Sea Turtle Conservation Trip
Purpose. The purpose of the Turtle Trip is to provide students with the opportunity to experience Mexican culture while assisting Mexican biologists in the conservation of endangered sea turtles.
Environmental Club. The Turtle Trip is a project of the Environmental Club. Turtle Trippers are expected to attend Club meetings (Thursdays at Noon in Room 209) and to be active participants in Club activities. This is a trip for students who are genuinely interested in improving the quality of the environment on this planet. Students who are not able to participate fully in the Club should not plan to participate in the Turtle Trip.
Destination. La Gloria Beach, a remote beach approximately 50 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, on the Pacific coast of mainland Mexico.
Dates: First week in October – Saturday - Sunday. Students will miss only 2 days of school.
Transportation. We will fly from Pullman or Spokane to Puerto Vallerta. Ground transportation in Mexico is provided by bus and by a licensed taxi service. The bus will transport us from Puerta Vallerta to camp; the taxi service will transport us from Pino Suarez to the beach in 8-passenger vehicles, and will stay with us at camp to provide transportation as needed. They take us to Tomatlan to visit our “sister school” and back to Pino Suarez.
Accommodations. At the Field Station, we will stay in tents and sleeping bags on a REMOTE beach. And we may spend one or two nights in a Mexican hotel.
Meals. Meals at camp are prepared by the resident camp caretaker staff, and are authentic Mexican meals. Bottled drinking water is provided.
A Typical Day at Camp. After about four hours of sleep, the turtle trippers wake up between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. We assist in morning chores such as washing dishes, maintaining the latrine, or tidying the shelter. These activities continue throughout the day whenever work needs to be done. After breakfast, there will be a project such as litter control in which the entire camp participates. After returning from the project, lunch -- the main meal of the day -- is prepared while other chores are done. After lunch, there is some free time for group talks and journal writing before heading down to the estuary to cool off. After estuary time, the trippers return to the shelter to prepare a light supper while more chores are done. After supper, the trippers usually have more bonding activities; then we get on the long pants and the turtle work starts. Everyone in camp will have a job, whether it’s patrolling along the beach looking for turtle eggs or manning the corral and watching for hatchlings and releasing them into the ocean. The trippers don’t usually end the day until a little before dawn, to wake up in about five hours and start all over again. When student volunteers arrive from our sister school in Tomatlan, it is up to us to welcome them, help them set up their tents, and teach them about sea turtle conservation. Although we are the foreigners, we are more familiar with the camp, and so we become the hosts. We may receive a new group of students every day!!
Volunteer Work. The work is mentally and physically demanding. Most of our work is done at night – all night long! We walk 6-10 miles per night to search for nesting female turtles. Then we tend the nursery to watch for emerging hatchlings. Often we don’t get to sleep until 5 am, and then we help with projects around camp in the hot sun of the daytime hours: litter patrol, digging a new latrine, constructing the shelter, preparing meals. You must be in excellent physical shape to participate in this trip!
Free Time at camp. Don’t expect a lot of this! If the mouth of the estuary -- the only bathing source -- is blocked off by a sandbar (this changes from year to year) we will have group swimming each afternoon. But some years the mouth is NOT blocked off. The undertow in the ocean itself is far too strong to allow swimming, so we may spend a week on a beach in Mexico, and never once go in the water! We will have some free time each day to try to catch up on sleep or to write in our journals, but the Turtle Trip is not a vacation.
Climate. It is HOT and HUMID at La Gloria beach.
Risks. The potential risks include scorpion stings, cultural adjustment difficulties, heat exhaustion, mosquito bites, dehydration, diarrhea, traveling on Mexican roads, and poachers. Please recall that these risks are discussed at length at the parent meeting.
Rules. In order to ensure safety for the whole group, students are expected to abide by the trip rules at all times. Infraction of the rules may result in the student being sent home immediately at parent expense. Do not sign up for this trip if you do not plan to cooperate fully with the chaperones and guides at all times. Trip rules include, but are not limited to: 1) Obey chaperone rules at all times. 2) No drug or alcohol possession or consumption. 3) No bare feet in camp. 4) No walking alone on the beach. 5) No swimming, wading, or touching the ocean – AT ALL! 6) Follow the dress code established by the chaperones.
Tentative Itinerary:
Saturday Meet at Moscow-Pullman airport at 4:45 a.m.
Saturday Fly to Puerto Vallerta, Mexico; spend night in
Hotel or drive to Turtle Camp
Sun- Fri Work at Field Station
Friday Tomatlan – Tour town; attend high school fiesta
Saturday Turtle Camp
Sunday Shop in Puerto Vallerta; arrive Pullman 11:30 p.m
Costs: The cost of the trip is approximately $1200. Each student pays for his/her own plane ticket (non-refundable) in early May, and pays the balance of the trip, less dollars earned through Club activities, by June 1. Scholarships available! Please see Lee Anne for more information.
ALL SIGNED FORMS ARE DUE BY MAY 15. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Fund raising is a student responsibility. For past trips, students have earned between $200 and $700. Students earn points through fundraising activities and volunteer service activities. Note that a volunteering one-hour on a service project earns twice as many points as one hour at a fund-raiser. Points are then translated to dollars.
Closing Thoughts: Regardless of the fear that we may have instilled in you, the hard work, trials, and “topes” (Spanish for bumps) in the road were all worth it in the end. Or not even the end, the moment you see that first mother turtle laying eggs makes up for long hours of concessions. The first Environmental Club Turtle Trip took place in 1996. To unabashedly steal a line from the Peace Corps, it may be the toughest job you’ll ever love. The Turtle Trip is life-changing. It is enriching, rewarding, educational, and exhausting. It is definitely not for everyone. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Eareckson at home or at school.
Environmental Club. The Turtle Trip is a project of the Environmental Club. Turtle Trippers are expected to attend Club meetings (Thursdays at Noon in Room 209) and to be active participants in Club activities. This is a trip for students who are genuinely interested in improving the quality of the environment on this planet. Students who are not able to participate fully in the Club should not plan to participate in the Turtle Trip.
Destination. La Gloria Beach, a remote beach approximately 50 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, on the Pacific coast of mainland Mexico.
Dates: First week in October – Saturday - Sunday. Students will miss only 2 days of school.
Transportation. We will fly from Pullman or Spokane to Puerto Vallerta. Ground transportation in Mexico is provided by bus and by a licensed taxi service. The bus will transport us from Puerta Vallerta to camp; the taxi service will transport us from Pino Suarez to the beach in 8-passenger vehicles, and will stay with us at camp to provide transportation as needed. They take us to Tomatlan to visit our “sister school” and back to Pino Suarez.
Accommodations. At the Field Station, we will stay in tents and sleeping bags on a REMOTE beach. And we may spend one or two nights in a Mexican hotel.
Meals. Meals at camp are prepared by the resident camp caretaker staff, and are authentic Mexican meals. Bottled drinking water is provided.
A Typical Day at Camp. After about four hours of sleep, the turtle trippers wake up between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. We assist in morning chores such as washing dishes, maintaining the latrine, or tidying the shelter. These activities continue throughout the day whenever work needs to be done. After breakfast, there will be a project such as litter control in which the entire camp participates. After returning from the project, lunch -- the main meal of the day -- is prepared while other chores are done. After lunch, there is some free time for group talks and journal writing before heading down to the estuary to cool off. After estuary time, the trippers return to the shelter to prepare a light supper while more chores are done. After supper, the trippers usually have more bonding activities; then we get on the long pants and the turtle work starts. Everyone in camp will have a job, whether it’s patrolling along the beach looking for turtle eggs or manning the corral and watching for hatchlings and releasing them into the ocean. The trippers don’t usually end the day until a little before dawn, to wake up in about five hours and start all over again. When student volunteers arrive from our sister school in Tomatlan, it is up to us to welcome them, help them set up their tents, and teach them about sea turtle conservation. Although we are the foreigners, we are more familiar with the camp, and so we become the hosts. We may receive a new group of students every day!!
Volunteer Work. The work is mentally and physically demanding. Most of our work is done at night – all night long! We walk 6-10 miles per night to search for nesting female turtles. Then we tend the nursery to watch for emerging hatchlings. Often we don’t get to sleep until 5 am, and then we help with projects around camp in the hot sun of the daytime hours: litter patrol, digging a new latrine, constructing the shelter, preparing meals. You must be in excellent physical shape to participate in this trip!
Free Time at camp. Don’t expect a lot of this! If the mouth of the estuary -- the only bathing source -- is blocked off by a sandbar (this changes from year to year) we will have group swimming each afternoon. But some years the mouth is NOT blocked off. The undertow in the ocean itself is far too strong to allow swimming, so we may spend a week on a beach in Mexico, and never once go in the water! We will have some free time each day to try to catch up on sleep or to write in our journals, but the Turtle Trip is not a vacation.
Climate. It is HOT and HUMID at La Gloria beach.
Risks. The potential risks include scorpion stings, cultural adjustment difficulties, heat exhaustion, mosquito bites, dehydration, diarrhea, traveling on Mexican roads, and poachers. Please recall that these risks are discussed at length at the parent meeting.
Rules. In order to ensure safety for the whole group, students are expected to abide by the trip rules at all times. Infraction of the rules may result in the student being sent home immediately at parent expense. Do not sign up for this trip if you do not plan to cooperate fully with the chaperones and guides at all times. Trip rules include, but are not limited to: 1) Obey chaperone rules at all times. 2) No drug or alcohol possession or consumption. 3) No bare feet in camp. 4) No walking alone on the beach. 5) No swimming, wading, or touching the ocean – AT ALL! 6) Follow the dress code established by the chaperones.
Tentative Itinerary:
Saturday Meet at Moscow-Pullman airport at 4:45 a.m.
Saturday Fly to Puerto Vallerta, Mexico; spend night in
Hotel or drive to Turtle Camp
Sun- Fri Work at Field Station
Friday Tomatlan – Tour town; attend high school fiesta
Saturday Turtle Camp
Sunday Shop in Puerto Vallerta; arrive Pullman 11:30 p.m
Costs: The cost of the trip is approximately $1200. Each student pays for his/her own plane ticket (non-refundable) in early May, and pays the balance of the trip, less dollars earned through Club activities, by June 1. Scholarships available! Please see Lee Anne for more information.
ALL SIGNED FORMS ARE DUE BY MAY 15. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Fund raising is a student responsibility. For past trips, students have earned between $200 and $700. Students earn points through fundraising activities and volunteer service activities. Note that a volunteering one-hour on a service project earns twice as many points as one hour at a fund-raiser. Points are then translated to dollars.
Closing Thoughts: Regardless of the fear that we may have instilled in you, the hard work, trials, and “topes” (Spanish for bumps) in the road were all worth it in the end. Or not even the end, the moment you see that first mother turtle laying eggs makes up for long hours of concessions. The first Environmental Club Turtle Trip took place in 1996. To unabashedly steal a line from the Peace Corps, it may be the toughest job you’ll ever love. The Turtle Trip is life-changing. It is enriching, rewarding, educational, and exhausting. It is definitely not for everyone. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Eareckson at home or at school.