Bad nights sleep, caused more by the fact that my mind was on the early start and being concerned about getting a Grab to the airport so early in the morning. Not sure why because we’re in a big city next to an airport, of course there will be taxis all night!!
Anyway, shit sleep and then up at 4.00am, got sorted and a Grab turned up immediately and it was a quick run through to the airport. Got through check in fine and had McDonald’s breakfast this morning as a treat.
Sent video messages to the families and Tash called Sue and they chatted for a while which was good.
Not 100% sure what to expect over the coming days, we think it’s going to be “basic” with the facilities and definitely no wifi… but apart from that not sure. I know we’re seeing turtles but not sure of the itinerary for that either. Well, in a few hours we will find out. Sat on the plane waiting to take off so might as well sign off and catch up with some sleep, Tash is already making my shoulder ache leaning on me..
Landed after 40mins flight and where we thought that we’d have to wait until 9.00am our contact was stood waiting with a sign. He introduced himself as Mason and he was very chatty and really pleasant, a perfect guide. He took us for breakfast and we had coffee and roti Chennai which was nice enough and then we explored Sandakan for 45 mins.
There was loads of military people around and what we first thought was a recruitment drive we asked and found out if was a release of a film and the premiere was in the evening. Twice the guys wanted to speak with us, everyone is just ridiculously friendly here.
We got a couple of provisions in case we’re struggling tonight and the met up again with Mason and went to the jetty where other people we waiting and we found out that there were only 11 people visiting the island. The max it takes is 25 anyway but that was pleasing to hear.
We took a 50 mins boat journey which was fast and furious, pretty choppy but it was fun and exciting. And then we arrived at quite literally desert island in the middle of nowhere. Had welcome drink and shown our room - basic but manageable and then slept on the beach. It’s just a perfect island with lovely sand, sun was out, very hot and just turquoise sea.
Had some dinner and chatted to a couple from the US (Jeremy and Jenna) who are travelling for 14 months and making a decent living as vloggers, good for them.
After lunch we walked round again and got the snorkel and mask and back to beach. I tried a bit of snorkeling and that’s all I managed.. a bit… the mask let in water and I didn’t like being on my own, especially when about sea snakes.
So Tash and I just slept all afternoon, it was lovely. We had to move a few times because of the sun’s movement but it was so relaxing and enjoyable.
Went and showered, all very basic but it’s fine and only for one night. The room was like a fridge as the air con now working too well!! Wish that was the case back in Langkawi.
Came out to see the sun set and then met up with Mason and he gave us a long talk on the history of the island, information on turtles, what we can expect to cover and see this evening and so on, really interesting. Then we were shown round their presentation room and also a short film before dinner.
Now it’s just a case of waiting. The ranger will notify the guides when a turtle has landed and come up the shore and started. That’s our signal to go and watch, there’s some games here so once up to date with the diary and photos admin then I think I’ll challenge Tash to something.
So we played Uno for a bit and then did loads of admin on our phones and that killed 2 hours! We’re still waiting and it’s 9.45pm. I can hardly keep my eyes open and we simple do not know how long we’re supposed to wait.
All of a sudden around 10.00pm there was commotion and we were called out to see a mother after she’d laid eggs. It was a new visitor to the island so they tagged her. She had only laid 16 eggs.
We then follow the ranger to the hatchery with the eggs in a basket and watched as he buried them and added the relevant information such as date, and amount.
We then followed the ranger down to the beach front as he had some hatchlings that were about a day old, there were 35 in the basket and we stood around as he released them onto the sand, about 2 metres from the sea, and they were then encouraged to pushed themselves down there. They would follow the torchlight and then get swept up by the sea. This was by far the best part and was fascinating and exciting but also bitter sweet because out of 1,000 only 1 or 2 make it to adulthood.
It was all over quite quickly but it was definitely well worth the wait, they advised that a new mother had arrived and we could wait for the eggs being produced but everyone was tired and left. We stayed out for 20 more minutes until 11.00pm and then gave up and went to bed. A good decision in retrospect as in the morning they told us the second one started producing eggs at 2.00am, we dodged the bullet in that one then!!
Back to the room and killed a cockroach and turned the air on full and crashed out in our dept beds.
An enjoyable and very informative day.
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