Magical breeding season of sea turtles in Bay Canh Island

Bay Canh Island is the second largest of its kind in Con Dao Archipelago in Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province, where sea turtles come to nest and breed mainly between July and September every year.

There are almost no tourist facilities here, but visitors will be able to witness with their own eyes and participate in delivering turtles from laying eggs.

With a survival rate of 1/1,000, sea turtles (also known as green turtles) are a particularly rare species of wildlife that need to be conserved around the world. Therefore, visitors are asked to strictly comply with regulations for tours when joining the tour to see turtles laying eggs by Con Dao National Park. The number of visitors within a group for the tour can be no more than 24. They must obtain a permit (valid for 24 hours), minimally restrict strong lighting equipment (such as flashlights and camera flashes) and comply some general rules.

Our group went by canoe to Bay Canh Island to swim and visit the mangrove forest. With a rich ecosystem both on land and underwater, Bay Canh Island is an ideal destination for swimming, diving, and exploring the ocean in addition to experiences of preserving sea turtles.

At 8pm, we went to the beach to wait for mother turtles to come here. The group’s members were told to walk slowly, speak softly, and follow the forest rangers’ lights. Then, a shadow slowly crawled out of the water. A ranger whispered: “It’s the turtles”. The mother turtles chose sand dunes near groves and dug deep holes. Round white eggs like ping pong balls rolled down into the sand holes one by one. After completing their “works”, each mother turtle filled her hole with sand to hide the nest of eggs and slowly crawled back to the sea.

The rangers then immediately dug up the sand and gently took the eggs. That night, nine mother turtles laid eggs, with 80-100 eggs in each nest. Seeing the little lives in their hands, we were very touched.

Collected turtle eggs were taken to incubators and the baby turtles will hatch out of the eggs after 45-60 days.

In the early morning, we and the forest rangers brought baby turtles down to the sand and released them into the vast ocean. The scene of hundreds of baby turtles crawling into the sea brought indescribable emotions. I believe that anyone who has spent a night waiting for turtles to lay eggs and watching the baby turtles returning to the sea will surely love nature and be more conscious in environmental protection.