Island life

An early start to get a taxi to the Merang boat jetty in plenty time to get the 10am boat to Lang Tengah Island. The boat drove up so the bow was on the sand of Turtle Bay and I jumped off. It then left to drop two other people at one of the nearby resorts. Turtle Bay is small, not much more than 50 meters long. From the sea, it looks like a deserted beach but hidden in the jungle is a camp. One other volunteer had arrived from another island just before me so together we had our introduction to the camp, the risk assessment, and an introductory talk on turtles. Later in the afternoon we went for a swim in Turtle Bay and were taken on an island tour to see the beaches we’ll be patrolling, looking for nesting turtles, at night. Island tour finished in time to watch sunset with a beer in one of the 3 resorts on the island. This is the view from the bar’s terrace. When we got back to camp dinner was ready (there’s a rota for cooking and other chores). Then it wasn’t long before it was time for my first turtle patrol. I was on the 9-11pm shift with S, a marine biologist, and one of the camp staff. We checked Turtle Bay for signs of any turtles coming ashore, then we checked the nests already there. We found a hole, about the diameter of a golf ball directly above one of the nests. S said it looked like a Ghost Crab had gone for the eggs. He scraped out sand so he could get his hand in to feel how deep the crab had gone. When he was almost at the level of the eggs, he stopped and filled in the hole. It looks like the crab got at least some of the eggs, hopefully not too many. We replaced the grill more securely over the nest and put back the bricks. Hopefully that will stop further attacks although it didn’t stop that one. We walked through the jungle to the other beach to continue the patrol. No sign of turtles coming up to nest. We alternated between sitting on the rocks and walking along the beach. The mosquitoes were especially bad when sitting still. It was a bit cloudy but the stars looked good. I’ll have to try and get some photos another night. The main light pollution comes from fishing boats with very bright lights. They shouldn’t be there because the area around the islands is a marine reserve and it’s illegal for fishing boats to be within two nautical miles of the shore. But there’s no enforcement.