TURTLE ISLANDS – In July when the sky turns gray and the rain pours on Manila and its environs, it’s time to head for the Turtle Islands south of the Philippines, where the clouds are light and fluffy, and the skies show off various shades of blue.
The white sand beaches of Baguan, Taganak, Lihiman, Langaan, Boan and Great Bakkungan, the six islands that comprise the Turtle Islands in Tawi-tawi province, are home to nesting turtles that are 20 to 50 years old. From April to August, and even beyond, up to 80 of them come here to lay eggs.
I flew to the islands in mid-July via Sabah upon the invitation of Conservation International, a non-profit organization that is helping the environment department take care of the turtles’ sanctuary – a 138,357-hectare protected area in the Sulu Sea. The group believes that “the earth’s natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive.”
From a pier in Sandakan, we took a 45-minute speedboat ride to Taganak, where we registered our visit with the Coast Guard and headed for Baguan, a strict protection zone where the most number of turtles nest. Here, no resident is allowed to reside or take anything at all – shell, sand or coral. The environment department’s headquarters is based here, where the staff, including the wardens, stay to conduct studies and guard the island.
The turtles won’t let you sleep much on Baguan.
They start crawling up the beach at about 7 in the evening when darkness covers the nesting sites. Like other animals, turtles are so sensitive that they turn back to the sea the moment they sense any movement. People are thus discouraged from walking on the beach starting at this time.
On our first night, a warden spotted a shadow moving up from the water. We had to freeze, waiting for the turtle to move past us and crawl slowly under the trees. Only then could we move away from the nest.
We learned that it would take the turtle two hours to dig a pit wide enough for its body, and a meter-deep chamber to lay its eggs. While laying eggs, the turtle would be in such a trance that nothing could bother it. A turtle lays 50 to a hundred eggs in one night and would go back to the nesting site three more times to lay more eggs.
At 5 the next morning, I head for the beach again and find one turtle that had just, well, turned turtle. The more than one-meter long creature with a 50-kilogram carapace on its back, had tumbled down on its way back to the sea from its nesting site a meter above. Three wardens had to help flip it back to its normal position, but only after clipping a tag on its front flippers and recording its size.
Nearby we find another turtle slowly covering its tracks and beginning to inch its way back to the sea before the sun rises. It would slap you with sand using its flippers if you so much as try to get near it. It would take about an hour for the turtle to reach the water after laying eggs.
In another area, a newly hatched baby turtle is trying to crawl up from its nest. We wait for a long time before it finally appears from the hole and rushes to the water. We find another hatchling clambering up from a crab hole and moving quickly into its home, the water.
After breakfast, we take a boat ride to Taganak. We find fishermen on the beach, fixing their nets and preparing for the next fishing expedition. The bigger boys help their father fix the nets, usually with long line and hooks. The women, cradling their babies, try to keep up with the conversation. By noontime, school children and the fishers are going home, some carrying a fresh fish or two, to be cooked for lunch.
Walking around the village, with most of the houses open and on stilts, you suddenly feel your stomach grumble as the aroma of fresh fish frying hits you.
Most of the 6,000 residents of the islands are Tausug and Jama Mapun, with fishing as their main source of livelihood. Coconuts are dried and sold in the market. Most of the products come from Sandakan, as Zamboanga is a good 36 hours away by boat that comes only once a week when the water is calm.
That evening of our second day on Baguan, a warden tells us that a turtle is looking for a place to lay its eggs, but when we run and look for it, we find it heading back to sea. It really doesn’t welcome visitors. But we want to witness an actual scene of egg-laying and so we wait patiently for another turtle in another location. It takes 30 minutes, but we finally get to behold the great moment when the turtle releases eggs the size of chicken eggs into the chamber.
It will take several more years before tourists are allowed to see such scenes on Turtle Islands. The Protected Area Management Board of the town approved on July 23 the guidelines for an ecotourism plan that will open the islands to a few well-meaning tourists several months during the year. Such guidelines ensure the protection of the sanctuary.
Supported by tourism, the islands will remain a conservation, research and educational area. Visitors will have to pitch in to help the community become self-sustaining so that the influx of visitors does not destroy the marine sanctuary.
Turtles, according to Conservation International, are mirrors of how the environment will sustain the creatures that inhabit it. The group is teaching children in the islands to value the turtles, a unique gift that should be conserved for the generations to come. Caring for them is like caring for ourselves and our future, the CI tells them. •
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