THANKS FROM THE TURTLE GIRLS
Hello from The Turtle Girls,
Thank you to everyone who reached out to us with interest and support!
In our last post, we were asking sailors to help us make our way onto the Baja Ha-Ha, in order for us to educate people about the Turtle Spotter citizen science program.
We are excited to announce that we will be sailing on Jersey Girl!
We are looking forward to collaborating with anyone who has an interest in having us on board at any of the stops. We will be conducting workshops, presentations, and in-the-water activities throughout the trip. We are planning to have a table at the kick-off party on November 3rd, so please stop by, check out our schedule and bring any questions you might have! You can also contact Abigail at abibea22@gmail.com if you would like to be involved.
Dani and Abigail are raising money for flights to San Diego and back home. We are very close to reaching our goal. If you have any interest in donating please visit our fundraising page at https://www.fundmytravel.com/campaign/dNhcnSoO2h
If you missed our last post, here is a little bit about us and what we are doing:
We are three naturalists working on a project called Sea Turtle Spotter, started by a cruiser, Dr. Rich Reiner on S/V Mandolina. We know a lot of cruisers observe sea turtles and we would love to start collecting this critical data on turtle sightings within the sailing community. This data collection helps us better understand sea turtle migration and habitat movement, which better equips us to protect sea turtles at sea as well as their coastal habitats.
Our goal is to teach boaters about sea turtle identification and ecology and how to become citizen scientists by recording these important sea turtle sightings. We will be presenting workshops during the ports and working with cruisers along the route.
The three of us attended school at Colorado State University and spent our 2019 winter break studying wildlife in Baja California Sur where we met marine scientist Stephanie Rousso and learned about her sea turtle conservation research. We then returned in the spring for an internship with her on Citizen Science Sea Turtle Conservation where we helped locals and tourists become citizen scientists by teaching them about sea turtle identification, ecology, life cycle, and how to easily record their sightings for use in research. Along the way, we met the lovely sailors of S/V Jersey Girl: Kenny Donna and their pup Alegria. We sailed with them for a sea turtle cruise and they helped us hatch the idea of sailing with you on the Baja Ha-Ha to help in Stephanie’s research.
About each of the naturalists:
Hola! My name is Abigail Bearce. I graduated from Colorado State University this past summer with a bachelors of science in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. I left my heart in Baja and I am passionate about conserving the precious marine wildlife that I had the amazing opportunity to study. I am currently living in Chicago and I love sailing! I have spent my last two summers working on a 1940s 60 foot custom ketch doing woodwork on the deck, helping rig the boat at the beginning of the summer, and taking it out for day sails on Lake Michigan.
Hey there! My name is Danielle Palm. I also just graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. I have a sincere passion for marine environments and have been pursuing that passion since high school through sailing, diving, snorkeling, and doing a little citizen science! I am now finishing my time in Colorado working for the Forest Service and am looking into Masters programs in marine science and moving to the coast. In the meantime, I hope to continue traveling to marine environments, developing my Spanish skills, and doing what I can about marine conservation with the wonderful people, like the sailing community, who make it possible.
Hello everyone! My name is Kimberly Wynn and I too am an alumni of Colorado State University with a Masters of Natural Resource Stewardship. My undergrad degree is Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies. Currently I am an adjunct professor at Colorado Mountain College teaching Conservation Biology and Sustainability Studies. As enamored as I am with the mountains, my time in Baja has left me with a strong affinity and desire to learn more about and be more active in marine conservation in general and sea turtle citizen science education in particular. I would be extremely grateful for further opportunities to both share my knowledge and learn from others. Helping raise awareness about the myriad challenges being faced by the endless source of life and wonder that is the ocean is an honor.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to working with all of you!
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