We travelled by speedboat from Sandakan to the island of Selingaan which is a reserve for giant Hawksbill and Green turtles.
We spent the day snorkeling, sunbathing and generally relaxing. In the evening we waited for the turtles to come ashore to lay their eggs. After a couple of hours, a ranger led us to the beach to see a huge turtle that had come ashore to lay her eggs. It was impressive to see the creature, but I think it was a bit invasive to have loads of tourists, some of whom couldn't resist shining torches in the poor thing's eyes and taking flash pictures, watching at such close quarters.
The rangers collect up the eggs that the turtles lay and they are left to hatch in the safe confines of specially dug holes rather than on the beach. Later in the evening we saw hatchlings being released into the sea. Most of them ended up going in the right direction, but again some people couldn't resist using torches and flashes which confused some of the hatchlings. I think they all made it to the sea in the end, which they certainly wouldn't had they been left on the beach where the mother laid them.
