Internship with Sea Turtles on Curacao

I already named Curacao a few times in previous blogs, but today is the day I will spill the juice since my time in Curacao meant a lot to me. I did an internship for five months as part of the major Animal and Community of the Bachelor of Animal Management. I felt drawn to the island of Curacao so I started my search on the internet for an internship organization, it should be the other way around following school but as some of you know me I am stubborn and if I feel like doing something I am going for it. So I found Sea Turtle Conservation Curacao. Months after organizing the internship through emails and a Skype call with the organization, I arrived at the Curacao International Airport.

The internship started with two weeks of getting to know the island and the volunteers. I was happily surprised by having another intern doing the internship. She became a very dear friend/ sister aka Dushi ('babe' in Papiamentu) to me. In these first two weeks, two lovely volunteers took us snorkelling at Daaibooi where I saw for the first time Barracudas! We got introduced to the beach cleanings and used an app to locate all the litter on the island. Since the island also has quite some trash besides the beauty. So keeping it clean was very important for the organization!

On a few Monday mornings, two local volunteers took me and my Dushi on the turtle beach monitoring. It was so beautiful to walk the beaches from around 5.30/6 am in the morning. You could see the island waking up, the sky filled with pink colours and the blue ocean with the sound of the waves and the quietness on the beaches. Unfortunately, turtle season hadn't started yet so I had not seen any turtle trails or nests but I did get taught where to look out for in case there was a nest. The connection I felt with the two volunteers and my Dushi together was

something that surprised me in a beautiful and heartwarming way, our connection felt like family to me and I only just met them! During the five months I was on the island the volunteers showed us around and told us about the history of the island and where the true non-touristic beauty could be found. We went to dinners together, shared our views on life and we did a beautiful full moon hike.

Serious business

After two weeks of a lot of fun and freedom, it was time for some more serious work, I mean I came to the island for my internship. I started my communication project through Social Media. I had to create a challenge for the collection of plastic and I had to promote prices people could win. I was responsible for the 'Save the Turtles' feed on Instagram and made a lot of pictures of turtles with my GoPro while snorkelling with the turtles (from a distance!) at Playa Piskado. I remember feeling so cringe every time we were at Playa Piskado, because of all the tourists that tried to snorkel and touch the Tortugas (turtles in Papiamentu) there, omg what a drama it was haha. Anyways Playa Piskado is a whole other story. There was unfortunately no direct work with the sea turtles happening since there was no field coördinator. The main focus laid on the reduction of plastic pollution in nesting places. Therefore we did get to go to Klein Curacao a few times a month which was really beautiful. This island reminded me of the Dutch song 'op een onbewoond eiland- from Kinderen voor Kinderen' which is about living on an uninhabited island and raising yourself. The sand on the beaches there is almost white and the ocean water is so so clear. It is beautiful to do a beach clean up there. Only the boat right uuf I never felt seasick before but this I experienced till the point my face turned somewhat green once lol.

After two months, halfway through my internship, there was a lot happening and changing within the organization. We were going to have a new tutor, who we met one or two weeks after we heard the news. Also, our new tutor was going to take over the whole organization. It took some time before the takeover was official and therefore I could not really continue with my project but luckily my tutor from my university understood that this was nothing I had any power over. It felt stressful at times because of the uncertainty and dependence on the organization. I also found it difficult to keep a boundary between social and personal work-life, so I felt quite personally involved within the organization which caused me a lot of tension and the feeling of responsibility while I was there as an intern. As an intern in a different country, it made me feel alone at times because the people that I knew and would understand what was happening and I felt safe to share with were mostly from the organization on the island. And a lot of things felt not right to share because I had information others within the organization had not since I was part of the management team, I was basically a second-hand manager assistant when the organization was taken over.

In those moments I felt really grateful I had Dushi with who I could share my feelings and thoughts about how I experienced the internship within the organization. I fear that if I had done the internship alone it would have been difficult to not doubt how I felt and thought about how things were going. And I mean the beauty of the island also helped a lot, a swim in the clear blue ocean after a tough internship day was a blessing and something I could dream of every day, I mean I was living this dream. My dear dushi shared with me what is my life quote now: 'At least you get to cry with a beautiful view'.

What was really cool about the position I had within the organization was the opportunity I

had to learn so much about how to re-set up an NGO and to learn about myself that I have the capability to do so because we did: the manager director, dushi and I re-set up the Sea turtle conservation on Curacao. Crazy right! Another amazing opportunity I had was to go on my very first business trip (!!) to the Sea Turtle organization in Bonaire. I never had a flight that short before, it was literally a 15 min flight: the sky in and out. So interesting to broaden my network, to meet people from another organization with the same goal for sea turtles, and to get an insight into how they work and what techniques they use to save the turtles. I feel really grateful for experiencing that.

Tortuga work

In the last two weeks, we finally had a field coördinator. It was so amazing and cool to finally get to work with sea turtles! We did a rescue dive of a sea turtle with fibropapillomatosis (FP)

aka tumours. We did a snorkel manoeuvre to catch sea turtles and did an in-water and on-the-beach health check. I have seen a lot of Green Sea turtles and Hawksbills which I find beautiful creatures. We also caught a sea turtle with a hook in its cloaca on Playa Piskado and brought it to the veterinarian Doest, the famous veterinarian on the island, where it would get surgery. This work with the sea turtles was a rise in the rollercoaster for me in my last two weeks within the organization on the island.

It feels impossible to write about my experiences and my time in Curacao in one blog. It was such a rollercoaster of emotions, getting to know myself in a new way and being challenged by myself and also experiencing love and comfort while feeling discomfort. If I look back to it now I see how much this experience helped to teach me that feelings can lay next to each other, that one does not exclude another. At that time I could get so stuck in my head, but still even tho I went through difficulties and actually because of it I grew so much as a person.

I met so many beautiful souls, saw mind-

blowing sunsets and beautiful sunrises, swam and dove in the clear blue ocean with all its magnificent sea creatures, I drove with the wind blowing through my hair in my own car, I ate delicious food and had the best laughs, dance sessions and cry moments with my dear dushi, and I feel so grateful we got to experience the time together and the friendship that grew from sharing our life on that beautiful island.

Also shaking my booty with my housemates on the very touristic beach parties at Mambo beach was a highlight almost every weekend. Curacao has a special place in my heart and I am looking forward to a reunion with my Dushi to where our story began!