(Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a series of blog posts about the Feb. Cocos Island Expedition to track sea turtles and sharks in order to create a protected science-based swimway that will safeguard endangered marine wildlife during their migrations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. You can read the first blog hereView the entire series of blog posts here). 

Monday, Feb. 16, 2015

Today the Blue Team caught the first sea turtle of the journey – a Hawksbill named Georgina!

They approached the main boat the Argo shouting “sea turtle!”

I was about to meet my very first sea turtle!

I was beyond excited and began to scramble. I quickly sat down to pull off my wetsuit, and suddenly found my feet and arms in the air. In my hurry, I had forgotten to close the lid of my dive cubby and was now stuck. Fortunately, all eyes were on Georgina.

Scientists Todd Steiner and Randall Arauz got to work quickly to take in data about her health, and to fix her carapace with a new, lighter-weight satellite tag and acoustic tag that will track her movements.

The hope is that this important data will help inform the creation of a science-based marine protected swimway.

Georgina was caught on the third dive of the day at Coral Gardens with the help of citizen-science scuba divers Graham Gerry and Jim Smith. Fellow divers Alejandra Barahona and Steve Peletz filmed the dive.

Watch Georgina in the video below:

 

Read Day 7 Blog – coming soon!

View the entire series of blog posts here.

Learn more about how you can join our Cocos Island Expedition by clicking here.