Hatchery patrol is a little mundane for me and we seem to get a lot of it. You spend the nights checking the nests to see if any have hatched and killing marauding crabs in fifteen minute intervals. But when it’s raining and there aren’t any babies or crabs to chase it can get boring. Last night it all paid off! Kahlia and I were all alone (our ever attentive local assistant had gone to the bush bar early) and a nest hatched.

Just before our shift an over eager assistant had dug a little ways into a previously hatched nest to ensure no turtles were left trying to escape. So when I saw a head sticking out I thought it was a dead turtle that had been uncovered. I poked to make sure (with gloves on of course) and it moved slightly, it was alive!. Hatched turtles are little balls of energy and a slow moving one may not be ready to hatch yet so I covered it with sand to give it more time. A minute later the head poked through the sand again, this time it’s turtle face was set in a scowl warning me not to do that again.

After the solitary baby turtle was released another nest erupted with life as 22 babies made their way to the surface. Kahlia and I collected them, measured and recorded their details and released them to the sea. We released them 15 metres from the water as they need to strengthen their flippers for the 10 mile swim to the currents that will be there home for the next 10 years.

The photos are from an excavation, our babies hatched at night and are sensitive to white lights.