A Young Female Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Named Chai
(You can listen to the audio by clicking the play arrow below.)
Actual picture I took in Mexico of a baby Olive Ridley sea turtle
Young turtle and my Blog
The idea behind this blog was born at the birth of a sea turtle. Yes, a real Olive Ridley. I don’t know how many people have experienced light bulbs going off their head due to their chance encounter with a young turtle. But one balmy morning this past January along the beach in Mexico a newly hatched ridley suddenly crossed our path. Or, looking back now, it was us who were on its path. It obviously hatched during the night. Now it began its arduous journey toward the vast ocean. And that encounter momentarily ignited a spark within me to finally launch my long-time dream to enter into the blogoshere.
20-year itch
For the past twenty years or so, I have witnessed the slow birth of blogging and its exponential explosion. And for someone who loves reading, this to me has been like being a glutton who plays catch-up inside the fast-expanding buffet with an unending and limitless supply of mouth-watering menus. This has also left a heavy craving deep inside me, about something I am so passionate about – writing! Or an itch if you will. But there is so much to read, where do you find the time to write? And what else can you write about that is not already written online? So, this tiny stone that continues to weigh inside me keeps growing, it now feels like a boulder. I want to push this out.
The young turtle and the Rock of Sisyphus
This has been my own Sisyphean dilemma: reading and consuming any interesting materials I find in the blogosphere hoping that someday I get the final sign that, yes, it is time for me to put my own thoughts and voice out there. And yet countless times, as I seem to have reached the decisive peak, the boulder of Sisyphus begins rolling back down again and again. I have finally resigned to my fate; it is now too late anyway. The blogging train has long departed. Then on that morning in Puerto Vallarta, the time came for the boulder to finally roll over the other side of the peak. My epiphany. Aha moment! And it all thanks to the olive ridley hatchling.
Determined determination
The sight of a very tiny sea creature crawling on wet sands with a dogged determination had left a disturbing impression in my memory. Days after I left Mexico that image would not leave me even in my dreams. It taught me a lesson about determination – determined determination! The distance between its man-made hatchery in that resort and the safety of the ocean edge was maybe less than 100 meters, but to a two-inch or so newly born creature it must have been in tens of kilometers. I was tempted to pick it up and make things a lot easier. But I knew better. We looked around for any resort staff; we needed their guidance since we were not familiar with local regulations. All we knew was sea turtles were among the protected endangered species around the world.
Lesson learned in Maui
I remember years ago when I vacationed in Maui, Hawaii our snorkeling adventure guide repeated this warning twice in his loud voice: when we happen to be swimming with a sea turtle we must keep our arms at our side – free to look but no touch – and observe that 15 feet distance. One simple gesture like a gentle pat on any of its body parts could cost you $100,000 (US!), with a possible bonus of jail time.
The lady and her shoes
Lucky for us a female hotel staff saw me waving and she started gingerly navigating the tiny dunes toward us, looking a little annoyed her shoes would be filled with sands that so early in the day. I could also see in her face that she already knew what our frantic call was all about. It would not be a surprise if she was thinking, You tourists must know by now what you should do when you encounter sea turtles. True enough, when I pointed to her the struggling baby turtle, she just put her hands on her hips and nodded her head a couple of times. She looked in the direction toward the hatchery where the poor guy had escaped from. It was obvious it was not uncommon for lucky tourists to witness such a scene in that spot of the resort.
Life is hard and it is what it is
Before she turned her back to us, she casually said, “Just leave it be. It knows what it is doing. For sure it dug itself in the sand under the netting fence last night. It will be fine.” Then, with her sweetest smile, she added, “Please enjoy your day.”
Fine does not mean no danger
The lady surely knew what she was talking about. I had misgivings, though, about that word she said – “fine”. We looked up to scan the space above us, it was just a matter of time before any gull, or a menacing pelican, would swoop down before we even had the chance to see them. They were always around every day. We nervously focused our eyes back on the baby turtle.
I knew that look
For a moment, we forgot that we belong to a wholly different species as we started talking to the hatchling in a hurried but comforting voice. Go, go, go. Please hurry up. You can do it. C’mon, you can do it. Go, go, go. And we could see the little poor thing trying its best. Its body was almost covered with specks of sand, his eyes kept blinking. Great fear was evident in his tiny face. That look reminded me of my own when I was very young and almost drowned, panicking, hands flailing wildly to reach the sand bar.
If you fail try again
Guided by pure instinct now, the baby turtle was fully aware of all the dangers waiting to pounce any moment for the next meters before it reached the edge of the water. We stood there helplessly and broken-heartedly, accepting the fact that we could not pick it up and just gently place it among the waves. After about 10 minutes, we erupted in cheers as it finally caught the next wave. But to our shock, just as the water swallowed it, a wave came crashing and threw the poor thing way back to where we first spotted it. We froze in horror. The hatchling was now on its back and struggling to correct its position. Its tiny flippers were wildly swinging in the air. We cringed at the otherwise comical sight.
If you fail again try harder
The temptation to intervene was becoming so intense for us. As soon as it succeeded in turning its body back on its belly, its race toward the water became faster and more determined. But when it reached the edge of the water another strong splash swallowed it and threw it back to the sand again. We continued to watch petrified. The same scene repeated one more time, but finally when the water receded the poor creature was gone. We all heaved a very heavy sigh of relief. The vast ocean was its true home, yes, but it looked like its new reptilian resident was reluctantly welcomed at first.
Better late than not trying
One more detail that makes our encounter with that hatchling extraordinary is the fact that, accordingly, the season for releasing baby sea turtles in the area around Puerto Vallarta is between the months of July and December. And, as I mentioned, we found it in the middle of January! So, that tiny thing was among the few exceptions – a latecomer to the party. That makes it a special one.
Thanks for the sign
On the 7th day, our stay at the resort ended. And as soon as I was back home, I started scouring the internet to know more about olive ridley turtles. Guess where I got the added information from … the blogs. About turtles, of course. One of the interesting things I discovered: when you come across a turtle it means one thing, good omen for you. It made me smile. Nice myth.
Myth meets reality
I plunged myself more into reading, blog after blog. And I found this post from a humble blogger: blogging may have started more than 20 years ago, but it is never too late to start a blog site of your own. People continue to read. Technology keeps evolving. Life never stays the same. And there is always a story to tell. It stopped me for a long moment. I was staring at my computer monitor for minutes, without seeing anything. This is how this blog started. The omen can be a reality!
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
(Shakespeare in Romeo & Juliet)
I wanted to give that baby olive ridley turtle a name, but I had not a clue as to its gender. It came to mind later on, though, that gender of sea turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand while their embryos are still developing, warm produces female, cool means male. And since it was warmer during the time we met, the odds are that the baby turtle was a she. Voila! I could name her after a goddess in Aztec mythology. The Aztecs were indigenous people in Mexico in the 16th century, before the Spaniards came. And I wanted to find a goodess who closely connected to my experience with that hatchling: water, ocean, waves, new life.
Sorry, Shakespeare. I disagree. She was not just a sea turtle.
Chalchiuhtlicue (variedly pronounced Chal-chee-weet-lee-kway) jumped to mind. This Aztec goddess is very much associated with water and all aquatic elements, protector of newborns, representing purity (“foam of the ocean” or “white-capped waves), and other references: “Woman who makes the waves swell”, “Woman who lives in the sea.” However, impressive as her resume is in the pantheon of Aztec mythology, I am not that great at tongue-twisting exercise. So, I needed to find a fitting variation so it is easier to remember my beloved turtle. All I wish for her is a well-lived long life. And what else could be the most fitting name of all but Chai, a Hebrew word for life! So, the word Chai is conveniently the short form for the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
See you on the 13th year!
Olive Ridley turtles are believed to mature about 13 years old and live up to 60. And it is widely known too that – after years of wandering in the vast deep ocean for thousands of miles away – they come back to the exact spot they were born when it was time for them to nest. This blog is dedicated to Chai. And who knows, if I happen to go back to that resort in Mexico 13 years from now, Chai and I may see each other again. By then, I am sure, she should not have any difficulty navigating against the crashing waves. And years after I am long gone and this blog site no longer sizzles with any activity, I am confident Chai would still be around for a very long, long time. Afterall, I could not compete with her for another 60 more years!
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