Derawan, the turtle archipelago
ENOff the coast of Borneo, Indonesia, the island of Derawan and its archipelago are an incredible place to observe turtles.
Turtles everywhere
They sleep in the corals. They breathe on the surface, offshore between two waves, or near men under pontoons.
Turtles swim and parade in the waters of the Derawan Archipelago. There, they are called "penyu". It's everywhere!
Underwater, we can see them taking astonished or haughty poses, when divers pass by with their noisy string of bubbles. They have on us the superiority of their long apneas.
If we disturb them, they go off with calm and determination. A few clawed flippers are enough to dig the distance.
But most of the time, they ignore us superbly. Some of them stay asleep in the coral, their eyes half closed. Others are too busy grazing the reef with their beaks.
They're beautiful, these turtles. Some of them are really big. We come across them on almost every dive!
Laying
At night, we can also observe them on the sand, when they come to lay their eggs. Another "emotion" sequence...
The eggs are all round and all white, similar to ping-pong balls.
There is a small turtle nursery in Derawan, which is run by a local WWF office.
It already existed during my previous visit, in 2009. I had published an article on the subject, at the time (you will find links and additional information):
→ Small turtle will become big
The eggs laid on the beach are then dug up by the men in charge of the conservation program, then put back to hatch under the sand, but inside the protective enclosure of the nursery, where nothing will threaten them.
When the babies break the shell to get out, the WWF guys release them at night, on the beach. The tiny turtles then set off towards the sea and their destiny.
Tourists, foreigners and Indonesians alike, love to watch the laying of eggs or the release of babies.
In 2009, I could observe dozens and dozens of small turtles trotting valiantly on the sand and disappearing in the shadow of the waves.
In this month of July 2013, I was lucky enough to witness a spawning!
He is one of the dive guides of Derawan Dive Lodge where I am staying who warns me, one evening, that it is the moment... One of the guys of the WWF center alerted him on his cell phone. A female started to lay eggs on the sand, two steps away from the nursery.
In principle, all noise and bright lights should be avoided. But the instructions are far from being respected. The news has spread in the village, more and more people arrive and surround the unfortunate turtle... And many cannot resist the photo-souvenir, fingers raised in V, next to the exhausted turtle that has just laid more than a hundred eggs.
Babies
The WWF guy also shows us, that evening, two baby turtles, from another clutch, that we will exceptionally put in the water.
Normally, the babies are all released together. I couldn't quite figure out if they were eggs that hatched before or after the others.
Anyway, he let us take one of these little creatures in our hands, with a soft shell, and put it on the wet sand...
Good luck, little turtle!!
👌
Ah, it reminds me so much of when I first saw the turtles (as part of my recovery from my chronic fear of water ;). I was looking for little things in the seaweed and suddenly phew! A huge turtle looking at me. A very powerful moment in my life...
Beautiful the little baby turtles, what a great opportunity you had! Beautiful photos, as always 🙂
@TheOther Corinne: I hope you've since been cured of your fear of water... 😉
The crazy thing is, over there, you really get used to seeing turtles, whether you're swimming or diving... In the end, you're not surprised at all when you meet them, you find it "normal".
Thank you Corinne for this article, we also have a lot of green turtles in Reunion Island, also due to the breeding and protection of these turtles. It's a real pleasure to meet them while diving on the cleaning stations...still a few months to wait for our stay in Rajat Ampat !
Sincerely
Yves
@Yves: It's always great to meet turtles underwater. As for Reunion Island, I'm really looking forward to that too... 😉
Anyway, it's my turn to envy you, knowing that you're going to Raja Ampat... Lucky you!!!!
8)
maybe I should go and have a look, because despite my many dives, I've only seen one...
@Julien: Turtles, we also see a lot in Sipadan, every dive. To discover absolutely, if you are bitten diving and beautiful underwater encounters!
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What a cute little turtle 🙂 Can we get a chance to see this any time or is there a better time of year? Borneo already attracts me for its orangutans, but if we add these turtles, I might go back to Indonesia sooner than expected!
@Laurent: It's really touching, those baby turtles... I'm not a turtle specialist at all. I don't know if there are seasons for laying eggs. But I've seen baby turtles in different parts of Indonesia. I think you should be able to find some answers by poking around a bit on Google... Indonesia really is a fascinating archipelago!!!!
🙄
Your photos are absolutely gorgeous! You can tell there's good material behind them 😉
(I've just read the article on the equipment you take with you when you travel ... the result is worth the hassle of "essential superfluous techno" 😉!).
I also had the chance to swim with turtles. to the GalapagosBut I didn't have any good equipment back then, and my photos aren't nearly as good as yours!
I'm fascinated by the way they swim. I think there's something majestic about these sea turtles, and they look like they're flying (underwater ...?!).
Amandine d'A bag on the back
@Amandine: Ah, the Galapagos ... A dream !!! Maybe someday ?…
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I hope so for you, Corinne, because it's absolutely magical.
😉
It reminds me of these documentaries of my childhood on turtles who came to hide their eggs on the beaches.
These photos are really amazing. What kind of camera do you use, if I may ask?
@Pierre : I've had a Canon Eos 7D since 2010. I talk about it here:
https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/materiel-photo-et-plongee/