Turtle, get thee to a hatchery...

The night activities were something anticlimactic.  After dinner we waited until a nesting turtle was sighted on the beach. During peak season, they can expect up to 30 mothers each night laying up to 200 eggs each, but now there will only be low single digits of turtles. We were lucky in that this first turtle was sighted around 8pm -- in the offseason, they've had to wait as late as 3am once.

So they march us to the turtle on the beach with lights out so that we don't disturb the turtle. We stand behind her so she can't see us. While she's laying eggs into a deep hole, a ranger is behind her taking the eggs and dropping them into a bucket. The turtle is oblivious and will actually cover an empty hole.  I don't have any pics from my phone since we couldn't use flash. (There are some likely blurry ones from my slr.)

Then, we walked over to the hatchery and planted the eggs in a small circular hole fenced with plastic netting (so that the hatchlings don't escape).  The hatchery looks like a nursery of seedlings without the plants.

The final stop was back on the beach where we watched as they released hatched turtles onto the sand so that they could waddle to the ocean.  They are only about 2-3 inches in length.  Only about 5% survive those first few days in the ocean.

We woke to a thunderous rain shower magnified by the tin roof. Fortunately, it subsided by the time we went to breakfast.  Here's a picture of the tally for last night. Eight nestings for over 500 eggs.  Showcasing the white board is Katherine Knight, the third member of our Intrepid group. She's an Aussie who teaches IT at a university in Melbourne.

Now a boat ride back to Sandakan and then we're off to see the orangutans.