Baby Sea Turtles!

Well, I did my part to save the world last night by helping to release baby sea turtles into the ocean.  Unfortunately, their chance of survival is very low (1 in 1,000), thankfully places like the Bubbles Dive Resort are aiding in turtle conservation.  The following turtle information may not be news to some of you, but I have learned a lot about sea turtles in the last 2 days so I’ll share with you here.  There are 5 species of sea turtles in the world (green, leatherback, olive ripley, loggerhead, hawksbill).  The leatherback turtle is the largest of the species and can grow up to the size of a small car.  Malaysia used to be a prime spot for leatherback turtle nesting, but in the past several decades human and other impacts have made the leatherback only a legend here.   

Fortunately, green turtles still nest on the Perhentian Islands and there are some very ecofriendly resorts aiding in conservation efforts.  At the small resort we are staying at, they basically watch for nesting turtles, and as soon as they lay their eggs, someone will dig them up and incubate them in a sandy environment away from the beach.  This seems counter-intuitive, but egg survival is very low due to many factors including human poaching (they like to eat turtle eggs still in some areas), animal predation (lizards, small rodents, etc.), infestation of the nests by ants, and fungus.  Each nest can contain up to 60 eggs and they incubate for 50-60 days before hatching.  Once the babies emerge, they are taken down to the beach under the cloak of darkness and released near the top of the beach and watched to make sure they make their way to the water.  The trek from the beach to the water is important because when the crawl across the sand it leaves and imprint on their soft underside and this will somehow tell them where to come back and mate/nest when they are adults, similar to salmon returning to the stream where they hatched.  The babies have enough energy to swim for 72 hours straight upon which, if they survive that long, they find some sort of undersea baby sea animal oasis of sea grass and live in and around there for 5-6 years while they learn to feed and become big turtles.  They don’t start to reproduce until they are 17-18 years old, and then only every other year.  If you know any turtle experts, or if you want to volunteer and fall in love with baby sea turtles, come this way!  To view more adorable baby sea turtle photos and learn more visit https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bubbles-Dive-Resort/289556186343.

Baby green sea turtles.

I am on holiday on the island of Perhentian Besar for 5 days.  Not to brag, but it’s pretty much tropical paradise.  I hopped on a trip with my new friend Q’Juan and her brother and cousin.  They were coming here to get dive certified and I decided it would just be nice to lie on the beach, relax, snorkel, and sunbathe to get rid of my glowing white Alaska skin that makes me stand out even more that other Caucasians in Malaysia.  We drove all night from Kuala Lumpur (about 9 hours because of traffic due to the holidays) to the northeast coast of Malaysia, and then took a water taxi to this secluded beach resort.  The “resort” is small (less than 20 rooms), friendly (lots of families), and not connected to any other beaches.  Besides thoroughly enjoying some recreational reading, and napping in the hammocks, I also got daring today and decided to go on a small hike through the jungle.  I was drenched within minutes due to the humidity of the jungle, but the view of the clear blue water from above was worth it.  I didn’t get attacked by any monkeys but I was afraid to stand still for too long with the multitude of ants seemingly everywhere, it sounded like thousands of tiny bubbles popping when I stopped to listen to them crawling around on the jungle floor.  I also enjoyed a ½ day snorkel trip to 3 different locations seeing every colorful fish you can imagine, a sea turtle, and blue spotted sting ray. 



Q'Juan and I after enjoying a dip in the warm warm waters.



View from my hammock.

Jungle trekking.

Glad I didn't grab on to this one on my way down.

View from the top.