World Adventure

Hi All, Turtle island park lies 40km north of Sandakan in the Sulu Sea and consists of several islands. The park is a safe haven for the endangered green and hawksbill turtles.On most evenings,scores of turtles crawl onto the soft sand that fringes the island to lay their eggs.Selingan is the main nesting area for the green turtles and the Hawksbill turtles .Both species lay their eggs on these shores throughout the year the tiny island .In 1977,the islands in Turtle Island Park were gazetted as Marine parks for the protection of the two species in order to save them from extinction It sounded quite promising so we signed up for the trip to Selingan island Quite expensive really at 570 ringgit for visit and overnight stay. It was a 1hr high speed boat trip to the island from Sandakan. The sky looked dark and ominously threatening so all we could do was pray to the rain gods above to let us get our bags to our accommodation without getting soaked and thankfully she was listening. We checked into the accommodation which was quite nice then headed out to explore the island and its beaches but the rain started to fall so we had to retreat to the shelter of some trees and even with our umbrellas raised we somehow managed to get soaked.Thankfully it was just a tropical downpour and it didn´t last too long. We dressed for lunch,snorkelling outfits, scoffed our Malaysian buffet lunch forgot about what our Mother´s had told us about waiting an hour after eating and we went snorkelling. The coral around the island was quite nice and we again found fish and other marine species that we hadn't seen before so that is always good Highlight for us however was finding about a dozen monster lobsters hiding under a coral overhang Didn't see any turtles so a little disappointing in that respect. Later we found out from our friend Black,called that he told us because of the colour of his skin but maybe brown would have been more fitting,anyway that they,turtles, live and feed on the drop off at the edge of the coral a lot further out from the island. We had our evening meal ,another buffet,then watched a documentary and looked around the information centre before being instructed to waited in the dining room.There wasn´t a great deal to do and we weren´t allowed onto the beach ,so as not to deter the turtles from coming ashore,so we just talked to another couple of backpackers. It took a few hours then we got the 'turtle time' call from a ranger and went to the beach to see that a turtle had arrived and was laying eggs. The ranger the collected the eggs as they were laid and transferred them to a bucket. We left the turtle to continue her work (it takes 1 – 2 hrs for the female to complete her egg laying process from sourcing a nesting site to returning to the sea when all is done)Then we went to a fenced off area and the turtle eggs were buried, labelled and protected with a cylindrical wire mesh so that when the hatchlings burst out from their nest, they will be contained in the area until the ranger collects them in a basket to be released on the beachand also to protect them from hunger lizards and birds. Lastly a bucket of baby turtles was released and that was the end of the program. Another turtle arrived during this activity but we were the only ones to notice. It all took about 40 minutes in total and our program was finished. We hoped for more so we asked a ranger if we could sit on the beach and watch turtles arriving and leaving but were not allowed. So we went on the other side of the island anyway but didn't see any so headed off to bed determined to get up early to see more turtles. We rose at 5am and went down to the beach. It was clear a lot of turtles had arrived and left overnight and to our delight we found 3 huge turtles just leaving in the early morning light and with no one else was around it was just perfect.Whilst walking from the beach we discover a clutch of sea turtle eggs and a trail of eggs that led back to the sea.Had she been disturbed or had she just left her run a little too late and not made it up to the beach in time?We will never know the answer to that question but the tide was starting to rise and we didn´t really want to see all her hard work wasted so we raced off to the rangers offices and told them what we had seen.A ranger with bucket in hand returned to the beach with and retrieved the eggs before either the sea or a hunger water monitor decided to have them for breakfast.We had to go to breakfast but when we left the ranger he was reburying them in the sand in the hatchery . Like the crocodiles, the sex of the hatchling is detemined by the temperature of the nest. Essentially, the hotter the sand surrounding the nest, the faster the embryos will develop. Cooler sand has a tendency to produce more males, with warmer sand producing a higher ratio of females so after the 60-day incubation period our rescued eggs will hopefully be little females.After breakfast we left the island and headed back to Sandakan.The sole purpose of the park is not as a tourist attraction but a conservation centre and in some respects even though it is an amazing to witness it is a rather unsatisfying experience as we left wanting more maybe one day we will return as volunteer..... Bye David and Vanessa