San Pancho and Turtle News from Costa Verde Ecological Group Frank D. Smith - Ecological Group of Costa Verde
November 5, 2015

Going away party for Zac, Bec, Jack and Monkia. Left to right: Gale, Lorren, Zac, Linda, James at the back, Bec, Jake, Monkia, Lisa, and Frank.

Hola Volunteers, Supporters and Readers ~

Our 1,000,000th hatchling was released on the night of October 24th, followed by a potluck dinner and a toast to commemorate the event. It was the 77th hatchling removed from box G-13, collected by Mark Hiller, Jessica Schmidt and Avila Douglas. The eggs were placed in the nest box by Jessica on the morning of September 7th.

Over the past 12 years the original 90 nesting females discovered in 1991 were joined by an additional 483 young females. Then again, even if we were to stop our work today, within the coming 12 years an additional 1,590 nesting females will join them. Despite the threat of global climate change the marine turtle will survive as it has over the past 200 million years. If managed carefully and protected by the community, these passive creatures will draw thousands of tourists to San Pancho when they are needed the most, during the summer months.

By mid-October, our primary task of collecting nests turned to releasing hatchlings, up to 1,500 a night, while nest collecting dropped an average of three per night. On the 22nd, the overflow beach nursery began hatching, although, despite employment of a 95% shade cloth, the survival rate of the first fifty nests was dismal, about 10%. Most of the eggs appeared to be sterile. The problem was most likely the result of three days of high waves followed by two days of heavy rain which unfortunately began on the night the first nests were placed in the nursery.

By the end of October, the total nests placed in the box nursery came to 745. Nests placed in the beach nursery came to 79 with 29 left to hatch in early November. Nests left on the beach came to 55, while the poachers slinked off with 22 nests. By the end of October, we recorded 901 nests and released over 40,960 hatchlings.

Volunteer-wise:  Juan, Jorge, Simon and Manuel will help as needed. Take a look at our lineup at Schedule.

October 6th Michael Stempien and Linda Kerwin arrived from the USA; October 15th James Stevenson arrived from Canada; October 15th Gale and Lorren arrived from the USA; October 2nd Jessica Hiller returned home; October 8th, Avila Douglas headed off to a traveling adventure; October 10th, Katharine Derry returned home to Canada; October 15th, Monika Grieger returned home to Switzerland; October 22nd, Zac Wilson went to the USA, he’s from Australia.

Weather-wise: Throughout most of October it was unusually hot, with temperatures in the low to mid 90°F, while the heat index was up to 117°F. Night temps ranged from the mid to high 70°F. The 8th through the 16th and again on the 24th through the 26th, high tide waves rolled through the tables and chairs of Las Palmas and La Perla restaurants, with the crest of the beach coming within 20 feet of the structures. Rainfall for October was 8.1 inches, for the year it as 44.6, being closer to the ocean, at my house 64.15 inches.

Hurricane Patricia produced no winds, four foot high waves that did not reach the top of the beach, 4.2 inches of rain at my home and no damage. Although, the next day on the 24th, the new moon high tide combined with four foot waves, swept 90% of the beach. On the bright side, the high waves leveled the entire surface of the beach and pushed all floating debris far up the beach.

Town and country wise: there is only one gas station under construction and it should be opening sometime this year, but don’t bet on it! The other thought-to-be gas station across the main highway is a large bulk storage area for gasoline. The construction on the intersection in front of the station/town is complete, but it is by no means as fancy as the intersection at Sayulita or Lo de Marcos. Although, the construction worker did remove the San Francisco signpost from the center of the south inbound lane, this move may save someone's life.

Throughout October, the peso has been slowly dropping and is now around 16 per dollar. Regular gasoline stabilized at 13.57 pesos per liter, propane at 440 pesos per tank and regular gasoline is about $3.23 per gallon.

I was afraid this was going to happen, because the peso reached 16.6 in mid-October, the owner of our four apartments raised our rent by 2,000 pesos or 126 dollars a month total, for all four apartments.

Frank D. Smith
Director, Grupo Ecológico de la Costa Verde, A.C.
Project Tortuga
Telephone: (311) 258-4100

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