You might see some ads on this site advertising Costa Rican land for sale on Playa Grande Beach -- THAT"S MY NESTING BEACH!!!

So, by now you know all about how dire my chances of survival are – mine and all the other leatherback turtles.

Sundae and Drexelina are fine. They're swimming along the coast in typical turtle behavior. We'll show you their up-close-and-personal turtle tracks as soon as they send them to us!!

Check out the link on the large blue leatherback turtle on TOPP.org to see the crazy tracks that Drexelina and Sundae are making along Costa Rica's coast. Have you ever seen such a mess!

Before our big race, TOPP researchers put satellite tags on 35 of us Costa Rican leatherbacks in 2004 and 2005. That proved that we could do our Great Race in April.

George Shillinger, in Monterey, CA -- Where in the world is Stephanie Colburtle, the leatherback turtle?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA. Did Stephanie and her sister leatherbacks die of old age?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA -- Did the leatherbacks’ harnesses fall off, or have their tags broken?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA. -- Did commercial fishermen or shark-finners off the Galapagos or Peru accidentally kill Stephanie, Windy, Drexelina or Champira?

George Shillinger in Monterey, CA -- Mistaking them for jellyfish, Stephanie, Windy, Drexelina and Champira ate a bunch of plastic bags.

George Shillinger, Monterey Bay, CA. Something that most folks don’t realize is how difficult it is to track turtles, notes TOPP researcher Scott Eckert.

George Shillinger, Hopkins Marine Station, CA. -- It's hard to believe, but the winning turtle in the Summer-to-Summer Solstice Super Swimathon stroked 4,770 miles since she left Costa Rica 10 months ago! Bet you forgot there was even a race going on. That's turtle-racing for you. They move so slowly that the rest of the world forgets about them. But not leatherback fans, right?

George Shillinger, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, CA -- We're keeping our eyes on the four remaining Great Turtle Race leatherbacks whose satellite tags are still transmitting: Turtleocity, Genevieve, Freedom and Billie. In case you're new to TOPP, we co-sponsored the Great Turtle Race last April, in which eleven leatherback turtles "raced" from Playa Grande, Costa Rica, to the Galapagos for 14 days.

George Shillinger returned this week from the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.  As you know, George has spent the past several years tagging leatherback sea turtles in Costa Rica, and following their migrations as they pass over the Cocos Ridge and past the Galapagos Islands on their journey to the open ocean west of South America. 

From: George Lewis Shillinger

Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:15 AM

by Diane Richards

The "¿Dónde Está Stephanie Colburtle? Blog Series" was translated by Mariela Pajuelo (mpajuelo@zoo.ufl.edu), who is a staff member of Pro Delphinus, a Peruvian NGO (www.prodelphinus.org). She is also currently doing her Masters at the University of Florida, on Ecology of Sea Turtles in the Peruvian coast.