Helping with Chelonia’s rescue was the first experience Delaney had with a sea turtle. She had taken a year off from her university studies in upstate New York and flown to Queensland to help with Craig’s research and volunteer at the Coral Ocean Aquarium and North Queensland Turtle Hospital. Watching Craig, Emily, and Dr. Bryson work on Chelonia, treating her injuries, giving her medicine, and feeding her, was inspiring. It saddened Delaney that the turtle had been left for dead after the boat ran over her, and that if Chelonia was breeding this year, she wouldn’t be able to lay the rest of her eggs. But Delaney was proud of the volunteer work that she would be doing in the coming months, and she was excited to participate in sea turtle research and conservation.
The evening after the rescue, Delaney met Craig at the aquarium. “Emily’s on her way,” Craig told her. “I got a call this morning from an Aboriginal man. He said he wants to come out tagging with us tonight.”
“Sounds good,” Delaney said. “What got him interested?”
“He just said he wanted to help conserve the species. It’s not uncommon for Indigenous people to want to get involved. They’re in the perfect position to be stewards for the species, and it’s important for them that a stable population of turtles is maintained so they can continue hunting them as they have always done,” Craig explained.
Emily rushed through the aquarium’s automatic doors. “Sorry I’m a bit late,” she said. “My parents kept me at dinner.”
“That’s okay. We’re on Murri time tonight,” Craig smiled. “A bloke who calls himself Blue Eyes is meeting us at the beach. You girls ready?”
The trio got into Craig’s pick-up and headed out to the same beach where Chelonia had been found. The sun had set before they arrived, and a deep violet dusk covered the empty beach. Craig handed each of them a small torch, covered with red cellophane to limit the brightness and glare. He brought his clip-board and data sheet down to the beach, and Delaney and Emily followed.
Blue Eyes was sitting at the top of the beach. He stood when he heard the others approaching.
“How ya goin’?” Craig asked, holding out his hand.
Blue Eyes shook his hand. “Good, thanks.”
“This is Emily and Delaney,” Craig introduced the girls. “Emily is working on her Ph.D. on sea turtles, and Delaney is here volunteering.”
“Nice to meet you,” Blue Eyes said.
“Nice to meet you, too,” the girls both answered.
The group all sat down at the top of the beach to wait. For the most part, Blue Eyes was silent. Craig and Emily chatted a bit, but Delaney was too excited to listen. She sat, hugging her knees to her chest, her eyes focused on the waterline. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as dusk turned into night. Her eyes never left the breaking waves.
“There’s one!” Delaney squeaked in as much of a whisper as her excitement would allow.
The group quietly stood, but they didn’t move closer to the great turtle lumbering up the beach. Delaney watched, silent and awe-struck, as the turtle chose a spot in the sand and began to dig her nest. She felt that she was the luckiest person in the world to be able to view this process of nature, and she was amazed at the pureness of instinct that led this turtle to the beach to lay her eggs.
The turtle filled her egg chamber with sand and started to conceal the nest. The sand flew all around the turtle; her face and eyes were powdered with it. When the turtle began to make her way back to the sea and had left some distance between herself and her nest, Craig motioned the group toward the turtle.
Craig and Emily showed Delaney and Blue Eyes how to tag the turtle. They measured her while Delaney recorded the numbers on Craig’s data sheet. The process was quick and silent, with minimal disturbance, and they soon let the turtle return her journey to the ocean.
Seventeen turtles came up to the beach that night to lay their eggs. The group silently patrolled the dark beach, and when the turtles finished laying their eggs, quickly collected their data and tagged the reptiles. Two of the turtles had already been tagged, and Delaney recorded their numbers so that Craig could later add their information to his data.
After midnight, Emily and Delaney headed to Craig’s pick-up. Craig lagged behind to talk with Blue Eyes.
“You’re welcome to help out anytime,” he told him.
“Thanks. I’d like to get more involved,” Blue Eyes said. “The turtle numbers are decreasing. I want my children to be able to keep tradition and culture alive, and sea turtles are a part of that. If there are no more sea turtles, a part of our culture is lost.” It was the most Blue Eyes had spoken that night.
“It’s one of many issues facing the species today,” Craig said. “The turtles don’t know how much they contribute socially, economically, culturally… People don’t know it either. If everyone could come out on a night like this and see the turtles for themselves, maybe there wouldn’t be so much plastic in the ocean or ghost nets floating around because of irresponsible people. But these problems do exist, so it’s up to people like us to limit them. When you take your own knowledge back to your community, other people learn. Education and awareness about the species is what will save them.”
Blue Eyes silently agreed. He knew that it wasn’t only the turtles that needed management and monitoring; it was also the people. He planned to do his part: both for the turtles and for his people. The two shook hands and parted, and Craig climbed into his truck.
“Is Blue Eyes going to come out with us again?” Emily asked.
“I think he will,” Craig said.
The ride back to town was silent. As they drove, the sky began to lighten into early dawn. Delaney gazed out her window at the colors passing by, sleepy but exhilarated. She wished she could share how she felt with Emily and Craig, but she knew that they had already had these initial feelings of excitement long ago. She hoped that the way she felt at this moment would last each time she saw a sea turtle. She hoped that she would have many more opportunities to see them. “If we’re careful,” she thought, “they’ll survive the challenges we’ve given them.” She smiled to herself. With conservation and education, the ancient animals would outlive everyone.
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