And like the turtles we too will return to the beach of Kyparissia in 2012, see you there!!!

My Name is Alishea and I am a Zoology Graduate. My Partner Gary, who is an Automotive Technician, and I volunteered at Kyparrissia bay in 2011. We are from New Zealand where the Bush and pastures are Green and the wildlife is weird and wonderful but often unseen. Conservation volunteer work in New Zealand more often than not involves pulling weeds or ridding mammalian traps of their squashed dead contents. So volunteering for Archelon was a privilege and an honour and something very few can ever say they have experienced. Let me explain to you the unforgettable experience we had. Maybe next season you too will experience what we have and believe me it is well worth it.

After having set up our home (a tent) for the coming six weeks and gotten to know our fellow volunteers we were put to work, no sooner had we been taught how to execute a morning survey were we teaching others. Volunteers came and went often but we got to know one another quickly and everyone got on like a big Archelon family with one IMPORTANT thing in common our love of nature and a dedication to protecting the most beautiful and amazing creature on earth, the loggerhead turtle.

Morning Surveys were everything from educational and interesting to a combined work out and tanning session. We dug and dug and dug some more to locate the precious nests. We walked and walked and walked further still until our jeans no longer fit over our muscles but despite the excess digging and walking the overwhelming feeling when you located the eggs was indescribable.

Night surveys were awesome, I will never forget the first time I witnessed a laying female loggerhead turtle. Watching her lay her eggs while breathing deeply and flexing her rear flippers is a motion image in my mind that will stay forever.

There is really something for everyone. Volunteers came from a variety of different backgrounds which meant there was always someone to talk to. Life was simple and volunteers had to build, make and collect a lot of what we needed. Gary got involved in all the boy type building stuff making chairs for the table, shelter for people to relax under and a raft to take out on the water. He fixed the Kangoo (Our means of transport) numerous times in fact and even gave it a clean before getting in stuck it the wet mud and having to clean it all over again.

Kyparrissia was a time warped place where after being there two weeks you felt like you had been there forever but by the time you were leaving you felt as if time had flown. The wildlife was amazing with massive insects and mating Hermans tortoises to entertain us we were never short of things to watch. The food was excellent and everyone pitched in to help cook and clean.

But for me the best thing about my experience with Archelon was lying in the sand on the beach late at night with the moon and the stars above, watching the beautiful gentle creatures of the night lay their eggs and return to sea. And Like the turtles we too will return to the beach of Kyparissia in 2012 see you there!!!

A =AMAZING (a word frequently used by volunteers)
R = REWARDING
C = COULDNʼT GET MORE SUN IF YOU TRIED
H = HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
E = EXCELLENT FOOD (cooked, prepared and served by who else but the volunteers themselves)
L = LOTS OF FUN
O = ONE AND ONLY TRUE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
N = NO FRILLS OR FANCY THINGS (just a wonderful organisation in desperate need of volunteers to play an active role in conserving the loggerhead turtle)