Phil's Alpha 2 diary

Dedicated project communications officer Phil Maund has been keeping a diary of the first few days in Camaronal to share with you all at home..........

Day 1 (20th August)
We departed field base at 0900 and travelled west towards the coast. We soon arrived at the Playa Camaronal ranger station where we were introduced to the resident ranger, Nelson, who showed us around our home for the next 3 weeks. Facilities include a large covered social area, with adjoining kitchen with fridge and even a washing machine! Some of the group decided sleep in the attic of a separate building available to us and the remainder put up hammocks under a covered verandah.

Day 2 (21st August)
The morning was spent organising the huge amount of food for the phase, radio was set up and living areas tidied. Group contract, roles, roster and risk assessment were discussed after lunch on the beach itself. Although swimming is prohibited on our beach, merely standing knee deep in the water was exciting enough due to the incredibly strong waves, sometimes knocking people off their feet. During the evening a presentation was given by Nelson which covered species of turtle found on Playa Camaronal, objectives of the nature reserve and what work we would be doing.
Day 3 (22nd August)
First morning of work planned was to be on a new footpath that links the ranger station to a cliff top view point 3 km away at the other end of the beach. Due to large amounts of rain the area has had recently, walking to the work site was very difficult due to standing water. After one hour of trying to get there, it was decided to return to the ranger station. An alternative route would have to be found. The remainder of the working day was spent gathering large pieces of drift wood washed up on the beach into large piles and burning them. This is a very important task since the drift wood can prevent the turtles coming onto the beach to lay their eggs.
The day ended with a massive highlight. To celebrate PM Laura’s birthday, dinner was a massive BBQ. Minced beef from the nearby shop allowed Lisa to make homemade burgers. The group also feasted on sausages, pasta salad, homemade guacamole dip and Nacho’s special rice.
Day 4 (23 August)
It was decided initially that the only viable way of getting to the footpath worksite was by Nelson’s 4x4 vehicle. Once we all got there, most of the group decided to climb to the final viewpoint. Although the route has been cleared of most vegetation, the terrain is very steep so our task was to cut steps into the hillside to complete the footpath. The view from the top was amazing. The entire beach can be seen, including the ranger station and well beyond towards the rising hills inland. In the opposite direction, nothing but perfect azure Pacific Ocean. This view allowed us to see that simply walking along the beach would be no problem and we all agreed it wouldn’t be a to bad of a commute to work! By the time we decided to lay down the spades and pick axes, we had completed just over 120 steps.

The Ranger station at Camaronal
Day 5 (24th August)
The morning commute to work took around half an hour and we were making more steps by 0830. However, even at that time the sun was string enough to make some of the venturers exposed skin go a mild shade of pink. Although the temperature working on the footpath was cooler than on the beach the humidity was astonishingly high due to all the trees around us. This unfortunately made all of us sweat buckets and a group decision was made to stop work a little earlier. As we came onto the beach, we saw that the tide was almost fully out and the sea was much calmer. So after a thorough risk assessment, everybody ran into the sea - the perfect way to cool off!

Back at the ranger station, Lisa and a few of the other ventures were keen to find some way of baking Laura some kind of belated birthday cake. Collectively we designed and constructed a ‘Ray Mears’ style oven by digging a suitable hole in the beach and lining with rocks. Lighting a fire on top of the rocks heated them to cooking temperature and once covered with palm leaves and soil made a perfect oven. The Bravo 4 vehicle with Guy and Sarah turned up conveniently just as the cakes were coming out.

The late evening was spent doing our first turtle patrol. Everybody got to see at least two female Riddley turtles come ashore and lay their eggs. In order to prevent poachers from taking the eggs, they are moved to a turtle hatchery. Numerous pieces of information have to be recorded including size of turtle, location, time and number of eggs. It was tiring work with the last of Alpha 2 got to bed at 0130.


Day 6 (25th August)
Guy and Sarah were keen to see the footpath worksite. The walk to work was a little cooler but carving steps was just as perspiring work and around lunch time, everybody was on the beach. This time we had come prepared with inflatable beds that Phil used as make-do body board. Meanwhile, others discovered that there was fun to be had throwing each other into breaking waves. It only seemed appropriate to dine our guests in style with another BBQ!