Treatment of turtles and rays during shore excursions

[MsCaretta]

Hello there :)

 

I have cruised three times in the past year, eastern and western Caribbean with Princess and Royal Caribbean, and have been struck by the lack of best practice and control of shore excursion operators concerning treatment of the sea-life. On a stop in Cozumel, visiting Akumal in Mexico on a tour to see turtles, we had to go into the water with our guide, all wear life vests, no flippers and use only bio sunscreen. When a turtle came near us we were instructed to swim quietly and float in a large circle around her, move away if she started to surface near us and not touch or startle the animal. In contrast, in other areas (Barbados particularly) it was a kind of free-for-all with no life vests, guests thrashing around, screaming and accidental kicking of the turtles going on. Not cool at all. :mad: Same with rays in Antigua. What are your experiences and thoughts on this?

[Host Jacquelyn]

In Barbados, we all had to wear life vests or there was no getting off the catamaran, and no flippers either.

[barbados]

I believe you'll discover that your concerns are unwarranted.

 

Barbados was the first Caribbean nation to begin a program to protect the sea turtles more than twenty years ago.

 

The program is called 'Barbados Sea Turtle Project' (BSTP) and it promotes and encourages conservation and monitoring with a 24 hour 'hot line' for emergences/abuse.

 

The major tour companies on the island that offer “swim with the turtles” have all undergone classes on the proper care of the hawksbills. Mistreatment of these wonderful animals would quickly bring pressure/censure of the tour operators.

 

Did you know that during the nesting season, June-September, that commercial establishments in the nesting areas of the SE coast must turn off their outdoor lights at night so as not to confuse the hawksbills when coming ashore to nest.

 

The well-being of the sea turtles is taken very seriously by the government and the local population of the island.

 

The turtle population is growing after almost extinction and it has been billed as quite sustainable.

 

In other words: No animals have been harmed, nor will be harmed on the island of Barbados. They love it here. :)

[MsCaretta]

May I ask where you were on the island? Getting off the boats on the trips I was on was an option, both down in the south and off the north=west coast. There seemed to be no regulation of the number of boats in the area so sometimes there were 30 or 40 people in the water. Were you on a shore excursion or staying on the island?

[MsCaretta]

Hi - the Barbados Sea Turtle Project is a great initiative, and I know it is well supported and very successful. I know there have been initiatives on the island to get all the stakeholders together at meetings to discuss the issues e.g. treatment of the reefs, use of jetskiis, turtles, etc. but that the large hotels and resorts were not well represented. I enjoyed the excursions, but can only judge on what went on during the trips I went on. It is evident that the island of Barbados love the turtles, but the tourists could be encouraged to behave better around them. Unfortunately on both trips no information was given about the animals and people just got into the water. The turtles were being fed with fish and were chasing the fish and that was when they were getting kicked. Great initiative with the lighting issues on the SE coast!

[notentirelynormal]

Well, I can't speak for my particular location because I wasn't using a map at the time but I can assure you the tour we took (Shasa) we were most definitely wearing life vests, were told not to wear flippers and given a 2-3 minutes speech on the way to interact with the turtles. We were told the do and don't and he was serious. Don't touch them, don't ride them (this one boggles my mind as obviously someone has tried), don't kick them. We floated on top and took pictures. I can assure you our guide was very respectful of the water and the sea life and made sure that we were also. He said that some people throw their old food (like bread) into the water when they are done but he didn't agree with that either.

 

On St Thomas we also did a snorkeling/sailing excursion and we got the same lecture on the turtles. Perhaps yours is an isolated experience.

[Dartmoordan]

Well, I can't speak for my particular location because I wasn't using a map at the time but I can assure you the tour we took (Shasa) we were most definitely wearing life vests, were told not to wear flippers and given a 2-3 minutes speech on the way to interact with the turtles. We were told the do and don't and he was serious. Don't touch them, don't ride them (this one boggles my mind as obviously someone has tried), don't kick them. We floated on top and took pictures. I can assure you our guide was very respectful of the water and the sea life and made sure that we were also. He said that some people throw their old food (like bread) into the water when they are done but he didn't agree with that either.

 

On St Thomas we also did a snorkeling/sailing excursion and we got the same lecture on the turtles. Perhaps yours is an isolated experience.

 

 

We too had the same in Barbados ,life vests and no flippers or sunscreen we were allowed to feed them with fish but were not allowed to touch or spalsh around. I am surprised this happened to the OP

[Karysa]

We went on a NCL shore excursion on the Dancing Dolphin Catamaran in March of 2009 in St. Thomas that went to swim with the turtles just off of Bucks Island. The crew was very strict and they made a point of telling the passengers that if they saw anyone trying to touch or frighten the turtles in any way, that they would send that person back on the boat. They did not feed the turtles and you were not permitted to swim to the nearby protected island either. We used power snorkels and had great view of the turtles and a stingray as well. It was a perfect experience.

[Crystalbast]

In Barbados, we all had to wear life vests or there was no getting off the catamaran, and no flippers either.

 

Agreed.

 

And in Antigua there was only one tour company and there were only about 19 of us on the excursion. There was not thrashing about or harassment of the stingrays. It was a great excursion.

[klepton]

We also took the Shasa tour in Barbados. Jason was very good about giving everyone the run-down on do's and don'ts with regard to the sea turtles. We didn't all wear life vests, but no flippers were allowed.

 

All that said, there was one guy on our trip who did kick a turtle on the shell. He was a little rambunctious. He actually surfaced once right into DW's chest. He seemed unconcerned about the turtle kick, but Jason and Andrew must have said something to him because he settled down and ended up with a life vest on a few minutes later.

[MsCaretta]

Great to hear that many of you have had good experiences, I must have been unlucky.

 

Crystalbast, glad you had a good trip in Antigua. I also went on this one but there were about 50 of us and it really was packed. To make it worse, the water was very disturbed due to storms so it was hard to see where the rays were ie whether they were beneath us or in front, etc. Also, I am not sure about everyone being allowed to hold the rays as apparently there are concerns by marine scientists the rays can pick up human viruses and transmit them to other rays they come into contact with outside the shore excursion sites. Same issue in places like the Cayman Islands where they hatch turtles at a turtle farm and then release them into the wild. This conservation issue is really tricky trying to get a balance where we can enjoy animals at close quarters but not bring any risk into the environment . . .

[Aplmac]

I am not sure about everyone being allowed to hold the rays as apparently there are concerns by marine scientists

the rays can pick up human viruses and transmit them to other rays they come into contact with outside the shore excursion sites.

Same issue in places like the Cayman Islands where they hatch turtles at a turtle farm and then release them into the wild.

This conservation issue is really tricky trying to get a balance where we can enjoy animals at close quarters but not bring any risk into the environment . . .

And to quote Mrs. A.V. Gundy...

"Wild animals are best left alone!" ;)

.