Seligan island, which is also known as Turtle Island, it is one of 3 islands in the Sandakan area which are classified as a National Park due to turtle landings.
The reason behind the name is because this seems to be the favourite island for the local turtle population to come and lay eggs. This trip was to see those eggs being laid.
The fast boat trip took just over an hour. The sea breeze complimented the warm sunlight as we sailed over the peaceful waters, no waves were crashing around here, it’s clear to see why the turtles have an preference to it.
Turtle Island
On arrival I was shown my room; a twin room as no singles were available ‘bring girlfriend next time, it cheaper’ they told me. It wouldn’t actually be cheaper but accomodation cost could be shared, I guess that was their theory. The room was nice enough, it would be better if it had a view of the beach as opposed to other cabins though.
Turtle tracks can be seen up the water edge
After ditching my stuff I got my swimming shorts on and headed to the beach, a 3 minute walk away. It was nice and clean, white sand and clear water, a few rocks lined small parts. It certainly is pictorious and how you’d want your own island to be. Nearly everyone visiting was at the beach, there is not much else here to do afterall during the day.
I walked up and down wading through the water, there was a few tiny fishes but not much more to talk about in the water. I’m not much of a beach person so thoughts of making a raft came into my head for entertainment, but I passed on the opportunity, didn’t seem to be many vines to wrap the driftwood bamboo up with anyway.
Beach from Turtle Island
Lunch time came quickly, consisting of hard rice, bland vegetables, fried chicken and some soup which had egg white in. Have to pay for drinks here too which are overpriced. A bit annoying considering they also charge for the disapointing food seperate (alongside the boat and accomodation), strangely they don’t actually say you are paying to watch the turtles lay their eggs, which is the whole point of the tour here.
For the afternoon I slept through the heat of the day, and was awoken by rain outside, all the sunbathers came running back in to shower, I decided it was time to go for a walk. The rain passed quickly and barely got the ground wet so it was nice to walk along a clear beach. I went around the circumference of the island, it would take about 30mins if stops were not involved; it really is a small island. About half of it is rocky (easily walked over with boots maybe a slight struggle with sandals) and half is sand, the nicest and softest sand being where the boats land (and the turtles). As I got near to the end of my walk the sun was setting and I could see thunder in the background over Sandakan, which set a peaceful, romantic mood to the island. Here is a picture of myself standing in front of the sunset, in the background you can see Mount Kinabalu.
Malaysian sunset
Dinner was better then lunch in all respects, in the vegetables was bean sprouts which is the first time I’ve seen them in Malaysia which is odd to me as all asian meals in the uk seem to come with them. A short video presentation and small exibition area was above the cafeteria. All that was left to do was wait for a turtle to come aboard and lay some eggs now.
Luckily that didn’t take long, The most common season for them to arrive is July and October. At 7:37pm we got the call ‘Turtle Time!’ the members of staff exclaimed, the excitement built between everyone and it was time to see turtle eggs being laid.
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Classy pic of you and the sunset homie