After a night of tossing and turning as I had the most strange dreams, I decided to get up early at 6am. I was lying on two mattresses neither of which had any padding in the centre and I could feel the wooden slats of my bottom bunk bed.

I still wasn’t sure what to do, whether to stay or find alternative accommodation near by and travel back and forth each day. My head was swimming with indecisiveness.

There are no windows in this little box and there is no room to unpack my rucksack making my day to day living very difficult.

The sun had already risen and I could feel the warm breeze on my skin as I huddled on the used-to-be leather couch sipping my morning cup of tea.

It was better that I go and explore the area than sit and wallow in self pity. Everyone else was still sleeping and I had to creep back into the room to collect my clothes to change in the toilet/shower.

I followed the path to the beach, and what a beach, it went on for miles and not a soul on it but me

I walked to the end where a river ran into the sea, there was a swing bridge but I didn’t have time to cross as duties started at 8am and I still had to have breakfast.

I got lost in time as I was taking so many photos on my camera of a huge variety of bird that were foraging in the seaweed, the shore and the dunes.

Before I knew it I was rushing back up the boardwalk stairs for breakfast and munching my roll’n’banana with a wee cup of tee. By the time I got back everyone was up and the kitchen area was a hive of busyness.

Today then, what were my chores? The most exciting for us all was that 3 of the turtles were going to be released back into their natural habitat. They had been given a certificate of health and were ready to be returned to the ocean – well almost all, one of them had been in a tank for almost two weeks and had been refusing to eat so it was decided it was better to return it to the sea and hope it would be less depressed and find its appetite. It was either that or face certain death in captivity.

The were weighed, a variety of measurements taken and tags placed on each front flipper. They were then placed into plastic trays and we proceeded to head for the beach and walk to the release sight was 3km away.

Crossing the swing bridge was difficult as it was very mobile so it was decided that the person carrying each turtle cross over individually. it was amazing to see the turtles get so excited the nearer we got to the ocean – they popped their heads over the boxes, I’m sure they were sniffing the air and listening to the waves crash upon the shore

We only took 2 of the smaller turtles on this trip as the current and waves were not as powerful in this area and because they had been at the rehab centre for almost a month, their muscles may not be as strong as they should be to cope with the strong elements just beside the centre.

On the shoreline both Green juvenile turtles were placed at the waters edge and the waves gently rolled up to their body. The larger of the two embraced the cool water and used its flippers to haul its body further into the ocean, took a last breath and disappeared beneath the waves. What an emotional sight, how good it was to see this beautiful creature set free.

Unfortunately the second small turtle didn’t do so well. It struggled to coordinate its breathing and diving and it started to panic so it was decided to bring it back onto the shore, wait a while and retry.

The second attempt was perfect, it swam, took breath, dived and disappeared. We never saw it again. We all stood in silence and scoured the waves praying that none of us would see it resurfacing- and we didn’t 😍 Just perfect.

There was still a job to do, now that the tide was low, we had to collect the seaweed for the remaining turtles in the tanks back at the centre. It was important we didn’t pull it out from the roots and didn’t overly gather too much from each site

Heading home I took the opportunity to get some more photos. It was getting close to 1pm and the beach was becoming busy – I counted three other people and a horse 🤣 completely mobbed!!!

On arriving back at the centre we got a lovely surprise – a fully prepared BBQ, with rice, salads and juice – just what I needed after a 6km walk in the sun.

After lunch it was the turn of the largest of the three turtles to be released. It was huge, strong and healthy. There was no need to walk all that way back to the release site, it was capable of coping with the sea conditions in front of the centre.

There was no doubt in the mind of this turtle, it knew exactly where it was heading – straight home!

What an enormously satisfying day, I was grinning from ear to ear. We walked back along the beach passed the shadows of the setting sun

On arriving back at base we were told that another two turtles had been found stranded on the beach and had been handed in.

I went to the clinic, triaged them, gave them an injection of antibiotic and started them in fluids – loved it, I was putting my nursing skills to good use. Tomorrow they will be assessed, the barnacles will be removed from their shells and hopefully they will eat some of the delicious seaweed we gathered today.

It was late, we were all tired and probably a wee bit emotionally drained. A quick ratatouille dinner with rice and bed. Back to the clinic tomorrow to look at the patients.

Nite 😘