Turtle Day! We left the hotel today at 8:30 to wait for the boat. There were quite a few tourists sat around the harbour, with suitcases and things, all waiting for the same thing, I guess. Danielle had a bit of a kerfuffle with her tour company to get things arranged so she could come with us.
We all sat around for a while, chatting and watching the fishermen prep their boat for another day at sea.
Our boat eventually arrived (Crystal Quest V!), and we took a choppy ride out to sea. The weather wasn’t great, and we were hoping it wouldn’t get so bad as to dissuade the turtles from heading ashore to lay their eggs tonight.
After quite a long journey, we made land and checked the big turtle board, which had listed the dates and times of all the turtles which’d recently come ashore, along with the number of eggs they’d laid. It was pretty cool.
As we were staying at a fully operational sanctuary, this resort was a bit more formal and less touristy than what we’d seen before. There were office huts and places for the staff to eat and stay, as well as other more ‘local’-looking facilities (like a small beach-football pitch).
After checking into our room, I took a bit of a nap before going for lunch. The weather wasn’t great, but we went for a muck-about on the beach anyway.
There was the opportunity for snorkelling which we were all looking forward to - I personally had not swum in the sea for quite a while, so I was looking forward to taking my GoPro out for it’s first ‘extreme’ test run.
There’s a hut where you can hire snorkelling gear and other stuff for dossing on the beach. I don’t remember the prices being too outrageous, considering their monopoly. So, armed with flippers and snorkel masks and towels and cameras and everything else, we headed for the water. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too far into the sea before I was stopped, spluttering in my tracks by an unpleasant stinging sensation across my chest …. jellyfish! They weren’t very visible in the water (maybe just remnants of their tentacles?) and though the pain wasn’t excruciating, Jackie had enough of a reaction to keep her out of the water completely.
I’d not been snorkelling before, so I was already finding it a challenge not to suck in water through my snorkel while I was swimming … combined with the shocking distraction of the jellyfish, this became a non-starter. Doctor Andrew swam a lap of the permitted area, ignoring the stinging.
Fred was currently making a round-the-world trip to (or from? I forget) an international volleyball tournament. He took his volleyball quite seriously and as he was legitimately backpacking (as opposed to doing this as a package holiday, like myself), I was quite surprised to find out that not only was he packing a volleyball with his limited luggage, but also a pump! He was only too happy to break it out on the beach and put us through some practice drills, as there was no net for a full game. Curiously, there was also quite a lack of other tourists here on the beach.
After dinner at 7:30, Donnie explained to us how it was all going to go down: as there were so many people here on the island today (probably 40, including us and every other tourist), we’d be split into 2 groups, or which, we would be the second. The first group would go out on the first sighting (if any) and the second would go out on the second sighting (if any). This meant our chance of seeing any turtle at all was lessened, and was definitely not guaranteed. Also, as we had no idea what time the turtles might come ashore, we had to remain on standby. It was to be a very long night …
We watched enviously as the first group were notified of a sighting and they eagerly rushed out onto the beach. We sat around reading or playing chess or drinking [insert-caffeinated-beverage-here]. There was one tiny shop attached to the restaurant where you could buy snacks and some small souvenirs; I got myself an awesome bright-yellow t-shirt with a turtle printed across front and back, out of sheer boredom.
I forget what the last-chance time was … maybe midnight, but we were getting to the point where we couldn’t barely stay awake. Donna had already gone to bed and the rest of us were ready to throw in the towel when, at 11:15 we finally got the call!
We walked out to the beach in the pitch-black (which is trickier than it sounds when you’re not walking on a pavement and you’re in your flip-flops) and clustered around a green sea turtle in the sand, laying her eggs!
We all gathered round to watch and flash our cameras in this poor turtles face for quite a good few minutes. Apparently turtles go into a bit of a trance when they lay their eggs, so she wasn’t bothered by us in the slightest. I’m sure if there was any issue with us being here, the wardens wouldn’t let us in so close.
After the turtle has finished laying and makes the long journey back to sea (she would still be crawling on the beach come morning), the eggs are retrieved and reburied back at the centre where they are safe from predators and poachers.
When the turtles hatch (contained in their little clutch-fence) they are gathered up to be returned to sea after a few nights (to grow and get a bit stronger).
On the beach, they are released a short distance from the water to make their way into the world! (With Donnie’s head-torch to lead them in the right direction - quite a few times they ran off the wrong way … )
So while we didn’t do much more than watch the wardens in action, it was still amazing to see the conservation project at work and the efforts being put into see that these endangered animals are being the best possible chance of surviving their harsh world.
With that, we happily turned in for the night.