Turtle Island

After a propeller plane flight to Sandakan, we drove to the pier past houses on stilts crowded together in a “water village.” The motor boat trip to Selingan (Turtle Island) took about an hour. We spent the afternoon walking on white powder beaches, swimming in crystal clear bath temperature ocean (Sulu sea), snorkeling above coral reefs and relaxing under a palm tree. The rooms here are very rustic, with a shower that drains into a hole in the floor and generator electricity. However, this remote island is lovely and relaxing.

After dinner, consisting of rice and bland food that we are getting served pretty much everywhere, we waited for the first turtles to arrive. The island is a nesting place for the large green turtles, which eat softer sea vegetation, and hawksbill turtles, which eat invertebrates like coral with their sharp beak-like mouths. Three islands in the area are a sea turtle protection area, where turtles have been tagged and tracked since the 1970s. At about 9:30, we went to the beach, where a mother turtle was in the process of laying her eggs after having dragged herself out of the ocean and dug a nesting hole. The rangers collect the eggs as she lays them. When, she was done laying 93 eggs, she used her flippers to close the nest hole. The rangers then measured and tagged her, as she had never been there before. Leaving the mother turtle to rest and then return to the ocean, the ranger took the eggs, and placed them in an artificial hatchery where they are protected from predators. We then watched them release adorable baby turtles that had hatched that night into the ocean. The sea turtles hatch at night and use the moonlight reflected off the water to find their way to the ocean. Artificial light from human sources can confuse and disorient them. Nobody is sure exactly what sea turtles do for the next 7-10 yeards until they are mature enough to mate. Hopefully, some of the hatchlings released will survive to return to this island to repeat this cycle.

The night we were there 40 turtles landed on the beach with 33 nests for a total of 2,392 eggs collected and 232 hatchlings were released.

Interesting Fact: The sex of a baby sea turtle is determined by the temperature at which the eggs incubate. Warmer temperatures result in a higher percentage of female sea turtles. The eggs hatch in approximately 60 days. Sea turtles, which can live over 100 years, will return to the same beaches where they were born to nest.