The day after arriving in Borneo, we packed up a rucksack, left the rest of our stuff in our Airbnb and headed to the main jetty in Sandakan. We had booked a one night trip to Selingan island, where two types of endangered turtles nest – Hawkesbill and Green – and visitors are allowed to witness the conservation process.

We booked directly (via WhatsApp!) with a company called Crystal Quest – the only operator on the island and so the only way to go. There are Bornean tour companies that will arrange this for you, but it’s much more expensive so we took the direct route. It does mean you don’t have an English guide on the island, but as the island is tiny and there are strict rules about the beach and timings, this isn’t a problem.

The island only allows 50 guests per night, and the rules are strict – everyone clears off the beach at 5pm (apart from one area where you can watch the sunset until 6:30pm and then the whole place is out of bounds) so that the mother turtles have a safe space to nest. There is a hatchery that is protected and guards that patrol the island. The park rangers spend the evening watching for mother turtles and making sure they nest and return to the sea safely.

Once we’d made our way off the boat and dumped our stuff in our room, we strolled onto the beach for our first swim. Oh boy! The water was beautifully warm and so clear you could see lots of fish and other ocean creatures right below you amongst the coral.

Our lunch was served at 12:30, so by then everyone on the island congregated in the ‘communal dining hall/waiting for turtle sightings’ area. We were given lots of instructions about timings and rules to follow and then sent on our way to enjoy the island at our own pace for a few hours.

We spent a glorious few hours swimming, snorkelling and lazing about on the beach listening to the sounds of the jungle above and behind us (interspersed with the occasional Malaysian pop song coming from the soldiers phones guarding the island). On the way back to our room to shower (with sea water) and change, we happened upon this guy…

And his much larger friend…

The sunset was gorgeous; hard to capture its beauty on camera though so we mostly just sat and enjoyed it.

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After sunset, it was back to the communal area for a video on how conservation is happening on the island and then supper. Then it’s just waiting time! We were split into two groups (we were group 1) so that there wouldn’t be too many of us around the turtle when the time came. The waiting was fine at first – we played cards and chatted, but by 10:30pm the kids were getting restless. It was really hot, we were all tired and nothing seemed to be happening.

At about 10:45pm one of the guides came and said that one mother had come up to nest but hadn’t laid any eggs, so we had to keep waiting – but that we would be able to see baby turtles around 11pm. A slight deviation from the usual format (which is: nesting, egg collection, checking the mother, egg burial, release of babies) but as the hatchlings can’t be left too long before being released, the program was just switched around slightly.

At last! Baby green turtles, what a sight.

There were strict rules we had to follow – no videos, no flash photography and no moving beyond the line drawn in the sand. We didn’t mind though, just thrilled with the opportunity to watch it all happen.

After the baby turtle excitement we had to head back to the communal area for more waiting. This was quite tough; the heat and humidity was really draining and we weren’t allowed back to our chalets to wait there.

And then all of a sudden, at 12:22am we heard the words we’d been waiting to hear all evening, “turtle time!”… there was a scramble as everyone woke up/got up and quietly followed the ranger as fast as possible down to the beach. There she was – a mumma green turtle, in her egg-laying trance…

Once she’d laid her eggs (75 of them), we were allowed to see her fully and watch as the ranger checked, measured, and cleaned her. She had no tag, so was a new arrival to the island!

A couple of facts we learned during this process – the temperature of the sand will determine the sex of the babies. Hotter temperatures will produce females, colder sand will produce males. Also the female stores the sperm from her many mates and eventually (she can store it for years) decides which is best to fertilise with.

Once we’d left our mumma turtle to make her way back into the ocean in peace, the next stage to watch was the ranger burying the eggs at the hatchery. The eggs are all counted again and the date, time and type of turtle is recorded on an identification tag, which is placed in the nest with green mesh to protect it from predators. We stayed watching right to the end and Sylvie was invited to place the tag in the sand for ‘our’ batch of eggs!

It was about 1:30am by the time we slumped into bed, exhausted but exhilarated!

4 hours later we were back up again and packing our things. We headed down to the beach at 6am (any earlier is forbidden) and were rewarded with the incredible sight of turtle tracks in the sand.

All too soon it was time for breakfast and a last farewell to this special turtle-haven.

What a phenomenal way to spend 20 hours of our lives – thank you Pulau Selingan!