did It Turtle's Way

Why was the turtle nest a success? Because it was eggs-ellent! As has been my past 2 months here on the Turtle Project! Yes, my time has come to leave. It's been an amazing couple of months in which I've seen so many amazing things. The people too have been great - both those I've worked with and all of you who come and support our work. It's always great to see your enthusiasm and all your support and active help combined with the actual experience of these brilliant animals in a fantastic place makes this the most rewarding Summer I've had. But although my time has come, yours is not yet over! Again we still have some nests due to hatch, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for your chance to share some of your time with hatchlings too! Excavations and releases will still be taking place over the next couple of weeks with the last nests of the season. The blog will still be updated with news of these events, and the phone lines are also still open on (009)05338798533. But alas, I must depart. And on the plane home I shall be read 'Harry Potter and the Turtle of Azkaban'. Farewell Turtle Bloggers! It's been great! Roger x (Oh, and for the film I'll be watching mid-flight...) PS. I Love Turtles

Turtlecalifragilisticexpialidocious!!

Why was the turtle jealous? Because it was a Green! Tonight sees the last night of night work of the season! Right back since May we have been patrolling the beaches, even in the wee small hours of the morning, but alas the time has come to return to the daylight. However, the project will still be running until the first week of October, so there is still time to catch sight of some turtles! We are afraid that we have no hatchlings to release tonight, but again still keep your eyes and ears open as we still have more nests due to hatch so the chance for you to catch some babies is still very much alive! In the meantime however, have a fantastic evening! During which, I shall be reading 'The Da Vinci Turtle', and watching 'The Turtleator'... Roger

Man I Feel Like A Turtle!

We're afraid that as yet there is no release today. However, we do still have an excavation on, leaving the Goatshed at 4 o clock. If we retrieve enough hatchlings from the excavated nest, we will then run a release tonight at 8 o clock. So from about half past 5 you can try to give us a call on 05338798533 to see if we're lucky! Roger

Hakuna MaTurtle

Morning Turtle Bloggers! Apologies for no update yesterday, we had lost all power here at the Goatshed. But we are back in business! Therefore you'll get 2 jokes today! And after the first, I bring good news... But first: Why was the turtle antisocial? Because he couldn't come out of his shell! The good news is that 2 nests hatched on Alagadi last night! This includes a Green nest which I I witnessed being layed on August 1st under the full moon! This means that after a few days without, we DO have an excavation on today! Come to the Goatshed for 4 o clock and we'll walk down onto the beach, no need to book. However, as for a release it is still too early in the day to tell whether or not we will be running one. The blog will be updated if we have one on, but it's also worth giving us a call when we start taking bookings at 12, even if the blog hasn't yet been updated. So once again, that number is 05338798533. So that second joke you've been dying for? Well here you are! How do turtles like their cheese? Mi-GRATED! And finally, today I will be reading the book 'Harry Potter and the Turtle of Fire', and watching the film 'How to Train Your Turtle'... Have a good day! Roger

Turtle Eclipse of the Heart

Why were the 2 turtles arguing?... Because they were at Loggerheads with each other! That's right folks! For the next week, a brand new joke formed by one of our esteemed volunteers will appear on here! Stay tuned for some real scorchers! You may even be able to add a few of them to your homemade Christmas Crackers in December... And now for the latest update on the goings on here: We're afraid that, due to no nest activity last night, there are no public excavations or releases today. Things are slowing down now as we are beginning to come to the end of this year's season as most of the nests have now hatched. However, we do still have some nests that are due so keep an eye out as they could go any day now! If you would like to come to an excavation or release, it's worth ringing the Goatshed on 05338798533 each day to see if we will be holding any of these events to come along to. Remember also that we can only take a limited number to our releases, and bookings will be taken from 12 if we have one on. Excavations will be open to all. As it's the first day, I shall leave you with one more bonus joke: What is a Loggerhead's favourite pudding? JELLY-fish! Until the next time! Roger

No excavation but there is a release (13/09/2012)

Good morning turtle followers, So it has been a very quiet week, with no nests hatching since Tuesday! We are coming to the end of the season now, so we would expect the number of hatching nests to drop as the final weeks of the project tick by. However, we have just returned back from the north coast with some loggerhead hatchlings, so we will be having a release on this evening at the usual time of 8pm. We will book 20 people of for this evenings release, and the booking lines will open at 12pm. Our number is (009)05338978533, as if you didn't know it already! For now though, we hope that you have a very pleasant day. Collsy xxx

Excavation this evening (10/09/2012)

Good morning trusty bloggers! I apologies for the delay in the update of the blog this morning, but our morning was taken up with the change over of people from our west base, and it all got a bit emotional as for some of us, its our last week here in Cyprus :( so sad farewells were made, time fly's when you working with turtles all day! Anywho, we do have an excavation this evening at 4pm as usual. It is on our third bay from the base, to the right of the beach bar. We did not gain any hatchlings from the north or Alagadi day work this morning, so if we get any more hatchlings out of the nest this evening, we will be taking bookings after the excavation, but people who turn up for the excavation will receive priority over booking on to the release. So in order to secure yourself a place on the release if there is one, please turn up for the excavation for quarter to 4, and we will walk you down from there. We hope that you have a very pleasant day, and hope to see some of you at the excavation this evening. Collsy xxx

Excavation this evening (09/09/2012)

Good morning turtle bloggers, We hope that we find you will on this somewhat cooler morning here in Alagadi. I am happy to tell you that we do have both an excavation and a hatchling release on this evening. If you would like to book on for our hatchling release, we have 30 spaces up for grabs, which we will start taking bookings for at 12pm. Our excavation is at the usual time of 4pm, and is located on bay 3, to the right of the beach bar if you are facing the sea. We hope that you can make it, See you then Collsy xxx

Lets celebrate and excavate! (08/09/2012)

Gooood morning turtle followers! I am happy to announce that we will be having another excavation on this evening, but we are still uncertain about the release. The nest that we will be excavating is located on our second beach (not the one with the beach bar on) and is located to the right of the beach bar over the headland. We will be convoying round to the nest from the base from four o'clock as usual. The season looks like it may be starting to quieten down now, and we don't want you to miss out on any excavations or anything so please do keep calling us on the goatshed phone (00905338758533) and inquire about the excavations or releases. As of yet we are uncertain of a hatchling release here at Alagadi, but if there is a release on at our West base in Akdeniz we will be offering spaces for this at 7:45pm. The releases in west take place at the Caretta bar, with signs running through Akdeniz village showing you the way. To get from Akdeniz from Alagadi, you need to go through Girne, Lapta, Karsiyaka, and up over the mountains then once here, there is a petrol station with a turning off to the right. Take this turning and follow the signs for Guzelyurt. Before you get to Guzelyurt, there's a turning again on your right by another petrol station to Akdeniz. From here you go through to the village and then follow the signs for the Caretta bar where our west crew will be waiting for you. As I say we are uncertain as to whether we have any excavations as our day workers on north and west are still hatchling hunting, so if you give us a call at 12pm then we will let you know. So we hope that you have a good day here from the Turtle Project, and hope to here from you soon. Collsy xxx

Excavation this evening (07/09/2012)

Good morning turtle bloggers, We apologies once again for the delays in the updating of the blog, but further internet issues have been re-framing us from keeping you updated. For this we apologies, but hopefully we will have no more internet related interruptions for the rest of our season! Here's hoping anyway! I am happy to say that even tho our season seems to be becoming quieter, we do have an excavation on this evening at the usual time of 4pm. Our nest this evening is located on the third bay from the Goatshed. We are uncertain about whether we have a release yet but please give us a call at 12pm to find out. For now I hope that you have a fabulous day, and hope to see some of you at our excavation this evening! Collsy xxx

Excavation and release this evening (03/09/2012)

I've gotta feeling wahooo, that tonight's going to be a good night, that tonight's gunna be a good night, that tonight's gunna be a good good night!! Good morning trusty turtle followers, I am glad to announce that we will be having both and excavation and a hatchling release on this evening. The nest this evening is located on our second bay from the Goatshed and it is a Logger nest. If you would like to meet down at our base in the village for quarter to 4, where we will leave by 4pm. In order to book on for our hatchling release for 8pm, please call us on 12pm on our goatshed line (009)05338798533. For now I wish you all a fabulous day. Hope to see you later. Collsy xxx

Turtle power time! Excavation this evening (02/09/2012)

Good morning turtle followers! I am glad to announce that after a very unusually quiet week here at Alagadi that we will be having and excavation and a release on this evening. As of yet we have only have 15 hatchlings from our morning workers, and we are still waiting for the Northies to return, so our current proceeding mean that we will be booking 15 people on for the release at 12pm and will book the other 15 hopefully after the excavation which will hopefully produce more hatchlings. As I have said the Northies have not returned yet, so we may still be booking on the whole 30 at 12pm if they return with some hatchlings. So to be on the safe side, call us to try and book at 12. If we are unsuccessful from North, or you are unsuccessful from booking on the fist 15 places, then please come down to the excavation and we can hopefully book you on after this activity. We have had some unusually high tides the last few nights, and a couple of the nests that were due to hatch were servery washed over, thus making hatching quiet for this week as the nests have sadly been inundated or washed completely away. Hopefully as we start to ring cage the final 12 with still 30 to hatch, next week will be a better week for excavations and releases. If we (here at Alagadi) are not able to hold a release, we are starting to offer people places to go to our West coast base over in Akdeniz near Guzelyurt. It is roughly an hours drive over to this beach but West have plenty of hatchlings for you to release most evenings. Today however, because it is change over for our teams, there is not one on this evening, but do give us at Alagadi a call and we will know whether or not there will be any releases. For now though I wish that you have a very pleasant day in the sunshine, and we hope to see lots of you this evening for the excavation and the hatchling release. So have a nice day, ba ba ba ba ba, So have a nice day! Collsy xxx

No excavation for the nation this evening :( (29/08/2012)

Good morning trusty turtle followers, We hope to find you well on this some what blustery day here at Alagadi! Volunteers battled through sand storms and raging waves last night, patrolling the beaches, so firstly I would like to congratulate them on making it all safely through and in one piece! However, I am sad to say that there is no public excavation on this evening, and we are uncertain whether there is going to be a hatchling release this evening, as we are still waiting for our North day crew to return. Please don't forget to give us a call at 12 noon to see whether we will be having one on. Call us on 05338798533. For now, we hope that you have a marvelous day whatever you are up to, and hopefully we will have an excavation for you tomorrow! Stay tuned for further updates! All the best Collsy xxx

Turtely Awsome!

Afternoon turtleteers! Happy to announce that after a few quiet days we do indeed have an excavation today. Yipee! The excavation will take place on our 3rd bay on alagadi (to the left of the beach bar with your back to the sea). As usual it will take place at 4pm. Please head to Goatshed for 3.45 if you'd like to go down with us, failing that, keep an eye out for us in our red t-shirts on the beach. The nest we're excavating is a Green turtle nest, so fingers crossed for some hatchlings!! As of yet, we've no hatchling release tonight. Our North beaches have been super quiet the past two days. However, if we get some hatchlings from the excavation today, there's a good chance we will be able to then book people on for a release tonight. If this is the case, head back up to goatshed after the excavation to secure your place. Remember, it's first come first served! Much as we're having a quiet start to the week, we still welcome any visitors who would like some information, so don't be shy, pop in and see us! Alternatively, you can give us a ring on 05338798533. Now, a new addition to this week! Our west base, in Akdeniz,have been feeling left out due to the lack of visitors out there. So today they are welcoming visitors down for a hatchling release. To get to Akdeniz,head west out of Girne towards Guzelyurt and follow signs for Akdeniz. We will meet at the Carretta Bar (which is very well signposted) at the usual time of 8. Akdeniz is approximately an hours drive from Girne. To book on to this release, call us at the goatshed and we'll give you all the info you need. Have a lovely day turtle folk! Lots of love, Sara P.S. All of us at goatshed would like to take this opportunity to wish one of our previous volunteers, James Lowden a VERY happy 20th birthday today. Happy Birthday James, your beautiful singing voice is missed very much.

Sad times... no excavations this evening :( (27/08/2012)

Good morning turtle bloggers, I am sorry to say that we do not have an excavation on this evening and will not be having a release due to no nests hatching last night, and no hatchlings being collected from north or our day time crew this morning. It has been a quiet last couple of days here on Alagadi, but with still 41 nests to hatch, you will have plenty of opportunities to come down and see excavations and take part inn one of our hatchling releases. Although we do not have an excavations or releases this evening, we are still open for any visitors who wish to find out more about the turtle project so please come down to the Goatshed and chat with our volunteers. Please do not hesitate to give us a call on 05338798533 to see whether we have any excavations or hatchling releases on tomorrow, but for now we hope that you have an excellent day whatever you are up to. All the best, Collsy xxx P.S. Rodge says hello everyone! (one of our eager volunteers)

We are back...but no excavation this evening (26/08/2012)

Good morning trusty turtle followers! We apologies for the lack of blog update over the last couple of weeks, we had internet issues, but that is now hopefully in the past! We hope that you haven't given up on us while we have been off line. Over the past week, we have had been successful with a total of 17 nest hatchling and been excavated. Sadly however, today we do not have an excavation on, as nothing hatched at Alagadi last night. However, do not fret, as we will be having a hatchling release this evening with the full maximum 30 places available for the booking. Please remember that we will not be taking any bookings until 12 noon, and if you are unsuccessful please try again another day, as there are plenty of nests still to hatch, with us being roughly half way through our hatchling season. For any further information, please call our Goastshed phone on (009)05338798533, and hopefully we will be having an excavation tomorrow, but give us a call in the morning to double check. Hope you have a wonderful day, whatever you might be doing. Collsy xxx

Excavation on this evening (18/08/2012)

We will we will hatch them... hatch them turtles, we will we will hatch them!!! Gooooood morning followers! Last night was another quiet night on the hatchling front, but we were lucky enough to have one nest hatch, which will be excavating for you this evening. The nest today is located on our second beach, which is over the headland from the beach with the beach bar. So to save a 20min+ walk and possibly loosing some of you guys over the rocky headland on the way, we will be doing a convoy from the GS around 4pm. We will not be passing past the beach bar, so if you are already down on the beach, you will need to come to the GS and we will convoy you round. Not all the people that turn up for the excavations do have cars, so if there were any people that are unable to drive, we would ask if some of your lovely selves would be kind enough to give them a lift. Please remember if you wish to go on a hatchling release to give us a call at 12 noon to book in. Hope to see you lovely people at the excavation tonight! Collsy xxx

We like turtles!! (17/08/2012)

We don't like turtles...no...oh no...We love them, turtle holiday, we don't like turtles...no...oh no...We love them so lets go excavate!! Good morning turtle followers! The GS hopes that we find you all well on this splendid morning?! After a good turn out yesterday, I am hopeful that the numbers at our excavations will continue to grow, and to see whether my theory works, I am happy to blog that we do have an excavation on this evening. If you can remember yesterday, I said that we left a nest to hatch for another night? Well nothing else hatched last night so we will be excavating this one for you observation this evening. The nest is located about half way along our second bay from the GS, and is a green nest. As yet we have no hatchlings from our Alagadi day time crew, so we are waiting on the North crew to say whether we will be having a release on tonight or not. But please do call at 12 noon still to see whether our Northies were successful or not in their quest to find some hatchlings! Can I stress that the releases do get booked up very quickly and we do apologies if you are unsuccessful in booking a place. This 'activity' is very popular and does get very competitive on the phones, but we can not take more than 30 people down to the beach plus if we only get a certain number of hatchlings obviously we can only take that number of people down to. So please if you don't get on one day do try another. If you are interested in the excavation, please come down for the GS for around 4pm from which we will take you down to the beach from here. May I nag again please no flash photography can be used during the excavation as this can damage the eye sight of the hatchlings and also bring out the extent of the sand covering volunteers (not a pleasant look for you holiday snaps!)!! But never the less, please come down to the GS anytime for any information you may need, and don't forget to call at noon to see whether we have a hatchling release. Or number is: 05338798533 Hope to see you soon! Enjoy your day Collsy xxx

Excavation tonight!!! (16/08/2012)

Don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame on the moonlight, don't blame it on the good times, blame it on the turtles! Good morning trusty turtle followers! I am happy to announce that we will be having another excavation this evening at the usual time of 4pm. After a couple of nights with little hatching activity, we had 3 hatch last night! Woop woop! This morning myself and my day time crew went down and excavated a logger nest that had a 50% success rate, and have left the green nest for you all to observe this afternoon, while the other has been left to hatch for another night. The nest this evening, is located on our third bay from the GS and as I have said is a green nest. You all know the drill by now, but for those who may be new to the blog, we get visitors to meet at the Goatshed for just before 4pm, from which we will then take you down to the nest from here. It will roughly take a 10-15 minute walk to the nest, so make sure you have plenty of water with you! If you are already down on the beach, we should be walking past the beach bar at around 4:10, so look out for red t-shirts followed by groups of visitors. Can I remind you all that flash photography is prohibited, as the intensity of the flash can damage the hatchlings sight. So if you could either turn the flash off of stick your finger over the flash light, we would be greatly appreciated. Also we can not let you hold or touch the hatchlings, as they a) may possibly carry salmonella, and b) the sun cream on your hands can irritate the hatchlings skin. You will tho have plenty of opportunities to get good pictures so don't panic! If you do wish to still have the experience of handling a hatchling, the second activity that we offer through the hatchling season is a hatchling release which occurs at 8pm. We take bookings over the phone from 12 noon on the day with NO pre-booking, but please remember that we will book up very quickly and if you don't manage to book on please try again! Our number is 05338798533. Hope you enjoy this marvellous day, an see some of you later! Collsy xxx

Lets celebrate, lets excavate! (15/08/2012)

Goooood morning turtle bloggers I am happy to announce that we will be having another excavation on this evening, with the only nest that hatched last night. The nest is located on the second bay from the GS and is a loggerhead nest. This morning we have yet to get any hatchlings from our North of day time crew, so as yet we are not having a hatchling release at 8pm. However, do not fret too much! After we have excavated the nest this evening, and if there is a number of hatchlings dug up, we will see whether we have enough to release. If we do then we will recommend you to come up to the GS to book on for it. Do however, bear in mind that there are a lot of you guys wanting to do hatchling releases, any we may be fully booked within a couple of visitor returning. But we are doing releases pretty much daily, so if we don't have a release or if you can't book on, then don't forget to call us at 12 noon to try and book on again. Our no. is 05338758533 Don't forget that our information center is open everyday from 9am on wards, so come along and find out what we are doing here and why. Also we have a large range of turtle merchandise where proceeds go straight into the funding of the project. We are a charity based organisation, and the project would not be as successful as it is without your lovely donations, so firstly I would like to thank you for them, but also any donations are greatly appreciated in maintaining the current status of the project with your money going into funding of the equipment used throughout the season. So I hope to see you all at the excavation this evening. Following the usual drill of meeting just before 4pm to take you down to the nest. See you then Collsy xxx