more tortugas!

Yesterday I met my friend and her boyfriend downtown after school to disfrutar the playa a little bit.  We bought some coconuts from a man on the street, who whacked a hole in each coco with his machete before giving us a straw.  We sipped the agua de pipa from our coconuts as we walked down the beach.  Our stroll led us to a nice spot at playa piedra colorada where the river meets the ocean.  We hiked up the rocks and took a little dip in the river.  (Typical after school activity, right?!)  Then after our hike down, we cooled off again with a little swim in the ocean.  Our walk back into town at the end of the afternoon took us past the turtle rescue place where we saw the turtles go out to sea for the first time last week.  There were several volunteers digging, so we went to ask if more eggs had hatched.  Indeed they had!  Last night the majority of the eggs had hatched and those babies had gone out to sea, but there were a few late bloomers who were just hatching.  We were told if we could wait 30 more minutes, we could watch the remaining turtles take their first swim!

I think only about 10 baby tortugas were released, so it wasn't as dramatic of a release as last week, but beautiful, nonetheless.  Although fewer turtles, this release was so great because the sun was just going down.  Not only could we see the turtles without the red lights, but we also were able to enjoy the release with the added bonus of the sunset.

How amazing is it that now, on two separate occasions, I have seen baby turtles go out to sea!

up close and personal

how cute are their little tracks?

Also I saw a very beautiful sunrise this morning.  What?!  Morgan, the girl who typically hits "snooze" 4-6 a morning, was up before the sun?  I was indeed up and moving, and proceeded to have 4 cups of coffee by 8:30.

And then, since my fifth graders and I have been studying one of my favorite topics, weather, and also learning a bit about clouds, I enjoyed the variety of clouds I saw.  My students are currently keeping a cloud observation log, so I only thought it was fair that I join in as well:

cumulus above (altocumulus) and stratus below

cumulonimbus, with a few stratus clouds in front