Save The Sea Turtles!!!!!

This week is the last cruise of the 7-day repeated itinerary!!!!! That means I have a brand new port to look forward to and a change in my schedule!!! WOOT WOOT!!! And it’s not that long until the crossing back up to Europe!!!! YAY!!!
I’ve had some new adventures in our last two ports, Rio and Salvador. On Sunday, we were docked in Rio and Jessica, Derrick and I took a taxi to the famous Ipanema beach. It was very pretty and we enjoyed the day eating grilled cheese on a stick and watching the Brazilian beach life. Brazil’s beaches are always flooded with vendors selling anything from bathing suits to CD’s but this can sometimes make it difficult to take a nap or read. In fact, I never even heard the waves crash on the shore! I would say that if you go to a beach in Brazil, at least the very heavily populated beaches, go expecting lively characters and not a real relaxing atmosphere.
My day in Salvador was probably one of the best days I’ve had in Brazil to date. After boat drill a group of seven of us piled into a van and drove for about two hours to a Sea Turtle Sanctuary. They had several types of turtles, massive ones to two-day old babies!!!! They were SO CUTE!!!! Volunteers and beach patrollers look for nests along the shore and when they find one, they mark it with a stick in the sand so the sanctuary can come and retrieve the eggs. They replant the nest in their protected sand so that the eggs are safe. The beach jeeps create hard sand in their tracks, making it impossible for the baby turtles to pop thru after their born. Why we even NEED beach jeeps, I don’t understand. Nonetheless, SOME humans are trying to help rather then hurt. We were so lucky to have gone that day because it was a release day, something that only happens a few times a year!
The employees dug up the turtles from their nests and put them into a bin. I got to touch a few and take pictures with them. Their arms fins are surprisingly strong and rough. After all of the turtles were collected, we walked to the beach and smoothed the sand to make their journey into the ocean just a little bit easier. I was told that for every 1,000 turtles born, only one or two survive. They struggle in the wild because after they hatch, they follow the light of the moon to the ocean to be swept into their new life. But with human light pollution, they get confused and some never make it to the ocean.
I felt like I was apart of something very special that day. Even though we speak different languages, humans all over the world fight to protect what we are constantly harming. I liked helping the animals and I definitely want to continue helping!
After the long trek back, we finished the day off by enjoying some live music in the local square of Salvador. And back on the ship, I joined some of my cast members for our traditional game of Apples to Apples. We borrowed the game from Adventure Ocean and every Salvador, we play on the back deck, Some other crew members have joined in and it helps them with their English. It’s a lot of fun :D
Welp, that’s the scoop for now!!! Shout out to my brother’s for a Happy Birthday!!!! Wish I could have been there to help you celebrate!!!! Love you all!!!