Digging out of sand is just the beginning for the young reptiles. When less than one inch tall, the refuse of plastic and glass on the beach becomes unconquerable blockades. Smith and Slusher assist the turtles to the sea where the law of nature takes over. Magnificent frigate birds and seagulls cruise overhead, picking the young off the surface, while barracuda and schools of jacks lay a murderous gauntlet below. It has been estimated that only one in a thousand survive to reproduce again.
Scientists estimate that the hawksbill turtle requires twenty years to reach reproductive age.
Some sea turtles return to the same stretch of beach where they began their lives, to nest, sometimes 4 or 5 times during a single season. Last year, not a single nest was destroyed, and Smith and Slusher helped over one thousand turtles to a headstart on life. On many of the other nesting beaches in Belize, most of the turtle egg predation is by local fishermen, but fortunately, the people of Gales Point have not been harvesting at this new sight. Turtle eggs are protected by law in Belize during the nesting season, traditionally between June and August, but new evidence suggest that the nesting season is longer. Smith successfully lobbied the Belizean Government, with support from numerous environmental groups in the country, to extend protection to year around for turtle eggs, but to protect the adult turtles also.