Turtle Island

  Turtle Island, Malaysia
Tuesday, November 16, 2004

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Next morning feeling better and we catch the boat, 45min trip, at 9.30 to Turtle Island. Head to the beach for most of the day, do some snorkeling, not a lot to see but a few clown fish and some huge blue star fish.



Sit under a tree most of the time but still get a burnt back. We watch the sunset, have tea at 7, play cards and wait for a turtle to turn up. About 9.30 we get called to head down to the beach. We can see eggs coming out of the turtle but not really the turtle itself as its too dark. The wardens are collecting the eggs as they drop in and tag the turtle as its a new arrival. Nice to see but too dark and too many people to really appreciate it. Not sure if the number of people disturbed the turtle excessively and is a bad thing, but the tourists do bring in a lot of money and it is only the first turtle of the night that gets disturbed. The others still have the wardens around them picking out the eggs.

We then see the eggs taken to the hatchery, lots of marked and protected holes in the ground. Then we release the newly hatched turtles, got to hold one and they're really strong, and watch them race towards the sea. At least most of them did, some had directional difficulties and kept going the wrong way.

Next morning get up with Nathan to watch the sun rise.



We look around for turtle that are still on the beach but don't see any until just before we were heading into the sea for a swim. She was just coming out from under the bushes after laying her eggs.