A visit to the turtle laying eggs in Con Dao

A visit to the turtle laying eggs in Con Dao

Visitors to Cat Lai Bay, Hon Cau Island, Con Dao around April - October will have the opportunity to see turtles spawning eggs at night and the conservation staff to incubate as well as release turtles to the sea.

Hon Bay Canh is known as "the most ecological tourist island of Con Dao". Distinguished by the vibrant world outside, both wild and blue sea and colorful coral, this is also the largest marine turtle conservation in Vietnam.

Bai Cat Lon beach when the water is dry. Picture: Phuong Thu Thuy.

Time

Turtles' breeding season is around April to October, but the peak is July to September.
You can only go to the island for 4 - 6 hours or stay overnight (only stay one night on Bay Canh) to see turtles lay eggs.
Day maximum of 48 guests, night maximum of 24 guests per visit.

How to move

Bay of Con Dao National Park should be accessible here. Visitors must apply for permission at the National Park on Con Son Island (this license is free of charge, effective until 5pm today after).
With a license, you rent a boat for $ 1.5 million for two-way trip and return. After 45 minutes by boat, visitors to Bay Canh. After that, you follow the trail along the mangrove forest about 700m to the guard station of Bay v Canh.

On the road, you can see firsthand the wild chickens, ebony, colorful butterflies ... Surrounded by mangrove forest with an area of ​​about 5.1 ha, with 24 species of mangrove, mainly mangrove, parrots, parrots, dace, salamander, eagle ...

Watch the turtles lay eggs

The turtle eggs are picked up by the conservation staff from the nest. Picture: Phuong Thu Thuy.


Big Beach on Bay Canh is one of the 14 spawning grounds of Con Dao sea turtles, and is also the point where turtles spawn the most.

After dinner, tourists rest on the hammock on Bay Canh, when the water up, turtle mother began to flicker on the wave near the shore to find eggs. This is also the time when forest rangers announce you to the turtle's spawning grounds. In the silver moonlight, visitors will find mother turtles slowly crawl ashore, through the rocks and coral reefs hit by waves washed to shore.
To lay eggs, sea turtles must follow the following steps: find the ditches, dig the nest, lay eggs and cover the erased traces.

Mother turtles will select a fine sand area near the groves and use their forelegs to dig their nests, then use their legs to dig a hole 50-60 cm deep, about 20cm wide and begin laying eggs. In light flashlight, visitors will see each round turtle eggs and white as the table tennis fell to the hole. After completing the nest, sea turtles continue to use the foot before filling around the nest with a length of 5 - 6m to remove traces and camouflage for his nest eggs.

An average mother of turtles lay about 80 eggs, but there are also more than 200 eggs in Con Dao.
Waiting for mother tortoises to leave the nest, visitors will see the forest staff take a stage in the sea turtle conservation is to take eggs to bring the village. Eggs are incubated for 6 hours. One half of the eggs will be added to the pond with plenty of light, while the other half will be placed in a pond covered with a sunscreen above. This is to balance the "sex" of the hatchlings when hatches, because turtles can adjust males - females by the action of light and temperature when incubation. About 45 - 60 days after hatching, the hatchery will hatch into turtle.

Watch the eggs hatch and drop the turtle back to the sea

 

The small turtle is released when the sun is not sharp and the water is rising. Picture: Phuong Thu Thuy.

While visitors visit the hatchery, it is possible to see turtles are hatched from pre-hatched time. You will see each of the tortoises trying to get out of the shell and squeeze into the mouth of the hatch to crawl towards the sea. The ranger will put the turtle in the basket and bring it down to the sand when the water is high and the sun is not harsh, because light in the eyes will make the turtle lost.

Visitors will see hundreds, thousands of toddlers crawl into the sea in a distance of only a few dozen meters. Before the turtles get into the sea, they are still able to turn their heads and take pictures of where they are born, so that when they grow up (about 30 years later), sea turtles will return to their birth place to lay their eggs.

With a survival rate of 1/1000, turtles are included in the Red Book of Vietnam as well as around the world for conservation.

Note

• As there are only living and working areas in the park, so you have to bring your own food. You can borrow the ranger station's kitchen area for cooking.
• Prepare life jackets, rent diving glasses (rentable at the Garden Center when you apply for a permit).
• Preparing mosquito repellant, insect repellent.
• When watching turtles lay eggs, please keep quiet and do not shine on the turtle eye because this specie is very sensitive to the sound and light at the beach.
• There should be a National Park or local guide.