Pulau Lankayan ~ April 2012

"HOME, SWEET, HOME"

What desktop wallpapers are made of...

No, I haven't taken up residence at Pulau Lankayan since you last visited my blog. The place just feels like home whenever I come back to this place~ the mere sight of the green island really makes me forget about the civilized world.

The last time I was here my photos were not that fabulous as it was raining and not super sunny. This time around not only was the water so clear you could see right down to the bottom, there was also a new restaurant on the island. **The last time I was here it was under construction

The new majestic restaurant has replaced the smaller older one that was nestled among the trees. Now the common area for guests (where meals are served, books are kept and drinks are served) sits out in the sea creating a little haven on those days you just want to chill outside of your chalet but not on the beach. With a 360 degrees viewing deck I think this new restaurant has all your desktop wallpaper changes covered for the entire year!

So now that we've covered the new restaurant, let's head to my chalet!

Yes, I did feel like a princess sleeping there...

Now, if you saw my last post I didn't have any food photos due to my lack of co-ordination with technical things and deleted them...So as promised, here are pics of the buffet!

And this is the island...when night falls...

...when day breaks....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 So now that you've seen the gorgeous island and resort, let me introduce you to my friend: The Turtle. 

My last trip here didn't offer much luck in turtle-sighting. I managed to see some babies released last time but I've been wanting to sight an adult turtle on land for a while now. This time I was super lucky to spot a few coming up during the night. I have to say, spotting adult turtles in the water and on land is a little bit like a unicorn sighting. It made me feel so lucky and made me more protective of them. I spotted this one outside my chalet hanging around for more than an hour (Flash photography is a big NO NO when taking pictures of these lovely creatures so the photos are a little dark and cropped after taking them from a distance):

Also, let me introduce to you to some little ones:

And now, here are some sad facts about turtles and why we should protect them. Baby turtles have a survival rate of 1 in 1000 (yes, ONE THOUSAND). The minute they hit the sea their predators include fish of all sizes...so for a turtle to grow to the size of the one you see above it had to have been VERY lucky. Of course, this is all part of nature as turtles lay hundred of eggs each time.

HOWEVER, add a few more predators like fishermen, illegal turtle egg traders and fish bombers and so on their survival rates are decreased. Places like Pulau Lankayan move the eggs laid by the turtles into hatcheries to increase more chances of hatching as turtle eggs are targeted by humans, lizards etc, however, when the babies are released into the water it is out of the hands of hard-working conservationists.

And this is where YOU come in: Say no to turtle eggs, turtle products and shells. Like with any product on the market the lower the demand the lower the need to supply. It angers me when I hear of turtle captures as their rate of survival even as adults are low as they are quite defenseless (no teeth to bite whoever grabs them). So, please, do what you can to help these beautiful creatures. Life is already fragile as it is for them.

I hope you get to come across a turtle in your lifetime. It's something that is very special and their gracefulness is something that you can watch for hours. If we don't protect them enough now there may be close to extinction and before you know it turtle sightings may be rarer than unicorn ones. 

For more information on Pulau Lankayan and the conservationist group, SIMCA, please visit: http://lankayan-island.com/ and http://www.reef-guardian.org/.

Have a great week ahead! I'm just gonna try and imagine myself on one of these deck chairs to beat my Monday blues!

Daphne xoxo