Releasing turtles at Playa las Tortugas

I’ve been trying to describe what it was like to release 2,000 hatchling turtles along Playa las Tortugas, about an hour south of San Blas, but it’s difficult to do. You just don’t really get how difficult it is for these little guys to actually make it into the sea and how astronomical the odds are against them unless you see it for yourself. So I’ve put together a short video showing the release backed up by one of my favorite mariachi bands, Mariachi Vargas.

Towards the end of the video you’ll see a dozen or two turtles really scrambling forward, trying with all their might to make it to the water before the sun set and then BAM! a wave comes in and washes them all back up the beach. That was the hardest thing to watch. To see them spend so much time and energy trying to get to the water and then all their effort is literally washed away by the incoming surf. Some of the turtles would try it again. But some just seemed to give up. As if to say, Okay, I’ve had it. I’m just going to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. Which is what we all did as well.