The last few weeks have taught me that trouble happens even in paradise. A mini-monsoon and a few hospital visits later, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next on the island.
But first of all, let’s go back to where we left. After Cathy the turtle came up (which you can read about here), life continued as normal at camp, waiting for the next turtle to come and lay her eggs. Whilst we wait for turtles, it gives us scope to do other things during the day. One of those things is beach clean-ups. Each year, the island gets inundated with trash and we try to motivate ourselves and the locals to recycle as much of this as possible. After our first trip this year, cleaning up just on our own beach, we had already collected 520kg of trash! It’s an uphill battle with the pollution problem – but we’re doing all we can to keep our island clean (but seriously, maybe don’t take that plastic bag next time you go shopping – it will probably end up on Lang Tengah!)
So as we were cleaning up in the day, we were still patrolling the beaches at night. On one of those patrols, a volunteer and I saw a strange shape in the surf. As we walked closer we realised it was a baby dolphin, washed up on the beach. It was clear that the poor animal had been dead a while, so we called the team and moved her to a safe spot from predators and the sun. We then called the Fisheries Department to come and get her, so they can perform a vital autopsy to find out how she died. Perhaps its mother was too young and inexperienced, or she could’ve been caught in a fishing net. It was another stark reminder that the animals on and around the island have to live with the burden of fishing boats and pollution – but also a positive idea to know that dolphins are still roaming the waters.
And they’re not the only ones roaming the waters around our island. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been snorkelling extensively. Coral workshops have allowed me to start recognising the corals around our bay, and a shark lecture has given me more insight in the plethora of baby sharks that are growing up outside our front door. And – of course – there are turtles. Critically Endangered hawksbills are resident around the cliffs by Batu Kuching, so on the quiet afternoon snorkels we sometimes come across them. The work we do is so vital, and so rewarding – to know that the eggs that hatch on our island may one day be swimming around as adult turtles is motivation enough to get up at 3am for my patrol.
But paradise turned a little bit wet when the rains came back. For the last week, the rain has been constant, dampening the camp and letting mould go crazy on our clothes. Our tropical paradise is suddenly a let less paradise-like, but it won’t dampen our spirits. On one particular night, the rain was pelting down as I was sheltering with a volunteer in the abandoned resort on the island. As we made our way down the beach to head back to camp, the inevitable turtle tracks showed up on the sand. A green turtle had come to shore. Although she didn’t lay (a “false landing” – scouting the beach), it was so rewarding to finally see the elusive green turtle.
Later that night we were awoken by the all-important shouts: “Turtle in Turtle Bay!” As I grabbed my camera equipment I was told it was Cathy coming back for her second nest of the season, and she was already laying her eggs. I rushed down into the bushes surrounded by the sharp pandan leaves, ants’ nests, and sticks and twigs poking out everywhere. She had chosen a pretty awkward spot. As I turned around to grab a piece of kit, I saw something moving very quickly towards my eye. It was a branch of one of the pandan trees, and it was too late: it hit me straight in the eye, and for a second all went black. But then my vision came back and I quickly continued working, determined to get the shots we needed of Cathy’s face so we could enter her into our ID database. As she made her way down the beach a little while later, 124 eggs left behind, I went and rinsed my eye and went to sleep.
The next morning, however, my eye was definitely not OK. Swollen, painful, and my vision blurry I realised I needed to go see a doctor. Within a couple of hours I was on a boat off the island making my way to Kuala Lumpur. As I watched the island disappear on the horizon, I felt mostly frustrated – a tree managed to get me off the island, despite all the other “dangers” that lurked. So 12 hours later I was sat at A&E and I was told that my cornea was scratched and I needed to see a specialist. So now I am staying in Kuala Lumpur until the doctor clears me to go back to work – after an eccentric night with an eye-patch, my eye is feeling better and healing. After years of fieldwork it seems to have become tradition to need medical attention at least once, and Malaysia was another pleasant surprise regarding its healthcare system. For now, I’ll wait for the doctor to give me to go-ahead and then I’ll be on my way back to my slice of paradise, rain and all. After all, that’s where it all started.
Faye Vogely 