It was 5:45 PM on Saturday evening by the time we got close to the enclosure for our first visit where the turtle eggs are protected. We walked for 45 mins to reach the enclosure. Being Saturday evening, it was crowded. Volunteers were briefing the crowd and passing out instructions on maintaining the distance when the turtles are released and not getting into the waters for 10-15 mins as here are chances of baby turtles getting back to the shores caught in waves and getting under the feet. We listened to the instructions and were all excited to catch a glimpse of the babies. One of the volunteer, entered the enclosure and lifted the basket one after the other. Click here to read more about the conservation. Finally under the last basket there were 7 baby turtles out of the nest and ready to swim. Some were so excited that they started singing Happy Birthday song. The volunteers and villagers were very particular and did not allow anybody into the enclosure. They were trained in handling the eggs, hatchings and handled the turtles carefully.
Depending on the crowd, barricades were placed at the shore to control the crowd. Close to the shore, about 20 feet away from the waters, baby turtles are carefully placed on the land. It was a great experience to watch the babies crawl towards waters as soon as they are placed on the land. Each turtle crawls and make its way towards the waters leaving beautiful claw marks on the sand. Sometime, It appears as if they are racing with one another to reach the sea. 
In the 4 sessions that we attended, we were able to see release of 7,6,0 and 8 turtles respectively. After the first 2 sessions, some of our group members got suspicious and wondered if this is hype created as we could not see the hatchings but saw the baby turtles neatly placed on under the basket on the sand without any depression created when they come out after hatching. May be to clear this suspicion, we have witnessed a turtle half way through in the 3rd session and we also were able to see two other small depressions in the same nest indicated 2 other babies were on their way.
As there were no turtles that have come out this time, first time visitors had to go back disappointed. The sight of baby turtle half way through the sand cleared the air and we returned back that night hoping to see the last release next morning. If you are wondering why don't they help the turtle out of sand and release it in the water, well, some of us had similar doubt and when asked, we were told that the effort the baby turtle puts in to come out of the nest helps them in strengthening their fins. Similarly there is a reason behind releasing the turtles some distance away from the waters. Crawling to the waters help them in strengthening their fins and muscles which will enable them to swim in the waters.
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| shot with all 8 turtles crawling their way to the sea on the final day |
The organizers have said that the number of nests are going down each year as many turtles are getting trapped in the fishing nests, going under the fans of boats and are killed by predators. The effort that is put by the Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra(SNM), NGO and the villagers is tremendous and we could see the excitement when one of the villagers who is actively involved and overseeing all this said that they can't wait to see the first batch released from this place to come back. If you are wondering if they are tracking the turtles, they do not, just hoping to see a rise in the number of nests would give them the indication that the babies released 12 years ago have come back.
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