A rare turtle has chosen Guibia Beach – renovated by the City Government last year – for laying 115 eggs, the Ministry of Environment reported yesterday, Tuesday 30 July. The Ministry has named the turtle “Jaira” as a tribute to Jairo Mora of Costa Rica, murdered in May 2013 for defending sea turtles. Jaira measures 1.13 meters. The Ministry says that a green turtle (Chelonia Mydas) was spotted on Catalina Island a year ago. A statement from the Ministry’s coastal and marine resources department said that the nesting at the beach confirms the importance of the Santo Domingo coastline for sea turtle conservation and that two of the four species that are known to visit the island have nested on the coastline. Jaira is the second turtle to nest at Guibia. In recent months a hawksbill turtle (Tortuga carey) has also nested there. Female turtles are known to return to the same beaches where they were born to lay their eggs, usually during the summer months. The eggs need to incubate for about two months before hatching.