We celebrated by going in to Port Elizabeth to the very good bookstore there and shopping. Then we girded our loins and set off for the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary on the far side of the island. It was a lovely walk of about three or four miles. We stopped for a beer at the Firefly resort, then pressed on, arriving at about noon. Mr. Hegg was not home, but we were able to peek through cracks and crevices to see the beneficiaries of his good works: the endangered hawksbill turtles.
This is the time of year when the youngsters are gathered on the beaches as they hatch. They are kept for five years before being released back into the wild. Normally, baby turtles would head to the open sea where they'd take their chances. Instead, they are put into a miniature sea until they are old enough to come ashore.
It's hard to believe these turtlettes will one day become...
...old enough to take care of themselves
We started back along the road to Port Elizabeth hoping to find a bite to eat. At a place called (I think) Half Moon, we found cold beer and sandwiches. I asked what went in to a lobster sandwich. Lobster, mayonnaise, sliced peppers, lettuce...sounded great. White bread? "Oh no! I bake wholewheat bread fresh every morning." Mmmm hmmmm. I'll have one of those. It was fabulous.
We were all a bit weary from the sun and the walk, so we picked up a taxi back to town. We grabbed a few provisions, returned to Boffo and took ourselves back out to Django. It was definitely snooze o'clock.
At precisely RP o'clock, I sent our aging Captain to get me ice. Buried in the ice chest was a bottle of bubbly, kindness of Enn and Dana. We had our RPs, had our bubbly, gave gifts to the birthday boy (books, not surprisingly), and prepared for dinner ashore. We ate at Gingerbread, a very nice place on the Port Elizabeth waterfront.
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