"Checkers," a sub-adult green, was released at Juno Beach last Thursday afternoon. It was - like any release - heartwarming and inspiring to see the little turtle swim off, on his journey home.
When I got home I backed up video and took a look at what I had filmed. Some of it is certainly going in the doc! :)
The next morning, however, I awoke extremely ill. I made it through 9 hours of vertigo by sleeping a lot and not leaving the couch.
I get frustrated with Menieres. I had planned to do so much on Friday... and the only thing I did was waste a day. Saturday was a recovery day (as the vertigo attacks leave me pretty messed up for a day or two).
I'm a little behind where I want to be on the film right now.
Good news is I think the release dates for my "primary" turtles are quickly  approaching! Their journey home will be the final parts of the filming portion of my doc.

"Will," a green sea turtle that came to LMC with a traumatic head injury in early December has lost its fight against the cruelty wrought by human hands. I watched the intense, difficult surgery employed to save his life. Will had
survived the odds and seemed to be making great strides in recovery.
Unfortunately, "He" will never make the journey home.
I'd like to think Will went with the knowledge that the human animal isn't evil afterall.

Will, like many of the turtles at LMC, inspired me. How could it not? Just in realizing the spirit of survival that helped Will survive its injuries...you have to admire the strength of its will to live.

I'm often reminded of the starfish story while filming this doc. To paraphrase, it goes something like this:

An older woman walks along the shore and catches sight of a young girl holding something in her hands and rushing it back into the water. Upon drawing closer, the woman can see the girl is holding a starfish - one of hundreds now stranded by a low tide and dying in the relentless sun.  The girl carefully, gently places the starfish back into the surf and then turns to head for another one.

The woman knows from common sense that in the time it'll take just to place a few of the starfish back into the ocean, many other hundreds will perish.

"It's sweet that you want to help them, dear," the woman began as she walked up to the child. "But, you can't save all of them...or even most of them. You'll be wasting a lot of energy and it won't make much of a difference."

The young girl considered this for a moment, looked down at her feet and then turned and picked up another stranded starfish.

"I know. But, it will make a big difference to this one," she said as she placed it gently, carefully back into the water.

Sorry it's been a bit since my last entry. Both my health issues and lack of anything exciting to say come into play.
Down days don't translate into zero work days, however.
I've been testing out a range of new equipment and have recieved all of the materials to actually package the DVD once the film is complete.
Most of this week is organizational for me.
I'm hoping to up and back filming here shortly.
Turtle power!

Cheers,
-RW

I hate to keep posting about how crappy I feel. I haven't been sleeping right for the past few nights and my deafness is more acute this week for some reason. Today I can barely hear myself speak, let alone anyone else.
For lack of a better term, I feel rancid.
However, the "show" (or documentary in this case) must go on.
I sat down today and put together the first composite clip of one of the film's interviews. Not being able to hear at all, I have to go on faith that it doesn't sound like horse crap.
I'll be uploading the interview clip under the "Stills and Video" section here in a moment.
Cheers,
-RW

So, I took out the Kodak Playsport (HD underwater video camcorder) for a trial run. Rather than futz around with it in a pool or take some lame video of the surf coming in, I put it through its paces shooting actual footage for the film.
So far, I'm pretty pleased with it.
Here's a short clip from today's shoot:

Also, check out the new stills I've added to the "Stills and Video" page.
More to come tomorrow!
Cheers,
-RW

I watched a guy in a boat ram a pelican yesterday. I watched him do it on purpose. 

The pelican had been asleep and floating in calm waters just out from a boat ramp on Indian River. The bird was 25-feet out from the dock, providing a wide berth for the guy in his 17-foot bass boat. The boat driver was idling towards the boat ramp slowly and actually had to swerve out to strike the pelican with the bow of his boat.

The pelican was startled into an awkward, tumbling flight as the boat bumped it. The bird did not appear injured and the boat driver started to laugh uproariously. I was standing on a dock across the water from him. All I could do was glare impotently.

I can’t help but believe that a man who would go out of his way to purposefully do something like that must also be fairly insecure or have a mental problem. 

In my younger days, I would likely have walked over and started a confrontation. But age, wisdom and a little discretion have taught me that guys like that are actually reinforced in their adolescent behavior by the attention and challenge they receive if publically called out for their asinine actions.

Instead I watched him as he tied up his boat, went and backed up his trailer. I watched how he took care to fasten down open compartments and tie loose lines. He meticulously secured his boat to the trailer before slowly and carefully driving away. The boat driver who probably would have laughed himself silly even if he’d injured or killed the pelican took great care to protect his possession.  

Fiberglass, plastic, aluminum and steel mean more than life to him. 

This is what connects yesterday’s atrocity to the plight of all of the sea turtles in the world. Human beings have this disconnect that somehow allows for rationalizing and prioritizing leisure activities over the survival of an animal or an entire species for that matter.

I used to think people just didn’t know how many THOUSANDS of ENDANGERED sea turtles were injured or killed in the waters around the United States due SOLEY to intended/unintended actions involving recreational boating and fishing.  Now, I’m starting to see a different picture. I can see that there are people out there who simply don’t care…or
worse.

 Hubris and indifference will be the end of us. It’s not for nothing that we are the only animals in the history of our planet to be 100-percent responsible for cause an Extinction Level Event and still don't give enough of a crap about it to set things right before the damage cannot be undone.

I can debate our right to harm ourselves…but there is no justification for damning other species in the wake of our “progress” and desire for conveniences.

Still, I maintain hope.

That man in the boat yesterday…he’s what reinforces my belief that every volunteer and staffer at the turtle center are the deepest, truest heroes among all of us.


 
 

Yesterday, I was forced to take a break. I had planned on cutting video from the interview and creating a new clip to put up on here.
In the morning I shot a gorgeous sunrise over a fairly calm ocean. I came home backed up that footage, cleared my CF cards and headed back out. It was a short drive to Round Island and I was out on the trail within moments of my arrival.
The wildlife at Round Island never fail to deliver. Usually there are resident manatees hanging out in the still, murky waters around the island.
There were no manatees to be seen. Most likely they've had to swim south for warmer waters as we've had a bit of a cold snap.
But the osprey were fishing like mad and the sky was just as blue as a saphire.
After getting some good stills of the osprey, I drove home, made a quick lunch and then suddenly was overcome with vertigo. My old pal, Meniere's Disease had decided to pay me a visit.
You see, I'm not only hearing-impaired and going completely deaf as a result of this fun disease, I'm also at its beck and call as far as unpredictable vertigo is concerned.
It was a severe and lengthy attack. Today, I am worn out but mostly recovered today. So, back to the film. :)

Cheers,

-Rick

Headed to the center today to interview the turtle hospital coordinator. There are only three people that I plan to interview for the film and Melissa is definitely an important one.
In addition, I hope to score some more turtle footage while I'm there.
It's neat to see the film take shape. I'm currently storyboarding sequences so that I can start scoring the music. At some point during the coming weeks I should have the intro and first few minutes of the doc completed.
Turtle power!
-RW

Happy New Year!
So, we begin 2012 with the promise and hope that it’ll be a great year!
Having said that, I know for Journey Home it will be an incredible year…as long as I keep my batteries where I can find them at all times! ;-)
There’s a story behind that last statement.
I went out to release hatchlings/washbacks on December 30th with a member of the center’s staff. It should have been an
outstanding day for filming.
To prepare for it, I charged my camera’s batteries, put a new battery in the shotgun mic, thoroughly cleaned my lenses and cleared and formatted my CF cards. Everything was in tip-top shape for the trip out on a boat into open ocean for the release.
It was only after I arrived at the center (some 40 miles away from my home) that I realized that I’d left BOTH batteries for my camera in the charger next to my office. Insert expletive here.
I knew that I had to go ahead and do the trip out without my 7D to shoot HD video. Instead, all I had was my Flip camcorder and my cellphone, which takes photos.
The experience itself was fantastic. The sky was blue, the seas were calm and the little, flappy turtles were cute.
I was pretty dejected from my mistake but, now, I’m actually grateful for the mishap. You see, it forced me to do something I rarely do these days with my eye pressed upon the viewfinder and hands operating the camera. It forced me to actually watch the event and experience it in real-time.
The highlight for me came when we were nearly at the release site and Melissa, a LMC vet specialist, placed Watson, a very small, juvenile loggerhead washback into my hands. It was the first time I’d ever touched a sea turtle, let alone held it in my hands. I bet I was smiling pretty hugely…and I know I couldn’t have had that experience behind the camera.

It still makes me smile.

Finding a large, floating patch of seaweed to release the six tiny turtles into took a little finesse. They had to be far out enough to not get washed in with the tide and clearly remain out of the way of boat traffic. 
Finally, we came upon a decent patch. And though it was surrounded by man-o-war jellyfish, it still seemed to be a nice spot. After a few quick goodbyes, Melissa released them into the water, where they swam (for  the most part…we did have one indecisive turtle) towards the refuge of their new floating homes.
The boat crew and the divers that accompanied us on the trip were all smiles as they assisted in making sure the hatchlings made their way to the seaweed.
It’s a bittersweet moment, really, when you watch them swim away.
You want to believe that now everything is set right again. The truth, however, is that they still face enormous odds against their survival until adulthood. As a poignant reminder of the manmade perils that await them, a SKOAL chewing tobacco can floated alongside the seaweed flotilla. ..five miles out in the open ocean.
As we motored away, we could still see the tiny turtles in the seaweed. Melissa waved goodbye and good luck as they soon disappeared out of view.
I still lament the loss of footage from forgetting my batteries…but the experience was worth just being along for the
ride.

I will post a clip of the low-resolution video that I did shoot and couple of “stills” from the video and from my phone
below.

Cheers,
-Rick