More Toitles!

On Monday we took the same bus back to Sandakan that we had taken down, and just like before, it broke down. The cabin once more filled with steam from the radiator, and we pulled over to hose down the bus. I think they have it factored into the time table at this point.

The next morning we headed for the protected Turtle nesting grounds off the coast. The island serves as a hatchery for both Green Turtles and Hawksbills, so there are turtles crawling onto the beaches year round. Luckily for them, there is a curfew on tourists being allowed onto the beaches after sun down.

We sat in the office for a few hours that night until the Ranger spotted a nesting mother, and then went out to watch as the eggs were collected and deposited in the hatchery. Then back to the beach to let loose that night's hatchlings.

We got up at 5 next morning to watch the sunrise over the Ocean, and found two Green turtles blocking our path. Keeping a respectful distance, made a wide arc around them, and watched as they dragged themselves back to the more comfortable seas.

It was back to Kota Kinablu then to do sweet f-all, and relax. That was the plan, but instead we trekked through the rainforest on the island some shite show called Survivor was filmed on, and had a bath in the mud volcanoe. That was actualy quite nice. Not as warm as you'd think though. Erin's flight back to Tokyo was at midnight on Sunday, so left the island early that morning and spent the day in Kota Kinabalu stocking up on bras, as they had a good brand on sale there, and the ones in Japan are shit quality, apparently.

Click here for some photos of the hatchlings, amongst other things.