A Turtle Adventure

One of the highlights of our trip to Lady Elliott Island was seeing an adult Green Turtle come up onto the beach and lay a clutch of eggs (58 in all), although this is about half the normal, this was her third trip onshore this year so we were told by the researcher who was present. She laid them 600mm deep in the sand on the beach, and then covered them for about an hour, before making her way back to the sea. During this time, the guys measured and took statistics concerning her, and it was one of the most interesting things I certainly have seen for a long time. Seen the same in TV documentaries, but never live. The eggs were dug up (for counting, and replaced later, as well as the researchers releasing a whole bunch of little green turtles to go rushing down the beach into the open sea. Such a pity only 1 in 1000 ever make it to adult life. The guy told us they had tagged 3/4 of a million little ones some 30 years ago, and last year two of them, that he had held in his hands 30 years ago, returned to lay eggs on the same beach. A remarkable experience I am sure you will agree.