It’s been exactly 5 days today. 11 am on Tuesday, 4th of august, I got the ferry at Mersing and floated into this gorgeous Turtle Trove- Pulau Tengah. It’s my first volunteer-ship and what better way to do it than with the Master Oogway’s of the world (ref. the Master Turtle from Kungfu Panda). Finding my inner peace just like he said; with white sands, blue waters and some beautiful souls; of the human and aquatic kind.
I reached at 11:40 am, walked across the jetty and into the Dive shop where there was no one. Yeah! And rightfully so, as all of three new nests of turtles had been brought in by egg collectors. I plonked my bags down and walked straight into the quaint hatchery that is home to 41 nests of turtles and has been the nestling ground for 4737 eggs and 718 hatchlings to date. As I ran in, my feet throwing sand with excitement, I met Carmen and Heather and a bunch of other peeps, counting each egg as they nestled them smoothly into a hole dug out in the sand. And I tallied them on a sheet for them, 1,2,3,….149, 150, 151. Woah!
Still very new, the Trutle Watch Camp at Batu Batu is an earnest and humble step taken by Carmen and Adam, the Dive instructors at the Dive Shop; to save these amazingly calm, docile and supremely patient creatures.
Since that first day, every day has been a day to write about. I call this Chapter 1 of my ‘workay’ (a working vacay :/)
The day begins at 7 am with a Turtle Patrol. Here, Heather, the Marine Biologist leads the way across the island to all the beaches through rocks, sea and the jungle, where we scout around for turtle tracks. Post which there are updates to be made on the progress of the nests, provisions made for new nests to come, talks with inquisitive visitors and some psychobabble with kids deciphering their trippy minds.
We did a beach clean-up with some really enthusiastic kids yesterday. All of them perplexed with the things found on the shore- 5 bags full. They even created a March song as we hiked up the jungle path to get to the other beach. Left, Left, Left right Left. I left my trash on the beach, and then I did the right thing. Left, Left, Left right left.
I lucked out with a dive by the House reef at Pulau Tengah. The underwater always amazes me- the colours, textures, the lifestyle, well the food chain. And then we monsters try and find solace in the underwater, city is spelled with C for chaos after all.
I “brought eggs” on the first day, and a turtle came back to hatch another bunch on my third (Yay). During the usual Island patrol, where it seemed to be as clear as the water, we got a call informing us that some guests had discovered some tracks by the beach and might just be from a turtle. Filled with excitement I tried to pick up the pace with my unfit city-body and dragged myself through the pain to Sunshine Beach and Voila! Turtle Tracks.
Exactly two weeks back from that day a green turtle nestled on this very beach and as it’s known, turtles always come back to the same beach to lay their eggs. Home ground eh. So that was her, back forming a familiar track, confirming her fertility and dropping her large eggs very tactfully covered up with sand, confusing predators. That was a head rush for sure. Heather poked around some, her scientific way trying to find the exact spot of the nest, but eventually we let intuition take over the game and built a large net fence to guard the eggs from monitor lizards, wild boars, crabs and some creatures of the human kind too.
Being the only volunteer on the island for the few days, it’s been some hard work- specially having come from busy work scenes back home. But I am a water baby in the end, and when the water calls out to you, you give in. You never say no to the blues, never ever ever. I find my way every day and squeeze in some play time with the blues.
Last night was particularly interesting as a good number of the staff joined us for movie night to watch the coral reefs show their case and affirm their importance in the existence of all the life in the deep blue.
I write this today, five days in and another 10 to go (at least). There’s still a lot to do, to see and be. Let’s hope Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael come out to see me.
Till then, let’s Cowabunga!
P.s.: the title is Ninja Turtle Michalangelo ordering his pizza. Turtle Power!
Written for Turtle Watch Camp @Batu Batu, Pulau Tengah, Malaysia on 10th August, 2015
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