{"id":12747,"date":"2021-04-05T07:48:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T14:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=12747"},"modified":"2021-04-05T07:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T14:48:43","slug":"let-my-turtles-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/04\/05\/let-my-turtles-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Let My Turtles Go"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey, it&#8217;s a guest Baja blog from good buddy and fellow former US Army paratrooper Mike!\u00a0 Check this out, folks.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>As you travel through Baja Mexico and encounter so many beautiful and unique experiences that you just won\u2019t find anywhere else in the world you really begin to appreciate all this area has to offer. This beauty arrives in the form of not only the people and their culture, but the form of raw nature that thrives on this magical peninsula. This rugged and hostile environment at first glance may not seem that inspiring but once you look closer and begin to absorb your surroundings you quickly realize how fragile, yet adaptable this ecosystem is.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12750\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Turtle_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Turtle_1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Turtle_1-300x146.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is true from plant life surviving in the driest of deserts to the sea life along the rugged Pacific Coast having to overcome predators and violent ocean conditions. It seems the challenges of nature never cease here. The encounter I am about to share with you highlights these conditions as well as the resiliency of nature in Baja.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-12751\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle2.jpg 292w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle2-146x300.jpg 146w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 292px) 85vw, 292px\" \/>Every day from around the 1st of December through the end of February there is a small, greenhouse-looking hut along the beach just north of Todo Santos, where the waves from the Pacific Ocean crash with such a concussion you almost feel nauseous from the vibration off this massive surf relentlessly slamming into the white sand beaches.\u00a0This remote beach is where you can experience a magical wonder of life, baby sea turtles crawling into this violent ecosystem as their first test in their new world.<\/p>\n<p>The turtles hatch in the early evening and four or five are placed into plastic buckets to await their release just after sunset. Timing is critical here as any earlier predatory birds are still out and will likely swoop in to gobble them up.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-12752\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle3.jpg 292w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle3-146x300.jpg 146w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 292px) 85vw, 292px\" \/>Once the sun begins to set it is time to set these little creatures free. We each take a bucket and walk about 20 feet away from where the surf is crashing and tip the bucket, thus releasing the sea turtles to crawl out onto the still sun-warmed sands.<\/p>\n<p>Once these little guys exit the bucket it is difficult to imagine what they are thinking as they scurry towards the water with waves between 6-12 feet pummeling towards them. Some are fortunate and will hit the tide correctly and the water will suck them out to safety in the ocean, while others miss the tide, and it will toss them back violently 10-20 feet where they will start over. When this happens, you can hear a collective \u201cAwwwww nooooo!!\u201d from the group of us releasing them.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately (after three or four tries for some) all the baby sea turtles make it into the mighty Pacific Ocean just as the sun is fully dipping below the horizon. This is a beautiful piece of Baja life that should not be missed. We are very thankful to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.todostortugueros.org\/?fbclid=IwAR3pDpqzyOjQccN2a5RNu47LHfWhIQGwIz0BhumoBkFibVl-HOaHyfc7ijE\">Todos Tortugueos Volunteer<\/a> organization for making this nightly event possible for the public.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mike, that&#8217;s just awesome!\u00a0 Thanks very much.\u00a0 As always, we enjoy reading about your Baja adventures.\u00a0 You wrote a fabulous story with amazing photos.\u00a0 Ride safe, my friend.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Don&#8217;t ever miss an ExNotes blog!\u00a0 Sign up for free notifications here:<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>If you&#8217;re headed into Baja, make sure you have your BajaBound motorcycle insurance!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bajabound.com\/quote\/?r=69ogea2spa\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.bajabound.com\/images\/affiliate\/Baja-Bound-200x200_80382.gif\" alt=\"img\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Check out our choices:\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/03\/01\/the-six-best-motorcycles-for-baja\/\">best budget bikes for Baja<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey, it&#8217;s a guest Baja blog from good buddy and fellow former US Army paratrooper Mike!\u00a0 Check this out, folks. As you travel through Baja Mexico and encounter so many beautiful and unique experiences that you just won\u2019t find anywhere else in the world you really begin to appreciate all this area has to offer. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/04\/05\/let-my-turtles-go\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Let My Turtles Go&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1963,1960,1962,1961],"class_list":["post-12747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baja","tag-baja-sea-turtles","tag-baja-turtles","tag-releasing-sea-turtles","tag-tortuga"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/turtle4.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12747"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12775,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions\/12775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}