Week Three – It’s not all about the turtles

I know that they are the stars of the show and I will share more about them but also I wanted to let you into a bit more of our world over here

We work – if you can call it that – Monday to Friday and have weekends off so we can finish anytime after lunch on Friday and go and explore

We have a room in the volunteer house which is in a hotel opposite the project. It’s basic but enough for what we need and a shared lounge and dining area which we can use. With limited room everything needs to have it’s place which can be quite difficult for B. We do have air con which is like an arctic blast when you open the door so it doesn’t stay on for long if I have anything to do with it. For the first two weeks, we were the only people here so it was fine and then this week we were joined by a lovely 18 year old German girl called Janna – straight from school and hadn’t travelled much, especially not on her own. Luckily her English was better than my German and we got on well, although she much preferred staying in bed to getting to work on time and took any chance to be attached to her phone – saying that my husband is as well when he can get away with it.

She soon realised that wearing light linen trousers when cleaning the beach wasn’t a great idea and she was going to get wet cleaning the tanks and made me take a video as no one at home would believe she was doing it. She was also studying for an online degree and had tutorial meetings in the middle of the night which probably didn’t help her timekeeping. Unfortunately, she went away for the weekend and was taken ill and ended up visiting the hospital so she decided to go home a week earlier than planned so we’re back on our own for bit.

We get food provided for us and B hasn’t been able to get into the kitchen to help much as he wants to. The housekeeper here is lovely and moans that we’re not eating enough if we leave anything. We get three meals a day and then tea and biscuits delivered to us twice a day – definitely a struggle with my diet. Must say that the tea break location is better than anyone I’ve had before.

We’ve managed to get breakfast (0800) reduced down to a reasonable size but do get hoppers once a week that are a local staple bowl shaped pancakes with an omelette inside.

Lunch (1230) is the main meal of the day and always local with at least two veg side dishes and then tea (1800-1830 depending what time we finish) slightly smaller and once a week we have had pasta. There has to be a desert, usually ice cream and no is not an option. We’ve also noticed that the fish we get given is the same as we feed the turtles so it can’t be that bad for them (or us!). B is starting to crave bacon and red meat so that’s definitely on the shopping list when we get back.

There is a local supermarket about 5 mins in a tuk tuk so we can dash for emergency craving supplies if we need to

Next to the hotel is a small house with a spa sign that showed as open for the first time with week. The tourist season starts to ramp up in November so we’re seeing more places open now. I thought I’d go and check the prices and there was one offer only – full body massage for £3.40 which I thought was a good deal. When I got back to the project, they’d seen me come out and explained that wasn’t the best place to go as it wasn’t a proper spa. The police were there a lot checking on the women and a lot of men visited in the evening. I decided that I probably didn’t need a massage after all!

So I can’t really wait any longer to share some more turtles with you so here are two of our less common turtles

H the Hawksbill (my name for him)

Turtles only get names if they are permanent residents but as I’m seeing them everyday then I think names are important

Hawksbill turtles have that name because their nose if like a beak because they use it to pick sea sponges from the corals. This is useful for two reasons, the sponges can overwhelm the coral so they help to keep it healthy, and also sea sponges have toxin in them so their meat is poisonous to humans. I still can’t believe that people do actually eat turtles but then what did I think was in turtle soup

Unfortunately they do have lovely colourful shells so are still attractive for use on jewellery, glasses and handbags – tortoiseshell. This has made them critically endangered and we only have one with us who is 2 years old

He will live to about 50 years old and grow to 70KG but will only stay at the sanctuary until five as we have to release them then. The hope is that as they are bigger and more robust by that stage they should survive better than the average baby turtle. He spends a lot of time sleeping at the bottom of the tank which doesn’t help when you’re trying to show people but when he can be bothered to swim around then he’s pretty special.

His shell scales overlap giving them ridges that algae sticks to and looks like they are fluffy – in the sea they get cleaned by small fish at the turtle spa – so we have to do it here. A scrubbing brush in hand and cleaning starts which obviously tickles as we get a wiggling turtle dance out of him which is hilarious to see

The Loggerhead Twins

Not that turtles are twins as they come from separate eggs but these two were from the same clutch so that works for me

These show what Bubble (see last post) would look like if she had colour and I think they are really pretty. Problem is that as we can see them easily in the water, so can Pelicans, Eagles and Gulls.

Loggerhead turtles live to about 80 years old and can grow to 200KG and about a metre long, so these have a way to go yet as they’re just over 6 months. They have immensely powerful jaws as an adult so I’m pleased these are small and sweet. They will likely stay until five when they’ll be released to the ocean

Loggerheads are vulnerable so in a better place than the Hawksbill and have been seen around the coast of the UK.

Being babies still, they just float around looking pretty, often with their flippers on their backs in their sleeping pose. They are learning to be turtles and have now started to dive down to the bottom of their tanks so getting used to holding their breath. They also like playing with their food – small bits of chopped up fish which they wave around in their mouths – so feeding can take a while. They also play and you’ll see one sitting on top of the other or prodding it to wake up.

This weekend we decided we needed a get away from it all trip so headed up into the rainforest where we stayed in a converted shipping container with an amazing view over the forest. It was totally in the middle of no where and with no signs even the taxi driver got lost and the hotel sent out a guy on a moped to find us.

We were the only western people there – in fact there were only two rooms being used and with more staff than guests they couldn’t do enough for us and even gave us a guided tour around the area to see a natural spring and tea plantation. When we asked about the bar – of course we had to try it out – the reply was we’ll get what you want so off on a motorbike went one of the staff who came back with beer and cider in time for our tea. Who can fault service like that.

Being primary rain forest it did rain a bit – well a lot as the hills disappeared – but it was still great sitting and watching it and our room was small but had everything we needed including yoga mats to use on the balcony.

So another week down and we’re still talking so it can’t be too bad. Great food and wonderful things to see and of course our amazing turtles to make me smile every day

Speak soon

B&J