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Published: November 22nd 2010
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We were picked up from Paganakan Dii at 7.30am for our 50 minute car journey to Sanadakan, where we would be catching a speedboat to Selingan (Turtle Island). Selingan Island is one of a group of uninhabited islands straddling the Malaysian and Philippine boundaries lying within the Sulu Seas. This cluster of islands namely three main nesting islands - Pulau Selingan, Pulau Bakkungan Kechil and Pulau Gulisan, covers an area of 1,740 hectares and are protected for the sole purpose of conservation and preservation of turtles and other marine animals inhabiting the area. Luckily Jane was feeling much better today, although her rash was still there, she wasn't feeling as upset with it. We arrived 45 minutes early for our speedboat trip as we had to go into the offices (hut on the jetty) of the tour operator, Crystal Quest and pay the balance of the trip. We then sat waiting until 9.30am for our departure time. The boat journey was pretty exciting, the sea was very choppy and one of the passengers managed to get a complete soaking! At the start of the boat trip the sky was grey and overcast but as we got closer the clouds broke and
the sun almost came through. On arrival at the island everyone on the trip was ushered into the main building on the island and given a breifing on what would be happening for the rest of the day. We were all allocated keys to our chalets and were told that lunch would be served at 12.30pm. After lunch we would have free time to explore the island and go snorkelling (luckilly the weather had improved and the sun shone!). At 7pm we would be shown a film on the life of green and hawksbill turtles and the amazing conservation work they are doing on the island. At 7.30pm dinner would be served and then we would have to wait inside the main building until a ranger came to call us. This would happen once a turtle had come to shore, made her nest and started laying her eggs. Once she had started laying her eggs she would go into a trance and would not be disturbed by people watching. Eventually at 10.48pm we were called to witness a turtle laying her eggs. As the eggs were being laid another ranger was tagging and measuring her for future reference and collecting
the eggs. These eggs were then taken to the hatchery and placed in a pit of the same depth, the pit filled, labelled and a protective cylindrical wire meshing placed around the pit so that when the hatchlings burst out from their nest, they will be contained in the area until the ranger collects them in a basket to be released on the beach. The sex of the hatchling is detemined by the temperature of the nest. Essentially, the hotter the sand surrounding the nest, the faster the embryos will develop. Cooler sand has a tendency to produce more males, with warmer sand producing a higher ratio of females. After waching the eggs being placed into the hatchery we were then all taken to the beach and were able to witness 55 hatchlings being released into the sea. This was a truly amazing experience, something we are both extremely luckily to have witnessed. After all that excitement it was back to our chalets for some much needed sleep.
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