VUNG TAU – Le Bao An shares memories of experiencing the turtle spawning season at Bay Canh Island, Con Dao.
Le Bao An, born in 1984, works on television in Hanoi. Passionate about travel, every year he has early plans and plans for trips. At the end of 2020, he decided to come to Con Dao and join the volunteer program to protect sea turtles of the Con Dao National Park Management Board in collaboration with IUCN.
Bao An joins 8 other people, each working in different professions but sharing the same passion for travelling, love of nature and sea turtles. Mr. Nguyen Cong Ly, who has a lot of experience in sea turtle conservation on Bay Canh island, is known as “Mr. Ly, the chief of the island”, has assigned specific tasks to each member.
From Con Dao wharf to Bay Canh island, it only takes about 20 minutes by canoe. The living and eating regime is something that the group is quite worried about before going to Bay Canh island because this is a place where there is no electricity from the grid, only solar power, and there is no clean water but rainwater. So from the time on Con Dao, the brothers went to the market and prepared rustic food and vegetables for 10 days to be “the mother of turtles”, in which instant noodles are the favorite breakfast dish because it is the easiest to prepare.
Bao An shared, every morning, members enjoy the sea breeze, have breakfast, sit down and make media products to call for the protection of the environment as well as sea turtles. At 10:00 a.m., everyone went to the hatchery to check the nests, dig new holes, and sharpen bamboo into markings to mark the date of egg collection and the number of eggs in the nest. In the afternoon at 3pm, the group went to pick up trash along the coast, leveling the nesting holes of the mother turtle from the night before. This is also the most labor-intensive work in sea turtle conservation activities. Around 5pm, patrol the coast to control turtles to spawn. Especially at night, the team worked continuously for 10-12 hours until the next morning.
The months of July, August and September are the peaks of the turtle spawning season in Con Dao. Depending on the time of high tide, the mother turtles come ashore to lay eggs between 10pm and 5am the next morning. Mother turtles go to the sandy shore and choose a discreet, smooth sand area near the bushes, use their front legs to dig a hole about 50-60 cm deep, 20 cm wide, and then lay eggs. While the mother turtle was giving birth, Mr. Bao An and everyone else checked the tag attached to the mother’s body and recorded the data, if there is no tag, then proceed to press a new one. Each mother turtle lays from 80 to 200 eggs, in which there is a nest of eggs that the group can pick up at most 185 eggs. After the turtle is laid, people like Mr. Bao An are tasked with digging the nest of eggs to bring back to the hatchery. When digging, they must be very gentle, mainly using their hands to dig.
Sea turtle eggs must be taken up to be incubated because if left intact, there are many risks from tides, predators in the wild, negative impacts of weather and environment. Eggs hatch into baby turtles after 45-60 days depending on the ambient temperature. In sunny weather, eggs will hatch faster. With the eggs arriving around day 40, the team used a crate to protect the nests.
One of the best experiences was the group going to release baby turtles back to the sea. The moment hundreds of baby turtles crawled into the sea made the group happy and excited, revealing their aspirations for freedom. The life cycle of sea turtles in Con Dao continues, the baby turtles mature after 30 years and return to the beach where they were born. However, the survival rate of baby turtles to reproductive age is 1/1000, so sea turtles are in great need of protection.
During 10 days on Con Dao, Mr. Bao An was able to feel more about the island’s nightlife with all his senses such as watching the starry sky, listening to the sound of crashing waves, the sound of insects, the breathing of the mother turtle, smelling smell the salty taste of the sea, the smell of earth and sand. In addition to experiencing the life of a conservationist, discovering Bay Canh island, he and others also made paintings with crushed coral and seashells to decorate the wall of the forest ranger’s room and drew pictures to promote the protection of sea turtles on the island. discarded plastic floats.
After returning, the group also carried out the project “Mid-Autumn Festival with baby turtles”, raised money to build an incubator lake on Bay Canh island, and made many media articles about Con Dao tourism, marine environment protection, and sea turtles.
This year, due to the complicated developments of Covid-19, volunteer trips to protect sea turtles had to be postponed. Mr. Bao An completed the videos to send to the National Park the Con Dao tourism training program, including an introduction to Bay Canh island, the rules of caring for mother turtles that lay eggs and release baby turtles. These videos can be played for visitors before joining the tour so that they follow the regulations.
Since October 23, Con Dao has reopened after the fourth Covid-19 outbreak, but attractions are still closed. Guests must stay in pre-designated resorts. Follow vnexpress
Photo: Le Bao An