Checked off the Bucket List:
# 6 See a Sea Turtle
Matt has seen like 4 sea turtles while snorkeling (also,
sharks). Jackie saw a sea turtle while we were sitting on the rocky cliffs on
the other edge of the village (it dove under just as I looked). Cat and I
started the “I’ve Never Seen a Sea Turtle and I Live in the South Pacific”
Club, and I’ve been a loyal (if unhappy) member until yesterday. Because,
yesterday, I finally saw a sea turtle! And it was even better than I thought!
I was sitting out on the beach after school, a little ways
off from the house, when Jackie and our 8-year-old neighbor, Avi (the future
Ravens quarterback... unless, of course, someone else wins the Super Bowl that
year. Samoans are true fair-weather bandwagon fans), ran out onto the beach,
waving at me. I heard calls of something that sounded like “turtle”, and Jackie
was wearing her palagi shorts with no lava lava, so I figured it was important.
When I got to our front yard, all the neighbor kids and our adult neighbor,
Patiasa, were gathered around a cracker container filled with water…. And a
tiny turtle! It must have just hatched in our neighbor’s front yard and started
heading down to the water when one of the kids saw it. How it got there, none
of us know, as Faleasao is not really a normal turtle breeding ground. We’re
also not sure if there will be more coming. But it was definitely, definitely
cool.
We took lots of photos, played with it for a while, and then
ceremoniously walked it down to the beach and placed it near the water. We
silently and reverently watched the little guy make its way to the ocean, each
hoping that it would beat the odds and survive. The moment was slightly ruined
when six-year-old Talofa got impatient and picked it up, dumping it closer to
the water, but still. We watched it swim away until it was out of sight. It was
pretty awesome.
Moments like this remind me how lucky I am to be where I am
right in this moment. In 8 months, this will all be over. Sure, I’ll live in
the same zip code as a Starbucks and probably a mall. But I’ll never again find
a baby sea turtle in my front yard and release it into the ocean. Stuff like
this is what life is all about.
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| Neighbors and the baby turtle |
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| Patiasa holding the baby |
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| Releasing the turtle! The girl on the left, Phaelyn, is the one who found it. |
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| Heading off to sea! Good luck, little guy! |
