Turtle rescue number two or «Man over board»
by firmm Team
Text: Luisa Listmann, volunteer for firmm; Photos: firmm
On July 24th 2013 we left the port of Tarifa on board of firmm Spirit and chugged full of curiosity and expectations towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The sea was calm and clear, the sun shone with full force and a gentle breeze refreshed everybody on board. Katharina and Eduardo did not have to search for a long time until they found a big group of striped dolphins. Respectfully and keeping an adequate distance we observed these beautiful and swift animals racing through the water and jumping every so often. After a while they approached our boat and we were able to look at them in the clear water.
A couple of hundred metres away the boat firmm Fly Blue lay quietly in the water and their passengers also looked at the spectacle of the small marine mammals. All of a sudden a radio message from the firmm Fly Blue reached our captain; a sea turtle had been sighted. Normally these animals are not seen very often and if a boat approaches them usually they dive off very rapidly. However the sighted sea turtle did not dive off; its left side stayed at the surface which was maybe due to an infection of the left lung. Since Pedro and Co. (last time on board of the firmm Spirit) had already rescued a sea turtle this year they decided quickly to start the recovery of the animal. Unfortunately there was no net on board the firmm Fly Blue with which the sea turtle could have been caught. Thus the crew of firmm Spirit decided to take over the rescue – it started to get interesting on our boat: Eduardo with the help of Eugenio positioned himself at the rear of the boat with a rescue net and gave instructions to the captain Diego who maneuverer the boat with a lot of skill. Many times the boat turned around and came close to the sea turtle, the guests were excited as well, but always the animal just swam out of reach.
But then…I was just standing at the side window of the boat and the sea turtle was swimming just underneath me that I thought: “Now Eduardo is going to get it”, but no! Again it was too far away. And just right then I saw Eduardo jumping into the water!!! At once Diego turned off the propeller and ran to the stern of the boat. Meanwhile Eduardo had approached the sea turtle and taken hold of it. At the first it did not like it and tried to bite Eduardo with its strong beak but he turned it around and pulled it towards the boat on its hind legs.
Diego and Eugenio were already waiting to help get the sea turtle on board. Meanwhile I was standing at the open door at the stern of the boat and took care that there was enough space for the sea turtle and its rescuers among all the spellbound guests. Eugenio and Diego had gotten a hold of the sea turtle but only with the help of Eduardo (out of the water again) they were able to haul it up on deck. With a big applause the rescue was celebrated! Now the turtle lay there; still a little numb from the rescue mission.
Dolores (by now the sea turtle had gotten a name) was put into a quiet and dark corner for the rest of the trip, covered with wet towels and left in peace so that it could recover from all the action. Eduardo was on board again; Diego retook his position in the captain’s booth and thus the search for other marine inhabitants could continue. We were able enjoy the appearance of many pilot whales around and beside and below the boat before we had to head back to the harbour of Tarifa still thinking about the great rescue of “Dolores”. In the meantime Diego had already called a veterinary from a wildlife rescue station in Algeciras so that she could come and get the sea turtle as soon as possible.
Shortly after our arrival in Tarifa the veterinary arrived and after everybody said good bye to the rescued sea turtle it was turned over to reliable hands. We hope that it will recover quickly and be able to swim to the Strait of Gibraltar again. It is nice to see that even though the attention is on the whales out on the water another animal in need is not looked over and rescued without much consideration and given the needed attention.