Shell beach

Took a much needed break and spent three days relaxing on white sands, clear blue water, basking under the coconut trees, and drinking fresh coconut water. Well not quite, there was sand but it was coarse shells, there was the ocean but the water was so brown you couldn’t see the palm of your hand while cupping water, we don’t sit under coconuts trees because too often the coconuts fall, but I did enjoy plenty fresh coconut water.

The other three student missionary boys and the family I live with took off on a Tuesday morning in a Dutch style motor boat. We piled our stuff in the front, covered it was plastic, and then squeezed into the bench seats trying to get as comfortable as possible on the hard wooden seats.  We took an hour and a half boat ride to shell beach. When we hit the open water the waves splashed over, everyone huddled together and ducked under plastic to try keep from getting drenched. I LOVED IT! (Hard to beat the smell and taste of salt, the wind blowing through my hair, and bouncing along looking out at the endless horizon of water.)

Upon arrival to the beach our boat guides warned us that on command we would have to jump out of the boat and into the water so the boat could get as far onto the beach as possible. They yelled “get out” and we obeyed! Luckily the water was nice and warm and only waist deep.  At first I thought unloading the boat was hard, then we had to push the boat up the sand bank and into the “boat house.” In order to move the boat up the sand back we used the “Egyptian style technique” we placed logs under the boat and with man (and yes women power) we moved the boat! I have a new respect for those who built the pyramids and basically any one that has to move heavy objects with logs.

For three days we were able to just relax on the beach, swim in the water, collect shells, play cards, make local baskets, and search for the famous giant leather back turtles. Our first night searching we came up empty handed. We had gotten up at 11 and stayed up till 1 searching for turtles on the beach and hiding in a palm branch hut from the rain. But, on the second night we lucked out! At only 7:30pm a turtle was found laying her eggs. When I saw her in the distance I was impressed with how large she was, getting even closer I became a bit more nervous. But, the guides said she was too distracted with her mission to worry about us. We got to hold an egg, touch her, and measure her shell length. Just her shell was 6 feet!! Once the excitement of the turtle over and the turtle had finally made its way back into the ocean we all crawled into our mosquito net beds and fell asleep. At two in the morning someone came and woke us up saying, “do you want to see baby turtles?” Of course we did! Immediately we all jumped out of bed and ran to the beach. Hatching turtles had been found by the wild dogs. After digging up the rest of the nest only 16 babies were found. While we were taking a group photo of us holding the baby green sea turtles, a large leather back turtle decided to join in and we had to part the way so she could crawl through. We all laughed thinking it was one of the best “photo bombs” we could ask for.

As we boated away from our little escape I thought of how blessed we were to experience leatherback turtles, baby green sea turtles, hold whale backbones, see scarlet ibis, visit with the locals, relax in our hammocks, drink fresh coconuts, have a clear sky with the milky way, and most of all being able to reflect on God’s amazing creations!  This mini-vacation was the perfect break to help finish out my last month here.

It’s hard to imagine, but now I have less than a week left here in Mabaruma, Guyana. Keep me in your prayers as I prepare to say my goodbyes and get ready to come back to the states!