Turtle watching at Las Cuevas 🇹🇹 (what you need to know)

Added: 2026-05-08

[00:00:00]18 and it begs the question to me, what do we take seriously in this country? So hefty fines and jail time if you go.

[00:00:08]>> So to actually be able to see it today was really um it was really a moment for life >> and award goes to >> Hey everyone and welcome back to Rihanna Recipe. Now, today's video is not necessarily a recipe about food or anything lifestyle in particular. It's a video more about respect, awareness, and experience because I did something that I think that every Triny should do at least one time in their life. And if you're wondering what the heck am I talking about, I am talking about turtle watching. I went turtle watching with my family, which is something that I wanted to do for the longest while. wanted to do this since I was a child. It wasn't just about to watch the turtles, right?

[00:00:58]I don't know what I expected going into this, right? But it wasn't just about going to watch the turtles. I ended up leaving with such a profound experience and so much information. Listen, those turtles, those leatherback turtles that I saw are a testament to God's vine design. Trust me. Now, you can't tell me that God isn't real, and you can't tell me that Jesus Christ is real. Believe me, right? And those turtles and the the journey, learning about their journey to me was just a testament of that. But I don't want to be too spiritual, right?

[00:01:34]This this video isn't about that. This video is meant to be more informative.

[00:01:39]There are several nesting sites across Trinidad and Tobago, but my family and I, we've decided to go to Lasvas because the more popular sites like Tokco, Matura, those places are were just too too far for us seeing that we were coming from south, right? So we decided to stop on the short and we paid for a guided tour facilitated by the Las Eco-friendly Association which is um led by well in my opinion I think that they are led by tour guides Alen and Simba. Yeah. This group in particular, they run tours annually from March to August, giving visitors the chance or the opportunity to safely and respectfully go and view the turtles that are nesting. All right, so without trying to be too political as well, right, I just want to make mention of something that I learned that to me it just doesn't sit right with me. and that is these groups are supposed to be funded and supported by the government and that is not happening. And according to an article that I read because I actually did go and do a little bit of research to back up the information that I learned that night when I went on the beach right and to my surprise these groups have not received any kind of funding or support from the government since 2018. And it begs the question to me, what do we take seriously in this country? Animals that are supposed to be protected and we don't have government funding. We don't have any kind of support from the government at all.

[00:03:20]Yet, yet there are very hefty fines, which I agree with, and jail time. So, hefty fines and jail time. If you go and you poor these eggs or poor these turtles or disturb them by simply even using a bright flashing light, right?

[00:03:38]And I agree with it. And these fines are upward of $100,000, right? But you are not funding the conservationist groups. I don't understand that. And what does that mean? It translates to less resources, right? less patrols because these people are not getting paid since 2018.

[00:04:00]No funding, no fees, no stipen, no salary, no no nothing.

[00:04:06]And it it it kind of makes me angry, which I didn't intend to have this kind of an emotion on display in my video, but I just felt like it was necessary for me to point that out as well. And which is why um if you care about these turtles and this is something that you want to do, they usually charge a fee to have a guided tour. And I don't think it's expensive. We paid $100 per adult and $50 per child, right? Which I don't think is too crazy.

[00:04:41]And these fees don't go into their pockets. According to them, this fee is money that they gather in order to buy equipment for themselves to protect these animals. So pretty much what they are doing, Arlene, Simba, and whoever else, what they are doing is their job out of love and dedication for what they signed up for. No compensation.

[00:05:09]Just saying. Just saying. Anyway, anyway, so Alina and Simba, I've mentioned before, were our tour guides, and they did a fantastic job, but we've learned so many facts about leatherback turtles that are so intriguing to me. I just found that these animals are incredible.

[00:05:32]I have a new found respect for these animals. Now, I have some points on a sheet of paper in my hand. So, my head is going to be down for a little bit because I want to actually read um the points that I jotted down. So, I want you to bear with me, but I just before we get into the actual footage from that night, I want to just read some of the points that I have here because I don't want to mix up anything. I want to be as factual as possible and give you the right information. Right. So, I'm about to read. I'm about to read. Right. Nice.

[00:06:04]So, I feel like when I was doing this, I felt like I was back in school doing some kind of social studies um project that has been ages ago. But anyway, um here's my little project. Hope you all are proud of me. All right, so facts about letterback turtles, right? So leatherback turtles return to the very same beach where they were where they were born as guided by their natural instincts, the sun, the moon, water temperature, and even the earth's magnetic field. I did not know this. I knew that they came back to the beach that they were born, but I did not and and I assume I guess that they would have depending on their natural instincts, but I did not know that they used what you'll call that the cosmics to help them as a as a guide as well to come back to that beach, right? Um and because of that, this is why we must never ever interfere with the hatchlings. Now I have seen videos where people children they go to see the hatchlings obviously come from the nest and migrate to the ocean and some of them might go astray some of them might be having a little bit of a difficult time to find the water and our in our instinct I guess would be to pick up the hatchling and try to aid it into the water that is frowned upon that is frowned upon because that is something that we should never ever do.

[00:07:31]And the reason why is um their that initial journey is critical to their development and their mapping coordination, right? Um simple actions like picking up these hatchlings, it disrupts that process and it can um even affect their chances of survival because they are very very fragile as well. So we are not to handle the hatchlings because as gentle as we think we are as well, we have to remember that these hatchlings are very very fragile and what they are doing making their way from the nest to the ocean is a critical time for them with their coordination, their mapping, their senses, their development, right? And as like I said, as gentle as we think we are, because they are so fragile, you don't want to harm them in any kind of way. So do not, if you go letter back watching this season, next season, whatever, do not handle the hatchlings. Please, please tell your children, leave the cutie pies alone. Leave the little turtles alone and we cannot. No, don't pick them up.

[00:08:37]All right. All right. These hatchlings grow well over 6 feet to 2,000 lbs. All right. Um, so there are the fastest swimming sea turtles and the deepest diving sea turtles. Hence their unique rubbery leather like shell. Again, remember that thing I was telling you about the design that that God, right? Because a a regular hard shell, it would crack under that kind of pressure. Remember, you dive in deep and you dive in fast. So, I don't know how you'll measure that PSI or something that how you measure that pressure. I don't even know. But let me just say for the sake of this video and for the lack of of um my own understanding of metrics that level of PSI would crack a hard shell and obviously endanger the life of a regular turtle. Hence the leatherback turtle has that rubbery light. So that could withstand the pressure going down to those kinds of depths and at the speed at which it goes as well. God.

[00:09:45]All right. Um, I also learned that each turtle can lay over 100 eggs in a single nest. And I saw that for myself. Y'all, this is what this was so incredible. Can't wait for y'all to see the footage that will follow. Anyway, amongst the fertilized eggs are unfertilized eggs, also known as fake eggs. Right? So, what we what I've come to understand is that when she digs her nest, and by the way, she digs it in a particular shape, right? um that would avoid collapse and all of these things, right? So, she's an engineer, too.

[00:10:21]I feel like women across all species are just incredible. Just saying. But anyway, um um well, females, she um so she digs her her nest in a particular type in a particular shape.

[00:10:36]She knows what she's doing. I can explain it. Um, and then she would lay, first she would lay some of these fake eggs as a cushion in the nest, as a little buffer to protect the eggs, the fertilized eggs that she's going to be placing on top. And then in between, so like, let's say she might lay 30, 40 eggs, then she will go ahead and lay some fake eggs again, right? And how you know the difference? Um, the unfertilized eggs tend to be a bit smaller, right? And then so she would continue that process. So fake eggs.

[00:11:06]Really likes fake eggs. They like like a little um lasagna.

[00:11:12]Oh god. Yeah. So So that's how she does it. And what the purpose of these fake eggs as well, what they do besides create a buffer to protect the fertilized eggs, what it does as well is to help to maintain the structure of the nest that she would have dug so that the it doesn't it it keeps the integrity of the nest, the structural integrity of the nest. It doesn't collapse on the ends and all of these things. And also what I found out is that as these eggs come to maturity um the fake eggs would is shrink almost and dry up right so it's happening simultaneously the fertilized eggs are growing and the unfertilized eggs are shrinking and whatever. So once the eggs once the hatchlings come out they they hatch um what happens next is that the space that the fake eggs would have created because they've shrunk now it gives the the the hatchlings enough room to dig out and come out. Y'all nature is so incredible to me.

[00:12:18]So that is that is the purpose of the feed eggs. What I also learned and I'm not sure if I am saying this correctly for those who might know if you're watching the video um if you know maybe you could correct me in the comment section but I think what they mentioned is she would breed for over five seven male turtles in one season and she would store the sperm right inside of her and then like she would fertilize guys, batches of eggs at a time, and then she would go lay one batch, go back out, stay at 2 days or 3 days, a week, come back and lay a second batch for a next meal.

[00:13:01]Just saying, right? Um, back to my paper.

[00:13:06]Yeah. So, oh, I have a little note here as well. The eggs, the fake eggs that is, helps to regul regulate the temperature of the nest as well. And just as a side note, and I'm not sure if this is true because I I didn't actually research this part, but what the tour guides were telling us as well is that she has the ability to influence the gender of the eggs of her hatchlings. All right.

[00:13:33]Now, she can pick obviously the the gender of each one, but if she prefers to have more female, she would dig somewhere that where the sand is warmer because the cooler the nest, you find that there are more male hatchlings and the warmer the nest, you find that there are more female hatchlings. So amazing.

[00:13:54]Now, I just want to clarify something that while all of this is incredible to see, very fascinating indeed, it comes with responsibility on our part, right? As visitors, you have to respect what you go to witness. And notice I said witness because you're not going to interfere.

[00:14:16]You're not going to spook or poach or anything, right? And I know that the the people who are watching this video, y'all are pretty cool people and and understanding people. So I don't have to worry about my viewers here, right? But we have to respect what we go to see. So there are certain rules that we were guided by. We once the turtle was emerging out of the water, we couldn't stand in eye view or in front of the turtle. As a matter of fact, we had to stay about 8 to 10 ft in distance away from the turtle and observe from a distance. We had to maintain quietness at all because once the turtle feels spooked, once the turtle feel threatened in any kind of way at all, she is going to head back into the water and we don't want that. And heading back into the water means that she could either come back later or she could just migrate to somewhere else all entirely.

[00:15:11]And we want to keep our turtles, right?

[00:15:13]We don't want to risk that. So, respect the distance. Be quiet. As quiet as possible. Nobody say you can talk, but you have to keep it in hushed tones, right? Lighting. Now, usually um these stores are at night, obviously. And you want to see your eyesight mightn't be as good like mine. Well, who am I talking about? I wear glasses and I still can't see. But if you have to have a light, the light must be red. No other color, not blue, not green, not pink, not purple, not certainly not white. It has to be red lights. Red lights only. Other colors disorient the turtles. So, we have to respect that as well. You have to you want to get closer to the turtle.

[00:15:55]Once she start a body pit, body pit is when she use her four flippers to dig the nest. Right at that point, you can approach, you can get a little closer, but we can we still run the risk of spooking the turtle. So what you do, you stand on the side where she cannot see you or you stand at the back. Now when she starts to lay, she goes into a trance. This is the only time that you could walk around, take your pictures. Again, no flash photography, no flash videography.

[00:16:27]Just so right, you walk around, you can take your pictures. This is also the time where the qualified, certified, licensed person can go and measure the turtle, touch the turtle, um, tag the turtle and record whatever other information they want to, right? So, I feel like I would have given you as much information in this informative segment of the video. Now, I want to show you the video because we went and it was good. But before before I do that, I want to tell you a little bit about Butter Style. So, just hold on for a 30 secondish video of my business that you can feel free to support me.

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[00:17:52]Welcome to Ray and a recipe. Today we are >> doing a turtle watching tour.

[00:17:58]>> This feed the turtles me.

[00:18:08]>> So what are you doing so far?

[00:18:13]People who probably 915 right 91 Guys, right here. So, we have to open this like Right.

[00:19:28]Right there.

[00:19:40]So close.

[00:20:15]So there's an old Yeah.

[00:21:15]>> One coming out the water down there.

[00:21:17]>> Yeah.

[00:21:20]I'm so Yes. Really?

[00:21:51]>> So the main open release behind the eyes.

[00:21:59]Open.

[00:22:33]Okay, >> so we can proceed.

[00:22:37]>> So we are back from our leatherback turtle viewing tour. Um it was a lovely experience.

[00:22:44]Firstly, you know, from the well, in the beginning was it was off to a rough start actually. You know, I was kind of skeptical. I would I would reserve my comments, but um when we got there, we actually got to see turtles because for the first time when I went, we didn't see any turtles actually.

[00:22:57]>> So, you know, this time it was really nice. We get to see um the turtle lay eggs and we also saw them um how much you see two and she say it had like about three or four feedback and she just watching the camera don't say nothing.

[00:23:11]>> No, it have seven on the beach right now. All right. So it has seven. We get to see two.

[00:23:18]>> I think we should go head out.

[00:23:20]>> But I mean it was a great experience.

[00:23:22]>> Yeah. 10 out of 10. Would recommend.

[00:23:24]>> Yes, I would. What you think? What you think?

[00:23:27]>> So it was patched. The experience was a very good one for me. The drive was very long, >> but it was worth it, >> right? I had a nice experience. I always hear about people coming to see turtles and things actually see the process for myself this time, >> right? And I feel I could come back and watch it again because it's really a serious study about these ties people and them who taking care of the turtles >> when they're laying there. I think they already studied and they know the history.

[00:23:55]>> True. Yeah. Watching how to covering up the eggs.

[00:23:58]>> Mhm.

[00:23:59]>> No. And say after a while if you head back out to see we started out with one. We end up with about three and that's our corner coming in. It was a nice experience. I would recommend it to anybody.

[00:24:12]>> Yeah, it was really nice. It really really was nice and informative.

[00:24:17]>> What can I say? I think something right there stood out to me is the fact that the people that doing the tour are doing it straight out of pocket because they no longer receive something that >> yeah so the first time I had the experience I'm not sure where it was it was a lot of years ago and you know we went out it was a treacherous journey to no reward we saw one baby turtle nothing else so to actually be able to see it today was really um it was really a moment for life >> and the award goes to But yeah, it was a really nice experience. For real.

[00:24:51]>> You see why she's cracking? I can't talk.

[00:24:59]>> My throat.

[00:25:00]>> Did you enjoy it?

[00:25:02]>> Yes, my dear.

[00:25:04]>> Did you enjoy you enjoy it?

[00:25:05]>> Yeah.

[00:25:07]>> Okay. So, I will be ending the vlog right here. So, thank you for watching.

[00:25:12]>> Thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video. And there is seven out there right now and counting right there.

[00:25:29]>> I feel the egg.

[00:25:32]>> What the hell? Well, go tell the turtle.

[00:25:37]>> I see like chicken >> that big >> and it's perfectly round.

[00:25:43]>> Yeah. I added like a smaller size all those big