We arrived and set up our campsite at the Turtle Caravan Park right on the beach and set off down the trail to the information center where we met the ranger that would be taking us down to the turtle nesting area. The information center was a really interesting; you can learn everything you every wanted to know about sea turtles, their life cycles & what is threatening the species to explore while you are waiting for your turn to go down and see the nests.
Since it was the last weekend of the season, there were heaps of people there; each of the four groups had 60 people! We were really excited that because we booked early in the week we got to go in the first group and the turtles starting doing their thing early in the evening, so we weren't kept waiting around for hours.
As we walked down the beach, we had to do so with our torches turned off and walk in a tight group. We had quite a few children in our group, so it was quite a feat! The turtles use the light from the horizon to navigate their way down the beach, so any artificial light can affect the natural process, so the conservationist at Mon Repos do their best to facilitate these tours with minimal impact on the hatchlings.
When we finally arrived at the nest, the little guys were already bursting through the sand. We saw 95 turtles in all climb out of their little nest and they were placed in a small enclosure to avoid any of them getting lost or stepped on. All of the little ones were out of the nest within 10 minutes.
The hatchlings we saw were absolutely adorable. Words really can't describe what an amazing experience it all was. Right before we got ready to watch them make their run to the ocean, the rangers brought around one of the hatchlings for us to take a quick photo & feel their little flippers.
Sadly, we were told that only 1 out of every 1,000 hatchlings will survive to maturity. The ones that do, however, will return to Mon Repos to lay their eggs because they are able to interpret their location from unique magnetic information that they sense from their hatching beach. Also, because the sand is darker than most beaches, the hatchlings will all tend to be female from Mon Repos because the temperature of the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings, which accounts for the high number of return females lying eggs.
After the nest was checked for any stragglers, we were asked to line up in two lines perpendicular to the water line, several of the children stood in the middle with their flashlights on the guide the baby turtles to the sea. The ranger let them out of their enclosure and they made their dash to the sea. It was an absolutely amazing sight! Finally, when the last wave washed the last one out to sea, we started off back to the info center.
We were told that the little guys were going on a swimming frenzy to make their way out to the East Australian current, just like in Finding Nemo!
As, we were walking back we crossed paths with two more nests that were already hatched and had started making their way down the beach. Having those "encore performances" was such a great added bonus!
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