Page 67 of Total Ship Show

“Holy shit!” I squeal softly next to Aris. “We’re doing it. We’re actually doing it!”

“We’re doing it, Ade.” He nods, laughing.

“We’re going to demonstrate how to dig down into the nests to safely get the babies out. Then, we’ll divide you into groups and assign each group a nest. Any questions?”

A man near us raises his hand. “What species of turtles are these?”

“Good question. You’ll be saving some baby green sea turtles today.”

I’m not the only person here to look excited about what we’re about to do, but dammit, I feel like the luckiest girl on the Earth right now. My science brain settles in for the afternoon and I pay attention to every word our guide says.

“Remember, the nests are pretty deep. You want to make sure you get all the way to the bottom. Saving the turtles is the goal, but you’re also going to extract all the eggs and shells. Once the nest is empty, we’ll count them and record the numbers for our research.”

Once we receive all the proper instruction, we’re divided into several small groups and assigned a nest. Aris and I are paired with an older couple.

“Would it be alright if I just watched you guys dig or maybe help a little once we have some in this bucket?” the older woman asks. “My knees aren’t the strongest to be sitting in the sand to dig.”

“Absolutely,” I tell her. “You let me know when you want to jump in, okay.”

“Alright.” She smiles with a friendly nod. “I’m Eloise. This is my husband, Jerry.”

Aris and I shake their hands and then grab a pair of latex gloves to slip on.

“It’s very nice to meet you both. Shall we get started?”

“Why don’t you start, Adrienne,” Aris says. “Since Jerry and I may be able to reach further than you when the time comes. We can dig when the hole gets too deep for you.”

“Perfect.”

I kneel down on the beach and push my hands into the sand, creating a nice sized hole and digging out as much as I can until I find the nest. About eight scoops in, I feel a few twitches against my fingers and gasp.

“Oh, my gosh!” I squeal. “I found some!”

Trying to remain as calm as possible, I gently push back more sand until I can lift one of the baby turtles in my hand.

“Eloise, do you have the bucket?”

“I sure do, dear. Right behind you.” She takes one look at the baby creature and coos. “As I live and breathe. Will you look at that!”

“Remarkable,” Jerry mentions with an awed expression.

“Hey little guy,” I say to the baby turtle. “We’ve got ya buddy, okay? We’re going to take good care of you now.”

I hand him off to Jerry who places him in the bucket Eloise is holding and together we all work as a team to rescue as many turtles as we can find.

“Aris, you should have a turn,” I tell him once I get six baby turtles into the bucket. “And Jerry, you too.”

I would absolutely love to hog all the time and save all the babies myself but we’re a team and they all deserve to experience the excitement just as I have. Aris digs a little deeper and finds four more baby turtles. Watching him be so sweet and loving to each one makes me melt. Something about seeing how compassionate and loving Aris is with others, not just me, has me falling hard for him. So much so, I have to brush away a few tears that slide down my cheek because here I am falling for someone I don’t get to be with after this trip is over.

Talk about my tragedy of a life.

All in all, our team of four rescues twelve baby sea turtles and discovers three eggs that were not viable. I couldn’t even count how many hatched eggshells there were in that nest, but it had to have been over one hundred. To even consider that many baby turtles starting their new lives in the great big ocean is inspiring. An incredible experience that I could see myself doing every single day of my life. While we’re waiting for further instruction from the guides, I strike up a short conversation with one of the girls from another group. Her name is Macy, and she is just as giddy about saving the sea turtles as I am, so we spend the next several minutes sharing our experiences.

“So how many of those babies actually survive in the ocean and make it to adulthood?” Aris asks me once we’re back on the bus.

I frown. “Only about two in every one-thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood, sadly. Many get eaten by larger predators or they get sick and die.”

“Wow, that’s such a small number.”

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