Page 57 of That Birthday in Barbados
I draw in a short breath of surprise and delight. “And we get to watch them?”
He laughs, pleased by my response. “Yep. Come on,” he says, opening his door and vaulting out of the truck.
I climb out as well. Anders takes my hand and leads me toward the group of a dozen or so people already standing on the beach. I’m surprised, but don’t pull away, following him with the same kind of feeling I had as a child on Christmas morning when my sister and I would sneak down early to see what Santa had left under the tree. The thought of Nicole drops an instant veil of sadness over me, but I blink it away, determined to be in this moment, this place. And nowhere but here.
“Hello!”
The woman who calls out to Anders is tall with beautiful dark hair divided into two long braids that hang to her waist. The look on her face is one of happy anticipation. “So glad you could come,” she says, and then looking at me, “And you’ve brought a friend. Welcome.”
“Catherine, this is Hannah Brathwaite. She’s one of the main reasons here in Barbados that sea turtles have a chance to survive.”
I stick out my hand, find her grip warm and firm. “It’s so nice to meet you,” I say. “What an amazing thing to be a part of.”
“It is,” she says. “I’m the mad woman rushing beach to beach trying to collect every hatchling possible and release them at the time of day they’re most likely to survive.”
“Thank you,” I say. “For what you do. It’s incredible.”
Hannah shrugs, smiling. “The reward is all mine. Barbados is fortunate enough to be the nesting home forHawksbill, Leatherback and Green Turtles. I’ve always believed that places a heavy responsibility on us as a country to do what we can to protect them.”
“Some people wouldn’t see it that way.”
She shrugs as if she knows this is true.“Leatherback turtles keep fish populations healthy by controlling the number of jellyfish. If they didn’t do that, populations of fish larvae would be decimated. They’re incredibly important to the ecosystem. The Hawksbill turtles eat sea sponges and help keep them from over-growing on the coral reefs.” She lets out a deep breath and smiles. “Okay. Me. Off my soapbox.”
“No,” I say. “It’s fascinating. Really.”
“Are you a new citizen to Barbados, Catherine?” she asks, politely curious.
“Ah, no. Just here on vacation,” I say, noting the smiling glance she throws Anders, as if I’m not the first vacation romance she’s met of his.
It’s not as if I should be surprised. He works in a place where he constantly meets new people, and what single woman wouldn’t be drawn to him if he gave her that look of interest I am now admittedly familiar with?
“Well,” Hannah says, clapping her hands together. “We have ninety-seven babies to release, so we better get busy. It’s really nice to meet you, Catherine.”
“You too, Hannah.”
Once she walks away, Anders touches a hand to my arm and says, “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I have no right to be thinking anything other than that I’m happy you brought me here.”
He gives me a look of surprise, and I watch the desire to question what I’ve said melt from his face, and he says, “Most of these babies hatched out earlier today.”
“It’s so nice to see how important they are to the people here.” I say, studying the happy faces of the people lined along the beach, waiting for the release.
“This is the time of day when they have the fewest predators. The goal is to give them the greatest chance of survival. Once they’re in the ocean, they’ll swim up to seventy-two hours, trying to get their bearings and figure out what they’re supposed to be doing.”
“That’s incredible,” I say, unable to imagine something so little working that hard.
“Okay, everyone, it’s time!” Hannah calls out from the back of the crowd,making her way through with what looks like a wide white tray. Four other volunteers walk behind her carrying similar trays. They move to the center of the crowd, and she says, “If you all could form a line on either side of us, we’ll leave the center open for these little guys to have room to do their thing.”
It’s then that I see inside the trays and spot the dozens of baby turtles scrambling about. They’re about the size of a silver dollar with little legs that stick out and are already trying to make a swimming motion. My heart leaps to my throat, and I let out a gasp of delight. “Oh, my gosh, they’re adorable.”
Anders looks at me and smiles, and I can tell he is pleased that I’m so taken with them.
“We’ve been collecting this group of hatchlings throughout the day,” Hannah explains. “It’s a bit of a tedious process because once they’re out of the egg, they’re ready to go. We hold them in a setting that allows them to remain as rested as possible. If they’re put in water to wait for the release, they’ll often swim the entire time and be exhausted by the time we’re ready to let them go.”
Each of the volunteers lines up alongside Hannah and her hatchlings. They squat down and place the trays on the sand. “Our goal is to handle them as little as possible, but we’ll take four volunteers to help place them in the sand.”
I’m itching to raise my hand, but feel as though I shouldn’t since many of these people are probably locals and much more entitled to the privilege than I am.
