Baby turtles on Sangalaki island

After a couple of very relaxing days on Derawan island, we chartered a speed boat with some other travelers to visit the nearby islands. Sangalaki, which is even smaller than Derawan, houses an upscale dive resort and a sea turtle research station and hatchery. Fortunately, we chose a good date for the trip – the night before, a batch of baby turtles hatched and we saw them practicing their swimming skills in a little sheltered pool. They stay in the pool for a couple of days before they are released into the sea at night.

A walk around the whole island does not take that long, but offers lots of great sights. We saw many traces of large sea turtles coming to the beach to lay their eggs. Also, the jetty is very impressive, I guess it is about 300 meters long. Standing on the edge of the jetty, you can easily fit the whole island into one photo. While we were on the jetty, the speed boat came and picked us up since several dark clouds had appeared on the horizon. It was time to head back to Derawan, even though we definitely would have liked to stay longer.

Video

Here is a video of the freshly hatched turtles practicing their swimming skills.

Picture gallery