Yes, 81F but at 11pm! It was 107 F in Merida today. I'm actually a couple hundred miles away on the Caribbean coast right now, we have a condo over here. It's cooler here but more humid. The ocean breeze is good though and the water temp is very nice. I've got all 4 sliding doors open to the water now and the breeze is cool and refreshing.
It is the season here when the huge sea turtles come in and dig holes to lay their eggs. They can't see red so all the houses along this bay have switched their outside lights to red so it won't scare them away. I hope I can get some pictures if I see one laying some night and share them here. They are incredible. First they are huge, the size of a really large coffee table. They only come on land for this one task so they don't walk well and it exhausts them. They dig big holes, up to 4 ft deep in the sand, flinging anything in their way to the side, like recliners or beach chairs or tables. They lay from 70 to 100 eggs, once they start laying they are in a trance and you can go up to them, take pictures and catch the eggs if you want. The eggs are soft but harden on contact with air, you can feel it. We get Loggerheads, Leatherbacks, and Green sea turtles mostly, occasionally the smaller Ridley's. There is an ecological group here that collect some of the eggs, protect them and when they hatch they feed the little turtles for a few days to get them stronger and then release them. They are so small, life is very dangerous for them and only a small percentage make it to adulthood. Anything to raise the odds a bit in their favor.
This is a baby Ridley's (I think) that we saw being released over on the west coast of Mexico, thus the brown sand. I'll look for some pics I have from over here on Caribbean, with our white sand, and post them.
