On Monday, November 4th sailing vessel, Jersey Girl II left the San Diego harbor and set sail for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Captain Kenny, a decorated Coast Guard veteran, and his partner Donna navigated the 73-ft sailboat along the Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula as part of the Baja Ha-Ha rally. 

Five passengers joined Captain Kenny, two more sailboat captains and Upwell’s three volunteer biologists, all recent graduates from Colorado State University. Kim, Abigail, and Dani started volunteering for Upwell’s Sea Turtle Spotter project in March, helping Stephanie collect and register sea turtle sightings from citizen scientists in Baja. Inspired by Upwell’s collection of citizen science data to advance protections for sea turtles at sea, the biologists--informally dubbed “the turtle girls”--resolved to join the caravan of boats and prepared presentations, games, and handouts to teach sailors and cruisers how to identify and report sea turtle sightings during the Baja Ha-Ha.  

Our intrepid biologists began their outreach in the streets of San Diego during the kick-off party. They set up a table, right next to the food line, so Ha-Ha cruisers, residents, and tourists could pick up information about the five species of sea turtles in the Eastern Pacific, including water-resistant field guides Upwell created in collaboration with the Mexican sea turtle non-profit, Grupo Tortuguero de las Californias (GTC).

Kim, Abigail and Dani recruited 150+ cruisers to report sea turtle sightings with Jersey Girl, which served as the main citizen science vessel during the Ha-Ha. Each morning, they shared interesting scientific facts about sea turtles with the fleet over the two-way radio. At various bays along the route, Jersey Girl welcomed cruisers aboard for powerpoint presentations on sea turtles on the big screen in their salon. Other sailboats welcomed the biologists aboard for talks. They also participated in fun onshore activities including a baseball tournament with a fishing cooperative and turtle games with kids.  

Our team encourages citizen scientists to use Sea Turtle Spotter to report their sea turtle sightings. Sea Turtle Spotter is a project on iNaturalist, an open source citizen science platform created by the California Academy of Sciences. Upwell is working in collaboration with GTC to analyze sightings from the Baja Ha-Ha as well as sightings in the Gulf of California, using citizen science to better inform understanding of sea turtle presence on both sides of the Baja California peninsula.

In this season of gratitude, Upwell extends our appreciation to all Sea Turtle Spotters. We are grateful to Kenny and Donna for hosting the “turtle girls” and other Baja Ha-Ha participants volunteering their skills, like graphic designer Jason Hite, who prepared infographics with Sea Turtle Spotter data. We are also thankful to all the cruisers helping to organize outreach within the boating community in La Paz. And we extend our thanks to the numerous volunteers collecting data on stranded turtles with GTC and providing us with barnacles for our research using stable isotope analysis to learn more about sea turtle habitat use.  

Follow Upwell’s social media for photos of sea turtles contributed by Baja Ha-Ha participants. And stay tuned for more details, as the famous cruiser magazine “Latitude 38” is writing a story about the “turtle girls” of this year’s Baja Ha-Ha and Sea Turtle Spotter in the next issue!