Turtle Island

We've just got back from another whistle stop tour, this time of Pulau Selingaan, otherwide known as Turtle Island. Its a beautiful tropical island just off the coast of Sandakan and was set up in 1966 as a conservation project for Hawksbill and Green turtles. We spent the afternoon paddling in the sea (although it was lovely and crystal clear it was only waist high at the maximum depth!) and sunbathing, waiting for that evening when the turtles were to come up the beach under cover of night to lay their eggs. As dinner came to a close around 7.30pm the group of about 20 people gathered together to wait for the turtles to arrive. By 9.30 we were worrying that our US$150 was going to go straight down the drain - a panicky thought when it's a month's budget blown on a one night "once-in-a-lifetime experience". By 10pm 4 people had given up and gone to bed, and typically, at 10.10pm the shout went up "turtle time!". >The two Australian girls who had gone to bed were up in a flash and on the beach, however the other older English couple were too slow and missed the whole thing!! Not happy campers.... We hurried to the beach where the large (1m wide) Green turtle was already in its nesting hole and was just starting to lay its eggs. Our photos may be a little dark as flash photography wasn't allowed - puts the turtles off the job, unsurprisingly. However we could clearly see the eggs being laid and were within inches of the turtle. It laid 64 eggs in total which were removed by one of the rangers, to be transplanted to the hatchery, then as the turtle moved off we left it to its long journey back down the beach. We then retired to the hatchery where the eggs were reburied in a sand hole and marked, so that they could be monitored and protected from predators. Our last job of the night was to release about 30 5 day old hatchlings back into the water.
They raced into the sea and it was quite something to watch their first foray into the big wide world. One hatchling was spotted earlier having escaped from the hatchery, heading for the jungle where the enormour monitor lizard dwelt. They like nothing better than gobbling baby turtles. There followed some discussion on the merits of rescuing the hatchling or letting Mother Nature and natural selection do their work, as the poor little thing was obviously a bit thick.
So, after a tense night of waiting we had finally seen what we came to see - truly an amazing and a one-off experience. Worth a month's budget? The jury is still out....