Birds were chirping so loudly around 5:30 a.m. that I got up. The sun was already up and decided I would walk down to the beach to see if there were any hatchlings. I walked half way around the island checking on some of the turtle tracks on the beach and seeing where they had nested down and laid their eggs. Right on the edge of the greenery and beach it looks like a mine field with tons of huge holes that turtles had bored down and made. As I was getting to “Shark Bay” on the opposite side of our small island, Heron Island, there was a group of 4 women sitting on the beach. I walked up cautiously and they were watching a turtle covering up her eggs and disguising herself with sand. I sat and watched with them until the turtle was done and then she scooted fairly rapidly back into the water. So beautiful and wonderful to see during the light of day. I walked back the island forest of trees and swarming and loud with birds. Sam was up and we grabbed breakfast and got ready for our 9 a.m. dive.
As we were ready to board our dive boat all around us there were tons of rays including spotted eagle rays. There were swarming around with about 6 sharks that were just circling. There was so much activity going on in the bay by the pier that I suggested we just dive right here, and it was perfected calm and clear. But, we took just a 2 minute boatride from the pier and pulled up to one of their buoys and jumped in. The current was SO strong. We got into the current and it was like getting in the fast lane in LA, it’s hard to get off or slow down. We were cruising down the current back towards our island and ended up well past the island. We must have gone over a mile. There was tons of coral and blue and pink and purple and all kinds of fish and tons of sea cucumbers. Unfortunately the water wasn’t as clear as I would like and the mask I borrowed from them kept fogging. But the reef and all the fish were just so unique. We were struck by the shear magnitude of the reef and all the corral.
Back in the bay we decided to snorkel. The tide was going out so it was quite shallow but not lacking in fish. We were immediately encircled in a huge school of fish. We saw tons of sea cucumbers and interesting fish. After snorkeling for well over an hour, which the visibility was actually better than on our dive, we headed out to the patio of the resort and played some card games and we grabbed lunch. I decided to go out at low tide and walk around the exposed shorline and corral. Everywhere you looked their were sea cucumbers. When I came back Sam was going to meet me for a scuba dive but I found his literally passed out on a couch in the bar :) Between the heat and us being on the move so much I figured he needed the rest, since when I woke him it was like he was drugged he was so out of it. I left him a note and headed out for the afternoon dive.
We went to another spot fairly close to the hotel and this time it was just me and another woman and the dive master. It was great to just have a couple of us and the current wasn’t nearly as strong. The visibilty was better and we were able to see lots of colorful coral and schools of blue and yellow fish and a variety of other lovely fish and 2 white tip sharks. We had seen several black tip sharks around the island but cool, yet spooky to be in the water and right next to the sharks.
When I got back I found Sam in the room starting to read his book. He did homework for a while in the lounge where supposedly there is internet. But after buying an hour of internet it took the full hour to try and open our blog website and it never fully opened for Sam to log in. He was able to download some homework so did some in the bar area and then we headed to the beach. Right around sunset time is when they sau you can see hatchlings and some of the large green turtles will come in to nest and lay eggs. we walked about a 1/4 way around the island and saw nothing but then ran into one of the waiters who we had this morning, a super friendly Aussie whose enthusiasm reminded us of Emmett Madsen. Louk- pronounced Luke, was walking with a friend Amy, funny enough sounded like Makena Madsen. She too was an Aussie and they come here and work for 3-6 months and then go back to the mainland. They walk around the island every night. We told him we were looking for hatchlings. We ended up spending the next two hours walking with them and spotting all kinds of wildlife. It was like we had found a game tracker. This guy had the best eyes and knew all about the turtles, birds and marine life.
All of a sudden Louk starts running up towards this bird flailing his arms and trying to scare him off. Startled we looked to see what he was doing. A seagull was pecking at a baby sea turtle. They were so much smaller than I had expected and he just saved the turtle, although the bird was really aggressive . We picked him up to see if he was ok since he was so stunned, but when we put him back to the ground, encircled him and allowed him to make his way to the water. Thankfully he was ok. They need to do this walk apparently as part of the way they remember the beach and when they breed 30 years later they will come back to the same beach to lay their eggs. They will leave this area when they are feeding and often travel so far away but will come here to lay their eggs. This little turtle was so tiny and once he came out from being stunned he was flying down the beach and made it into the water. Birds were circling above but our little guy made it out and hopefully past the sharks that come to shore knowing that hatchlings are going to be out. Louk said you can always spot where the hatchlings are by the sharks gathering in the water and seagulls circling above. No wonder so few survive, only 1 in 1000.
Further down the beach we saw some others gathered up in the bushes. There were 4 baby hatchlings out of their shells and making their way down to the beach. It was getting much darker now and although the moon was up and shining brightly you couldn’t get a picture of them and it was fun to just watch them each try and make their way to the water. The babies follow the moonlight to the water. Yay, 4 of them made it to the waters and out over the reef, which this time it took a few times for them to get washed back onto shore and then up and over the reef. A little ways down there was a huge Green turtle working her way up to nest. We watched her settle into the bushes and start burrowing down. He front flippers throwing sand so hard around her, disguising herself with sandy and digging herself down into the sand. The force and effort is really astounding. After watching her for a bit, we made our way back to the lounge for dinner and said by to our new friends Luke and Amy. What a great night!!!!! We saw 5 babies and a big mom.
Black Noddy Head
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