Don't play with it

Time to bounce? It's about that time of year when NY starts to look very, very appealing. I love Grenada, I really do. But I think my inner child suffers from wanderlust. After a certain period of time, my spirit starts to beg for something different, for a little while. I guess being too settled for too long makes me depressed. For me, its akin to something liquid just sitting there on the counter to the point where the mixture starts to visibly settle into layers. A vacation - shaken, not stirred.


Ever had a moment whereby a smell took you back to place and time? My mom always talks about this, how scents have strong memory attachments but I never such an experience until recently. When it happened, it caught me off-guard. However, since the experience, I've developed a heightened sense of awareness as to when it happens.

The first time it happened was on my leatherback turtle field trip. I was sitting next to a friend of mine, Freddy, and well... we're on a bus. I was close enough to smell him and in that moment I felt a wave of nostalgia connected directly to my favourite uncle on my mom's side, her baby brother. The scent was of Snuggle softener combined with the faint scent of cigarettes. My uncle was/is a heavy smoker but he never smoked around me. However, I adored him as a kid so I tried my best to be around him as much as possible so I'd always catch him a lil' after he finished smoking, when the smell still lingers in the air but not as strong. How does this relate to Freddy? He's Guyanese and has a strong Guyanese accent and a smoker and his clothes smells like the softener. So the smell coupled with his voice just reminds me so much of my uncle. (I'm Guyanese) I then found myself doing memory association.

Consequently, this would explain why despite my dislike of cigarettes, especially being smoked around me, I still like the faded scent on clothes. Another person, someone I used to know and be around a lot, was a smoker and sometimes you could smell it on his fingers and his tees, and I would like it. Of course I never told him that because I wanted him to quit, you know, it's bad for your health, etc. as I petition to all my smoker friends, but I'd love the smell. It used to feel be oddly comforting, now I know why.

Anyways, have any scents that takes you back in time?


It was surprisingly chilly up there. I had walked with thin jacket and a thick hoodie. I ended up having to use both. We were supposed to be quiet so as to not distract the turtles and divided into small groups. Our class is pretty big and honestly... I'm uncertain as to truly how quiet we were and ultimately we ended up moving like a cloud across the beach, rather than single file or mere pairs.

When going on such trips it is not advised to walk with any white lights. If you must, use a red light because (apparently) the turtles can't see red light. This is because the turtles head towards the darkness to lay... and the babies head toward the light when they break out of their shells. The ocean is lighter than the land at night. Flashlights and such may prove to be more disorienting than necessary and result in a turn around by the turtles.

Fun facts about them?
* They could grow to about 2 meters long. They are the largest turtle and amongst the world's largest reptiles.
*Have been around circa 100 million years.
*They can dive about 4,200 feet (deeper than any other turtle) and that's because of how their blood circulates, layer of fat and changes in their swimming.
*They have the widest global distribution of turtles and travel the longest journeys 3,700 miles each way.
*Hatchlings' sex are determined by the temperature. 29.5 degrees celcius produces a gender mix, hotter means more females and cooler means more males.

Why is it important for us here in Grenada? These turtles? Well... Grenada is one of the major nest sites in the world. That means, these sea creatures that traverse the world and come back to nest on the beaches on which they were born... and our beaches, are one of the main sites that they must come back to. And, economically, the value as a tourist attraction multiplies in profits exponentially as the turtles would continue to come back to nest annually and well, people would pay good money to see. However, when you kill them, the survival rate of the babies are very low and the age of reproductive maturity is very high... Thus that means, you're killing them much faster than they can reproduce to a sexually productive population. The species, as most turtles, are already critically endangered and toeing the line of extinction. It's selfish to slaughter them... To sell one turtle isn't even profitable enough to make it a livelihood. Furthermore, what about your children?  (Trinidad's leatherback turtle website)

And even on the grander scale, each animal is important to the ecosystem. You can't just remove one and shrug and think to yourself "Oh well, it's just one animal." Each one plays a role. In the most simplest generalization, no leatherbacks would equate a dramatic increase in jellyfish - that's their favourite diet. And no, we don't want an increase of jellyfish. Point I'm trying to make is... ultimately, the ecosystem is like a spider's web and removing species is like tugging at the strands and praying for the best.

I know its easy to not be cognizant because changes seem to be so gradual that the effects seem to be distant and of little consequence. However, as with all epic natural disasters we seem to be encountering as a result of global warming and such, that keeps catching us unprepared with our draws(underwear) down, the distant future is yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's important that we remember that every yesterday was a tomorrow and as the bible said...'Too late, too late - will be the cry.'

Don't mind how tired we look... it was very late and we had fallen asleep periodically on the ride up...(and back down) That's Freddy.

Wayne & Ejazz

Wayne

Dean. I absolutely loved this look. Our prof. told us to come prepared for the night on the beach. However, he came extra prepared. I thought this to be most amusing and adorable at the same time.

One of the three turtles we saw that night, digging the nest.

Starting to lay. That's someone's hand in the lower left part of the picture. The Ocean Spirits group were counting the eggs as they came out.

The Ocean Spirits team

C'est tout.