Bittersweet night.

Going into this Turtle Rescue I knew that all of the turtles would not survive.

It's a blessing that these people are here to save the ones they can, without them not even a quarter of those from the nest would make it out into the ocean.

The forth night I went to clean the nest I was assigned to... digging into this I had a bad feeling it would not be a good one.

A nest of 112 eggs and 64 of the turtles did not make it.

It was truly heart breaking to see only 26 healthy little turtles out of such a large nest.

This was not a site for one to see with a weak stomach.

I separated what I had to with the broken eggs, live turtles, the unfortunate turtles, infertile eggs, etc.

Within the pile of eggs I thought did not service laid a little life waiting to hatch.
As Francesca checked my piles, she handed me an egg with a small crack on top.

She said "Hold this, you may like it."
I hold it for a minute and a crack formed more into the top of the egg.

A life was hatching right in my hands!

I cupped my hands to keep him warm. He worked his way out of the shell.

A little head peaked out of the egg, I could not tell you how amazing it was to experience.

Once he was out of the egg we had to check him for maggots, since he was in a bad nest.

Unfortunately he had a maggot, we hurried to put him into salt water to kill the nasty thing.

He was laid into the little turtle hospital over night, I prayed he would be okay and survive.

The next morning for our egg run, we had to release some turtles before sunrise.

I check the little guy to make sure he was still alive.

He survived and I set him free.