Living on a boat seems like a good idea right about now.

Fresh fish, and the fascinating lady who caught them and sold us some.

Rambha, 2011

Chilika, 2011

Rambha, 2011

And now for some drama



Wetness of river.



Wetness of beach.



Wetness of sky.

Post-storm high contrast craziness at Gokharkuda.
2011

Babies! =D

I could fit four into my palm. We put them into buckets and carried them out to sea purely to thwart the Brahminy kites circling overhead, but I still saw a couple of them swoop down and snatch a baby or two right out of the waves.

Gokharkuda, 2011

Fisherfolk.

I have more photos of people from the village from last year, when we arrived a week too early for the turtles and walked around the village and watched the fishing boats come in and saw the biggest swordfish ever. But I took them all on my father's old Nikon SLR and scanning them is a monumental pain in the behind so these will have to do.

Gokharkuda, 2011

Aand Raju returns :)

This is after he resurfaced by daylight a day after I rediscovered him by torchlight. He's grown taller and bonier and has new teeth. But his eyes are still as beautiful.

Orissa, 2011

The secret movements of turtles.

Trails

Shadow.

Tilt.

Rest.

Nesting. 

Fin.

Crawl.

And into the sunset.

As an unapologetic animal planet nerd, I can now consider myself an extremely lucky creature for having been able to witness this. The Olive Ridley turtles that migrate and nest on the eastern coast here have eluded me this past one year, but this second trip was the most peace I've had in ages. The beach is pristine, the sky magnificent, the turtles beautiful and gentle, and just sitting there through early morning and late evening surrounded by hundreds of them nesting all around, it's something else altogether. My writing skills have deteriorated to a point of no return so I really can't explain this but you can't say I didn't try.

And kill me with fire if I don't go back for the hatching of the eggs.

Gokharkuda, Orissa, 2011

It doesn't take much to view the perfect sunrise at Chilika. Shake self awake at five and run down the pier at first light, everything glows and everything is still but the best part is closing your eyes and shutting everything out except the cries of the birds on the lake. Everything bounces off water, especially sound, this is the most important bit.