Fly Away, Turtle!

During the National Day long weekend, I went on a service trip with my school's Interact Club. Our service was to the turtles, in Cherating, Kuantan. These poor helpless turtles are facing extinction due to their number one enemy - MAN!

Although we did not get the chance to see the turtles come to shore and lay eggs (it was low tide when we were there, but at least I saw a video of it!) , we were allowed to release hatchlings back into the sea. The turtle in my hands had only just emerged from its shell, hence it was super energetic and its flippers were flapping non-stop. Normally, we are supposed to cup the baby turtle, but our batch of newborns were moving so vigorously that we had to hold it by its shell.

Apparently, these babies have only 0.001% of survival in the big ocean. I secretly hope mine is that one out of a thousand. But I'm sure all those who released the turtles had that silent prayer for their own.

We visited a fishing village (above pics) to see how bullock-carts were used to bring the catch back to shore and how salted fish are made.

Our last stop for the trip was at a batik centre where we painted our very own turtle batik hankerchief. If you are wondering whether the turtles below were drawn by me, I'm sorry to disappoint, but it actually came from a mold. My job was simply to fill the empty spaces with the colours provided. No end product photo to show off my work of art. Let's just say it didn't turn out as nice as I imagined it to be.