When Debi Schneiderwind decided to take an early morning walk with her coffee on the last day of her Cayman vacation, she had no idea it would lead to her family’s most memorable holiday adventure yet.
Schneiderwind, her husband Bill and their teenage son, Anton, would soon find themselves in a race against time to save a distressed mother green sea turtle outside their North Side villa earlier this month.
The California family, speaking with the Cayman Compass via Zoom Friday, said they never expected to see a wild turtle, much less get an opportunity to save its life.
“We went to the turtle [centre] there and swam in the lagoon, but all those turtles were pint-size relative to this one. It was pretty special,” Bill Schneiderwind said.
This was the family’s first trip together to the Cayman Islands. They were here to celebrate Anton’s 16th birthday.
The teen said the experience left him feeling inspired and with a greater appreciation for the world around him.
“I feel like I’ve always cared about the environment, but I feel being able to have a helping hand in it helps me kind of want to make a difference,” he said, adding that it made him want to tell everyone that they too can help the environment.
Startling discovery
Bill Schneiderwind credited his wife Debi with triggering the rescue operation, which he described as a “memorable lifetime experience” for the family.
Schneiderwind said their flight was delayed, giving them two extra vacation days, which seemed like divine intervention for the turtle as the California dad believes the turtle would have died had they not been there that day.
Debi Schneiderwind said she started the day early with a morning walk, having her coffee.
She said, at first, she did not see the turtle, but noticed tracks and a bunch of holes which she followed.
It lead her to what she first thought was a tragic sight.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s a dead turtle.’ So then I walked down and she rolled her head over and looked at me and then I called [Bill]. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a turtle on the beach.’ It was already getting warm and I’m thinking we have to do something,” she said.
She called her husband Bill on his cellphone and he came rushing down to the beach.
“It was huge. I mean, it’s twice as big as me and [I’m] not a small person. I got down there and [the turtle] opened her eyes and looked at me and as cheesy as this might sound, I just said, ‘Look, I’m here to help you’, and she seemed to understand that. I said, ‘Debi, go get Anton’ because I thought she was way too big to try and turn over by myself,” Schneiderwind said.
They named the turtle Naomi, in honour of their friend who joined them on the trip but slept through the rescue.
Anton, Scheiderwind said, was also asleep when they first found the turtle, but he jumped into action to help.
No time to wait
Schneiderwind said they hesitated helping at first because they were unsure they could touch her and also she had been thrashing about with her flippers.
The family said they called the Cayman Turtle Centre for help and were advised to call the Department of Environment.
Schneiderwind said they were told it could be a couple hours before someone could get to the turtle.
He said they could not wait, so Schneiderwind began digging around the turtle, which he estimated weighed over 400 pounds.
He said the turtle had already starting digging the sand around her in an effort to flip herself over, but the exhausted animal was trapped and could go no further.
When his son and wife returned, Schneiderwind said he had cleared a path so they could roll the turtle over onto her belly so she could get to the sea.
“At first I thought, ‘Wait, it was too late because she just rolled her head over really slowly, and it did take a long time for her to get back down to the water. She kept pausing and she’d sit a little bit. She finally got to the edge and the water splashed on her face,” Debi Schneiderwind said.
She said the turtle hesitated on the water’s edge before going in.
Bill and Anton, who had walked alongside the turtle as she made her way to the water, looked on in awe.
The California dad said he read that the turtles excrete salt, giving the appearance of tears.
However, he said he believed he saw tears of gratitude as the turtle turned in his direction and gave a slight nod before her final push into the sea.
The family said they later found out that the turtle had laid eggs on the beach.
The DoE turtle team has secured her nests to protect the hatchlings.
The Schneiderwinds said they wish they could return to see the hatchlings emerge, but hoped that the DoE will share photos when the baby turtles do eventually make their way to the sea.
“We love so many parts of that island, and certainly the people of the Cayman Islands are so fabulous… very grateful people, very spiritual. We’re grateful to be there and we’re definitely going to be back,” Schneiderwind said.
Anton said, for his part, he wanted people to be reminded that every living organism on this planet is meant to work together and help one another, instead of doing harmful things like polluting each other’s environment.
“I feel like it’s very good to know that us as humans still have a chance to help the environment,” he added.
Related Videos
