Mon Repos Turtles

Turtle hatchlings emerge from their nests after the sun goes down and instinctively make their way towards the light over the sea. They calibrate their inbuilt GPS system to orientate themselves with the earth’s magnetic field so that the survivors can find their way back to the same beach in 30 years time to breed.

Mon Repos Conservation Park on Qld’s central coast supports loggerhead turtle nesting every year between November and March. Approx 50% of all loggerhead turtles in the South Pacific region come to this 1.5km stretch of beach to nest. The baby hatchlings are little bundles of energy as they emerge from the nest and I was hopeful that at least one of these vulnerable little turtles would survive.  

Most of them will get eaten by predators not long after they hit the water and only 1 in 1000 of the hatchlings will survive 30 years out in the open ocean dodging predators, poachers, marine debris and fishing nets to make it back to Mon Repos Conservation Park to reproduce and begin the life cycle all over again. The loggerhead turtle is on the IUCN endangered species list.