Sepa Island Part 1 – Baby Hawksbill Turtles taking first steps back into the sea

We visited Sepa Island (Pulau Sepa) last weekend, on a trip there with our relatives. Pulau Sepa is one of the many islands of Thousand Islands of Indonesia (Kepulauan Seribu), north of Jakarta.

Sepa Island is famous for its nice beach, although not as nice as Bali it’s almost there. It is also famous as a place of preservation and conservation of the now endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtles (Penyu Sisik). I was told that the islanders collect the eggs laid on another island, and then hatch them here on Sepa Island to protect them from human hands and also natural predators.

We were lucky that we arrived just in time that they are having the release of Baby Hawksbill Turtles back into the sea. Seeing how they crawl back and swimming against the current back into the sea, it really striked me in the heart why selfish humans would illegally hunt these poor little guys. Hopefully they find their place among the sea.

More of photos from Sepa Island trip will come in subsequent posts – including sunsets and sunrises, (link)