Releasing sea turtles.

I took this picture on the black sand beach of Monterrico, Guatemala.

We had helped the sea turtle preserve gather turtle eggs the night before as the turtles came on shore to lay them. The volunteers working the preserve ensure the eggs have the best chance of hatching and the turtles make it to the sea afterwards.

In return for our help we got to help them release these turtles the next morning. That's my wife in the picture above. The was ecstatic because working with sea turtles and seeing them lay eggs on the beach was a major bucket list item for her.

one of the turtles laying eggs

Gathering the eggs for the sanctuary. We nearly had to fight off some locals who steal the eggs for money

We lived in Guatemala for 6 months while planning our return to the US as new homesteading farmers. We sold our home and most of our possessions to lead a simpler life as well as spend more time traveling.

See our story in three parts below. "We gave up everything for the simple life"
(Part I) (Part II) and (Part III)