Turtle Experience at Satang Island

After the entry on Rafflesia hunting, I decided to blog about my previous trip to turtle island offshore of Kuching. Wonderful memories fade off easily so I'm recording one of those down.

I went to Satang Island in June 2007 with some cousins and friends. That's my first ever close encounter with sea turtles. Satang Island is part of the Talang-Satang National Park, and only Satang Besar is open for tourists (the island is an inherited native land of a Malay owner if not mistaken).

A 30 minutes boat ride before reaching the island

Scenic view on the way

This was where we stayed on the island. Wooden huts with no bed and no aircond. Back to primitive lifestyle.

Luckily there was cooking stoves...

Usual activity when one sees crystal clear water

Dusk at Satang

After dinner, we played some cards and games and rested a bit in the huts, while waiting patiently for the park rangers to bring us good news. We waited until midnight and there came the rangers... Following them, we tiptoed excitedly because we knew we had stricken gold! According to the rangers, we were among the not many lucky ones being able to see green turtle laying eggs on Satang Besar Island. The green turtles are the species that visit Talang-Satang Islands for egg laying every year.

There on one side of the island, we saw this over the ranger's torchlight. We kept our breaths and didn't dare to talk as any noise will interrupt the egg laying process according to the rangers. No light is allowed too when the turtles are laying eggs as they are wild animals and human presence will disturb and frighten them.

See the eggs of pingpong ball size? Hunting the turtles, their eggs for food or what so ever reasons are against the law. FYI, they are endangered species, so stop eating or hunting them down!

Covering up the eggs with sand to allow for 'incubation' before hatching after 45-75 days. The rangers made a mark on the spot where she laid the eggs, and measured her size to keep record. According to them, this should be her first time there to lay eggs as there was no tag by the Sarawak Forestry on her body.

Photo session with the young mother turtle before she began her journey back to the sea. We followed her all the way from the spot she laid her eggs to the sea. It was a short distance by feet but it took her few hours before reaching the water. We could hear her heavy breathes while crawling on the sand. My first thought was 'It's really not easy to be a mother'. Imagine the distance she had to swim before coming here to mate and lay eggs. Life continues because of her unconditioned love.

She seemed to lost her way a bit on the way back to the sea. Notice the circle she made? But being able to swim all the way across the ocean and back to the her birthplace is an amazing ability.

Leaving her 'footprints' behind before entering the sea again...

A memorable experience indeed...

On our way back from the island, six of us were lucky enough to be able to witness the turtles mating in the sea. The male green turtle showing his face...

p/s: support sea turtles conservation by saying NO to sea turtle eggs!