As the U.S. Coast Guard C-130 taxied towards the small crowd of sea turtle rehab personnel, you could almost hear Samuel L. Jackson dealing out a profanity-ridden line involving turtles on a plane.
The operation undertaken today in Orlando involved more than a dozen federal, state, local and private organizations.
When the wheels of the plane skidded to a halt and the ramp came down, USCG crew members were preparing for New England Aquarium staffers to begin the unloading process.
35 cold stunned sea turtles rescued on the shores of Cape Cod are now finding hope (and much warmer weather) in Florida.
The massive operation unfolded without a hitch and Loggerhead Marinelife Center received five loggerhead turtles from the flight. LMC staff moved quickly to secure and transport the new patients back to the center in Juno.
I was lucky enough to have a "front-row seat" for the events today and filmed it all. The footage conveys how coordinated and expertly executed the operation was from the flight arrival to landing and offloading to ground transport of all of the turtles in less than 40 minutes.
I can't describe how proud I am to see that kind of cooperation and effort.
Turtle Power!!!
Cheers,
-Rick
With filming wrapped on Journey Home and post-production about to get into high gear, my family and I headed down to the Florida Keys for a much needed R&R.
On our way home from the trip, we’d planned to attend a “turtle walk” with Loggerhead MarineLife Center.
I’m not wholly sure what I expected. The
egg-laying part of the sea turtle lifecycle was not a large part of my research for the film. I knew what was supposed to happen in a basic sense: a small group of people gather, get briefed on what the encounter will be like, learn about the laws and regulations in place to protect the nesting turtles during the walk and then watch a female loggerhead lay nearly a hundred mucus-covered Ping-Pong balls. That much, I knew going into it.
In practice, it’s really something quite magical. It was a cross between a truly spiritual experience and a scene from Aliens.
The scouts located a loggerhead that was just starting to dig out its nest fairly early in the evening (the walk started at 9 p.m. and the call came in that we had a turtle at about 9:40). Our group, about 20 strong, made our way out to the nesting site guided by volunteers from the center and a staff biologist. Since no lights were permitted during the walk (save the red-filtered ones that guides sparingly used to illuminate a set of steps), the offshore lightning storm that raged to the east provided periodic bursts of light.
Following the guide’s instructions, we watched quietly from behind the momma turtle. A small red light was placed near the excavated nest, giving us just enough light to see each egg be pushed out into the sandy hole.
At first, I fell into “photographer” mode. I lay down on my stomach, steadied my camera and began to shoot images. Mind you, since lights were not permitted, I had no use of my LCD screen nor could I check my settings. It was point, shoot and hope for the best.
However, it didn’t take long for me to give up shooting and simply lay there – a couple feet behind that magnificent creature – and just watch as she expended energy to lay more than 100 eggs. Afterward, the loggerhead covered her babies up safe and sound and wearily made her way back to the sea.
It kind of put the whole thing into perspective, you know?
Journey Home is about what happens there, at the center, when injured or ill turtles are brought in. The film deals with the perils facing sea turtles, both manmade and natural.
But it starts... Journey Home begins with a female laying her eggs and the first journey to their home the hatchlings will hopefully take.
Cheers,
-R
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
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