Thursday, March 8, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
2012-3-3 Turtle Rescue in Manzanillo
Today was the last shore excursion and it was a good one. Manzanillo is basically a busy port area but the pier has been improved so that it’s an attractive place to visit also. Our guide, Marco, said that they only get a cruise ship here once a month. This is art in the pier area. I think it's a sword fish.
He explained that the average income is low but so are the prices. Mexico has mandatory education through high school and free medical care. It’s not necessary to earn a great deal of money to live well here.
Marco had a bad case of “That used not to be there”. He told us about how things were in the old days compared to how they are now. Believe me, things are better now.
We had a comedian on board who built a whole routine on his grandfather who rambled on about how things were in the old days. He didn’t mention Grandpa Simpson and Shelbyville but his routine was much the same. I have to guard against that myself. I can walk down memory lane at almost any time.
This whole region was wiped out more than once by earthquakes and a tsunami. We visited a salt warehouse where sea salt was stored. We passed by miles of coconut
plantations on our way to see the turtles.
Our final destination was the El-Tortugorio Eco-Center in Cuyutlan. There are four kinds of turtles who lay their eggs here. We saw the Black Turtle, the Green Turtle and a reddish one. The Leatherback turtle also lays eggs here but the adult turtles are huge. They can weigh half a ton. It’s impossible to support them in this center as they eat jellyfish. Thank heavens something eats jellyfish. They’re nasty.
We were supposed to release a baby turtle back into the ocean. At least that was the description of the tour when I signed up a year ago. Now, they have made a decision to let school children release the turtles at night.
That decision makes perfect sense as the birds are not waiting to gulp down the babies at night. The turtles have to be released within a week of their births or they won’t survive in the ocean. The survival rate is only one or two in a hundred.
They tag the turtles so they know that they return to the same beach where they were released after they reach maturity at about eleven years of age. They will beach within a hundred meters of their release spot and lay eggs. People from the rescue center rush out and pick up the eggs before the predators can get them. They lay their eggs during certain phases of the moon.
Humans used to hunt the turtles for food. I’m ashamed to admit that I made Green Turtle soup many decades ago. I saw the can of turtle meat in the supermarket and thought it might be good. It was vile.
There is a myth that turtles mate for many hours at a time. Of course, that has led to a thriving market in turtle eggs, meat and body parts. The fine for picking up eggs or turtles is 25,000 pesos which is a large sum in this area. People still risk it though. The turtle center wants to educate children so that’s another motivation behind letting them do the release.
The tour was even more enjoyable because my seat mate was talkative. Her husband is writing a book tentatively titled Economics in the 21st Century. It turned out that we all agreed about the economy.
There is also an author on board who wrote a book about the DNA of Jesus. I never ran into him in person.
As my new friend and I chatted about economics, we naturally segued into politics and California. She grew up near Disneyland in Orange County, CA and up in the San Francisco Bay Area. We both love Obama in spite of living in a place where everyone else thinks he is the Anti-Christ.
She is a black woman and said that the Ku Klux Klan was still active in Orange County when she moved there in 1960. I never heard of anything like that in the bay area during my growing up years. My brother had a black friend and he certainly was the target of hatred but nothing organized.
Bill is still suffering from his virus so he stayed on the ship. We went to see a Neil Diamond imitator tonight and it was pleasant to sing along to the old songs.
We have only two more days on the best retirement village on the high seas. I have to start cooking again, doggone it. I’m not keen on my own cooking. No more buffet. No more chocolates on our pillows. No more nightly live entertainment. No more maid service. No more dolphins leaping past our window. I feel a depression coming on.
The only good thing about going home is that I will never have to listen to Fox News again.
Unfortunately, Bill has decided he likes the token Democrat on “The Five”. I may have to disconnect the cable.
Marco is a farmer but he likes to guide tours when the opportunity arises. He studied both agriculture and languages in college. It is obvious that Marco is proud of his home.
He explained that the average income is low but so are the prices. Mexico has mandatory education through high school and free medical care. It’s not necessary to earn a great deal of money to live well here.
Marco had a bad case of “That used not to be there”. He told us about how things were in the old days compared to how they are now. Believe me, things are better now.
We had a comedian on board who built a whole routine on his grandfather who rambled on about how things were in the old days. He didn’t mention Grandpa Simpson and Shelbyville but his routine was much the same. I have to guard against that myself. I can walk down memory lane at almost any time.
This whole region was wiped out more than once by earthquakes and a tsunami. We visited a salt warehouse where sea salt was stored. We passed by miles of coconut
plantations on our way to see the turtles.
Our final destination was the El-Tortugorio Eco-Center in Cuyutlan. There are four kinds of turtles who lay their eggs here. We saw the Black Turtle, the Green Turtle and a reddish one. The Leatherback turtle also lays eggs here but the adult turtles are huge. They can weigh half a ton. It’s impossible to support them in this center as they eat jellyfish. Thank heavens something eats jellyfish. They’re nasty.
We were supposed to release a baby turtle back into the ocean. At least that was the description of the tour when I signed up a year ago. Now, they have made a decision to let school children release the turtles at night.
That decision makes perfect sense as the birds are not waiting to gulp down the babies at night. The turtles have to be released within a week of their births or they won’t survive in the ocean. The survival rate is only one or two in a hundred.
They tag the turtles so they know that they return to the same beach where they were released after they reach maturity at about eleven years of age. They will beach within a hundred meters of their release spot and lay eggs. People from the rescue center rush out and pick up the eggs before the predators can get them. They lay their eggs during certain phases of the moon.
Humans used to hunt the turtles for food. I’m ashamed to admit that I made Green Turtle soup many decades ago. I saw the can of turtle meat in the supermarket and thought it might be good. It was vile.
There is a myth that turtles mate for many hours at a time. Of course, that has led to a thriving market in turtle eggs, meat and body parts. The fine for picking up eggs or turtles is 25,000 pesos which is a large sum in this area. People still risk it though. The turtle center wants to educate children so that’s another motivation behind letting them do the release.
The tour was even more enjoyable because my seat mate was talkative. Her husband is writing a book tentatively titled Economics in the 21st Century. It turned out that we all agreed about the economy.
There is also an author on board who wrote a book about the DNA of Jesus. I never ran into him in person.
As my new friend and I chatted about economics, we naturally segued into politics and California. She grew up near Disneyland in Orange County, CA and up in the San Francisco Bay Area. We both love Obama in spite of living in a place where everyone else thinks he is the Anti-Christ.
She is a black woman and said that the Ku Klux Klan was still active in Orange County when she moved there in 1960. I never heard of anything like that in the bay area during my growing up years. My brother had a black friend and he certainly was the target of hatred but nothing organized.
Bill is still suffering from his virus so he stayed on the ship. We went to see a Neil Diamond imitator tonight and it was pleasant to sing along to the old songs.
We have only two more days on the best retirement village on the high seas. I have to start cooking again, doggone it. I’m not keen on my own cooking. No more buffet. No more chocolates on our pillows. No more nightly live entertainment. No more maid service. No more dolphins leaping past our window. I feel a depression coming on.
The only good thing about going home is that I will never have to listen to Fox News again.
Unfortunately, Bill has decided he likes the token Democrat on “The Five”. I may have to disconnect the cable.
I took several pictures of the Eco-Center. I will post them here.
This is where we ate lunch.
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