The trip to Galibi is fun. First you have to take the bus to Albina on the Marowijne River which is the border of Suriname and French Guiana. Then you take a boat down the river to the Atlantic Ocean. The boat is a large open canoe with outboard motors. Then you travel along the seacoast to Galibi Lodge. I went with my aunt and grandparents.

When we got there I thought it was going to be boring, but as soon after we arrived my friend’s family showed up. The next day we played a long time in the ocean which is muddy from the Amazon River.  The water feels like silk on your skin and looks like caf� au lait. Then we played cards. That night we stayed up and played more card games, meanwhile the grownups went to bed. We stayed up until 1 o'clock when the tide came up and the sea turtles came up the bank to lay their eggs.

When we went out to the beach the guide told us not to bring any flashlights because it will scare away the turtles   He also told us to be quiet and stay still when we saw the turtles. We went outside and there was a full moon; we walked quietly down the beach. When we saw a big shape coming on the beach, we sat down and watched silently.

The leatherback turtle are very big weighing over 1000lbs. They are so big you could ride on them. The females use their hind flippers to dig the hole to lay their eggs, throwing the sand behind them. They dig a square hole about 18'' deep and then done lay over 100 eggs one at a time. They are like soft white balls but when they dry they become hard. After they are done they lay down for a while to rest. Then they go around the nest and they mess up the path they made when they came out the water, so no predators can find the nest and eat the eggs. Then they go back into the water. We watched many leatherbacks lay their eggs that night.  Each one took hours so we would move quietly from one nest to another. We stayed up all night and went back to sleep when it got light.

When you look closely at the turtle’s face, you can see big tears in its eyes. The local people say that she cries because she is not going to ever see her babies. Turtles must drink salty seawater. To get rid of the extra salt they make very salty tears.    

The day we left and that is the end of my story.