X-ray Five: The Final Word by Kate O’Hagan and Olivia Boyd

X-ray Five on Camaronal beach

After ten days of hard graft, X-ray Five were ready for a day off. After a lazy morning including setting a new world record for the time it takes to cook rice pudding, we set off with shopping lists in hand to the local pulparia in Estrada to gather some treats for the evening meal. Entertainment that night came in the form of a prank from the rangers as payback for an earlier X-ray Five joke.

Next morning X-ray Five got back to work on the hatchery and completed the sand sieving. To celebrate our first mile stone we walked around the bay to the neighbouring beach which was beautiful and lined with palm trees. We got lucky and saw a howler monkey. It was a great treat and we all had an awesome day.

The day-to-day work continued with X-ray Five completing many tasks including levelling the sand in the hatchery, inserting the wooden posts which will make the exterior structure of the hatchery, and collecting driftwood from the beach to make way for the broody turtles.

On day 11 X-ray Five learnt that a member of their group was leaving. To make the night memorable, we ate dinner on the beach watching the sunset before heading up to the ranger station for a bonfire and sing-song to say goodbye to Bex.

In the afternoons, X-ray Five attempted some more land art, this time in the form of a giant sea turtle made from driftwood. The weekend marked another birthday, this time PM Ruth – we celebrated with breakfast on the beach. The following day Fieldbase arrived with two new arrivals – Phil and Dani.

At the start of the third week the group were given their next challenge of putting in a new water system at the ranger station. Our task was to dig trenches for the pipes which would be laid in Phase Three.

On our final day we walked up to the mirador, using the steps that a previous expedition had constructed, to enjoy an amazing view over our home for the last three weeks. We returned via the neighbouring beach before packing up our belongings and saying our final goodbyes to Camaronal.

Home-sweet-home

Next: The Final Word from X-ray Four