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Speaker 1: Hello friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. A short

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Speaker 1: message for grownups looking for more calming entertainment at sleep time.

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Speaker 1: complete back catalog of interruption free bedtime stories, guided meditations,

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Speaker 1: sleep sounds and sleep music, and special shout outs for

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Speaker 1: the kids. Visit sleep typepremium dot com to begin your

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Speaker 1: free trial. A link can be found in our show notes.

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Speaker 1: Thank you Turtle Story. When I woke up in the morning,

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Speaker 1: the sun was shining again. I looked around me, wondering

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Speaker 1: where I was, and then I remembered I was a

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Speaker 1: baby sea turtle and Olive Ridley in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a big blue world which I had heard someone call

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Speaker 1: the ocean. There was blue and green water in every direction,

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Speaker 1: and the sunlight was playing games with the clouds. I

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Speaker 1: tucked my flippers beneath my body and floated for a while,

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Speaker 1: letting the current carry me. I did not know where

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Speaker 1: I was, but that does not matter when the sun

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Speaker 1: is shining and your stomach is full. The sun warmed

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Speaker 1: me and filled me with new energy. Just as I

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Speaker 1: was beginning to think that I would love to spend

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Speaker 1: the rest of my life here, a school of fish

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Speaker 1: went by chasing them. Was a really big fish. I

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Speaker 1: could tell he was a really hungry fish too. When

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Speaker 1: he saw me, his eyes lit up. He seemed to

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Speaker 1: be thinking, baby turtle. Moments later, I was swimming as

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Speaker 1: fast as I could, with those big teeth, snapping at

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Speaker 1: my little hind flippers. Just when I was beginning to tire,

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Speaker 1: I saw a seaweed raft. A seaweed raft is just that,

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Speaker 1: a floating mass of seaweed and driftwood that travels around

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Speaker 1: the ocean, carried along by the current. On and in

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Speaker 1: the raft are the drifters, all the seas, little and

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Speaker 1: not so little creatures that float around the ocean waiting

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Speaker 1: for something to happen. Gratefully, I slipped into the I

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Speaker 1: would not leave this safe haven for many many years.

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Speaker 1: Being on the raft was like going on a world cruise.

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Speaker 1: I enjoyed it very much. But as I grew up,

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Speaker 1: I decided it was time to explore the big wide

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Speaker 1: world outside the raft. I had heard wonderful things about

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Speaker 1: a place called the reef, where a lot of other

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Speaker 1: turtles lived. Everyone said the reef was the fairyland of

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Speaker 1: the ocean. They said it was full of beautiful brightly

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Speaker 1: colored creatures, both harmless ones like the clownfish and poisonous

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Speaker 1: ones like the scorpionfish. I wondered how I would find it.

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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, it became very dark. A huge

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Speaker 1: shadow covered me. Frightened, I looked up only to see

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Speaker 1: the biggest turtle I had ever seen. His back was

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Speaker 1: soft and leathery. I stared, a turtle with a soft back.

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Speaker 1: All the ones I know have very hard backs. The

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Speaker 1: big turtle caught me staring. Surprised, he grunted pleasantly. You

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Speaker 1: shouldn't be I'm a leather back turtle. Good name, sir,

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Speaker 1: I mumbled, Where are you going? I continued to the

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Speaker 1: reef to live with the other turtles, ah, sighed the

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Speaker 1: leather back. I wish I had that luxury, but no,

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Speaker 1: I am too busy searching for jellyfish. They are all

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Speaker 1: I eat. Where do you find them? I asked? Out

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Speaker 1: in the deep deep sea, said the leather back. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: I have to dive more than a thousand feet to

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Speaker 1: reach them, and sometimes I go all the way to Canada,

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Speaker 1: where the water gets very cold. No other reptile could

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Speaker 1: survive in such cold waters. If it isn't too rude,

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Speaker 1: I said quietly. Can I ask how much do you weigh?

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Speaker 1: Nearly six hundred kilograms, little one, replied the leather back,

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Speaker 1: looking amused. And I'm proud of all of it, including

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Speaker 1: the fat, for it's the fat that helps me get

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Speaker 1: through the long migrations. Well, I have to be off now,

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Speaker 1: of course, I said, But before you go, could you

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Speaker 1: tell me where I might find the reef? That way,

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Speaker 1: said the leather back, pointing with a flipper as he

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Speaker 1: swam off. Thank you and happy hunting, I called out

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Speaker 1: as I swam toward the reef. It was on the

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Speaker 1: reef that I met Old Green Turtle. My friend hawk Bill,

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Speaker 1: whose mouth is curved like a hawk's beak, told me

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Speaker 1: that Old Green was nearly fifty years old. My that's old,

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Speaker 1: I said, how come she looks so young, well, said Hawksville.

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Speaker 1: Green turtle only eats sea grass and algae, so it

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Speaker 1: took her nearly thirty years to become an adult. You

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Speaker 1: and I will be adults by the time we are ten.

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Speaker 1: Do you know that when she wants to nest, she

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Speaker 1: migrates to islands in the middle of the ocean, clear

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Speaker 1: blue lagoons, white sand. They're beautiful Have you been there,

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Speaker 1: I asked, Oh, yes, Sometimes you have to crawl over

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Speaker 1: the coral to get to the beach, said Hawksville. Ugh,

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Speaker 1: I shuddered. I would hate to crawl over sharp coral.

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Speaker 1: Soft sand is what I like under my soft belly.

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Speaker 1: You won't have to do it, don't worry. Another Ridley

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Speaker 1: told me. We only nest on soft beaches like the

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Speaker 1: ones on the coasts of Mexico, Costa Rica and India.

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Speaker 1: But you'll see for yourself when it's time. How will

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Speaker 1: I know when it's time, I asked eagerly as she

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Speaker 1: swam away. You will trust me, was all she would say.

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Speaker 1: I spent many happy years on the reef, meeting many

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Speaker 1: of my turtle cousins. Apart from green turtles and hawkbills,

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Speaker 1: I met loggerhead turtles, the one with the really big heads,

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Speaker 1: and plenty of other Ridley's like me. And then one day,

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Speaker 1: just like that, I was all grown up and it

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Speaker 1: was time to go. How did I know it was time?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Something deep inside me told me. So

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Speaker 1: I know. I had to swim north with all the

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Speaker 1: other Ridleys, all along the eastern shore of India until

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Speaker 1: we reach Orissa and lay my eggs on the soft

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Speaker 1: beaches there. The little compass in my head would tell

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Speaker 1: me how to get there. It's only about two thousand kilometers,

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Speaker 1: sniffed a loggerhead as he swam off in a different direction.

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Speaker 1: Show off, just because loggerheads like him sometimes swim almost

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Speaker 1: fifteen thousand kilometers to lay their eggs from California all

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Speaker 1: the way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan. I ignored

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Speaker 1: him and continued gorging on flying fish, my face favorite food.

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Speaker 1: The big journey began. The water around me was full

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Speaker 1: of other Riddleys like me, swimming powerfully. It wasn't an

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Speaker 1: easy journey along the way. There were many dangers. Though

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Speaker 1: I was bigger now than most of the fish, there

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Speaker 1: were still sharks that could catch us. But the sharks

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Speaker 1: were not as dangerous as the many fishing nets that

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Speaker 1: we had to swim past. I swam as carefully as

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Speaker 1: I could, avoiding all the nets, especially the terrible trawl nets.

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Speaker 1: I managed to escape them all, but some of my

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Speaker 1: friends weren't so lucky. Finally we reached the beach, the

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Speaker 1: place where more ridleys nested than anywhere else in the

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Speaker 1: Indian Ocean. It was time to lay my first nest.

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Speaker 1: We always nest at night. I waited until the tide

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Speaker 1: was a little high so that I wouldn't have to

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Speaker 1: crawl too far on the beach. I came in with

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Speaker 1: the surf and felt land under me for the first

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Speaker 1: time since my birth. It felt very strange at first. Slowly,

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Speaker 1: I dragged myself up the beach to find a dry spot.

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Speaker 1: Once I had moved past the high tideline, the sand

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Speaker 1: became very dry and flew all around me as I

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Speaker 1: dragged myself forward with my front flippers. It is very

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Speaker 1: difficult to move on land. To take a breath, and

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Speaker 1: looked up. The beach was long and dark. Behind the

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Speaker 1: beach was a huge dune and some bushes. I had

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Speaker 1: heard there was a large forest behind this beach, which

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Speaker 1: was full of saltwater crocodiles, king cobras, and all kinds

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Speaker 1: of other animals. Then suddenly I saw another animal on

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Speaker 1: the beach. It had four legs and it was digging

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Speaker 1: up a turtle nest. I went back into the water

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Speaker 1: as fast as I could. Later that night, I crawled

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Speaker 1: up again and went up the beach. At my chosen

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Speaker 1: spot on the beach, I cleared away the dried sand

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Speaker 1: and made a big pitch with my hind flippers. I

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Speaker 1: am very fussy about how exactly I do this. I

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Speaker 1: always put one flipper in after the other scoop out

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Speaker 1: some sand and throw it out about two feet deep

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Speaker 1: and shaped like a flask with a narrow neck leading

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Speaker 1: into a deep cavity. It was a beauty. Then I

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Speaker 1: began laying my eggs one, two, three, forty four, forty five,

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Speaker 1: ninety nine, one hundred, and then I was done. I

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Speaker 1: covered my precious eggs carefully with sand and thumped it

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Speaker 1: down with my body. Finally, I threw some sand around

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Speaker 1: to make sure that no one would find my nest.

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Speaker 1: Quickly I crawled back into the sea, where I felt

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Speaker 1: much safer. Two weeks later, I was getting ready to

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Speaker 1: nest again. We usually make enough eggs to lay two

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Speaker 1: or three nests during a season. My common sense told

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Speaker 1: me that it would be a good idea to nest

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Speaker 1: again where I had the previous time. It seemed like

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Speaker 1: a good safe place. That night, as I was waiting

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Speaker 1: in the shallow water for the tide to be right,

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Speaker 1: I noticed a slight change in the wind. It was

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Speaker 1: stronger and blowing from a different direction. Suddenly I realized

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Speaker 1: that there were hundreds, no thousands, of other turtles all

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Speaker 1: waiting to nest. I knew a lot of other turtles

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Speaker 1: were also swimming around in the waters waiting to nest,

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Speaker 1: but I had never seen so many together. And then

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Speaker 1: we were all rushing up the beach together. The beach

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Speaker 1: was already full. There were thousands of other ridleys. Sand

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Speaker 1: was flying in the air. We were all bumping into

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Speaker 1: each other. Finally I managed to find a clear spot

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Speaker 1: and dig a nest for myself. The turtle next to

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Speaker 1: me was in such a hurry she started to lay

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Speaker 1: her eggs even before she could finish digging her nest.

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Speaker 1: I was shocked. We turtles never do that. It's this time, lady,

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Speaker 1: she said. We all get a little crazy during this time.

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Speaker 1: There are thousands of us here trying to nest. It's

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Speaker 1: a frenzy. Nobody really knows why we do this, but

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Speaker 1: it works for us because millions of hatchlings hatch at

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Speaker 1: the same time. That way, most of the little ones

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Speaker 1: escape being caught by birds, crabs, and jackals. These days,

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Speaker 1: of course, we have humans to worry about as well. Finally,

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Speaker 1: it is time to leave and return to my feeding ground.

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Speaker 1: I will spend a year or two there eating and

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Speaker 1: building up the energy for another trip to the beach.

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Speaker 1: Green turtle, on the other hand, sometimes needs to eat

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Speaker 1: for five or six years before she has the energy

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Speaker 1: to make her next journey to nest. As I leave,

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Speaker 1: I think of the little ones I have left behind.

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Speaker 1: For fifty to sixty days, the eggs will remain under

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Speaker 1: the sand, warmed by the sun, and then one day

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Speaker 1: they will hatch, breaking open their shells with the tips

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Speaker 1: of their snouts. They will huddle together over a hundred

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Speaker 1: hatchlings under the sand, waiting for the sun to set

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Speaker 1: and the sand to cool. Then, in the darkness, when

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Speaker 1: it is safe, they will come out all at once.

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Speaker 1: They will see the moonlight bouncing off the sea and

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Speaker 1: know which way to go. Hopefully there will be no

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Speaker 1: street lights to make them go in the wrong direction.

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Speaker 1: They will swim against the waves and dive under the

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Speaker 1: oncoming breakers. There will be big fish and small fish

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Speaker 1: out to get them, and seagulls and eagles, but some

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Speaker 1: will get away out into the open sea, where they

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Speaker 1: will find their own little seaweed rafts. They're floating homes

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Speaker 1: for many years then they will grow up, and perhaps

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Speaker 1: they will come to my feeding grount. Perhaps we will meet,

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Speaker 1: though of course I will not know them. Still, I

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Speaker 1: am happy knowing that they are out there somewhere, and

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Speaker 1: that someday they will return, like me, to this very

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Speaker 1: beach to lay their own eggs and start the whole

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Speaker 1: wonderful circle all over again. They also waking to me

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Speaker 1: and the ne