Very excited we set off for the road trip to Grande Riviere to see the baby turtles. Once we had left the highway most of the journey was on very narrow winding roads. (this was the main road in and out) we did have to stop once and let a crab cross the road, he really took his time.
After driving for 2hours 45 minutes through very lush rainforest we arrived at Grand Riviere a small fishing village, booked into the hotel and went for a walk on the beach. We were very surprised to see the beach littered with the turtle egg casings and a lot of vultures. There were also stray dogs trying to dig up the nests. This was in total contrast to the beach we had seen the turtles on previously. We didn't see any baby turtles.
Later in the early evening, Doug went to get our permits to tutle watch, the office opened at 6.30 and that is where he learnt that they collect the babies througout the day and release them between 6.30pm and 7.00pm. We rushed onto the beach permits in hand and could see a group of people approximately 1 kilometer ahead. No one told us about releasing the babies and we missed seeing 750 baby turtles heading into the water. We were so disappointed, we went back to the hotel and had a bottle of wine!!!
Later that evening we were taken on to the beach to see a female turtle nesting but the group was so big we couldn't hear much or see much, all in all very disappointing, however we are planning to go back next year earlier in the season when they say there are as many as 300 turtles coming ashore each night.
We did in fact have a lovely dinner at the hotel and went to bed with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.
Next morning I drove most of the way home and we did pass some lovely coastline and the cutest little church in the middle of nowhere, a little dilapidated but well worth a photograph.
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