time it became clear that they are amazing creatures - when they are born, they drift along with the South Pacific currents and basically disappear for about 12 - 17 years and then arrive at the same beach again to lay eggs. Another fascinating fact is that the sex of the entire batch of eggs, usually over one hundred, is determined by the temperature of the sand. At Mon Repos, almost all eggs laid were female, as the sand was quite warm.

We’d only been reading for about fifteen minutes when there was a call for group one to come down to the beach. It was at this point that it became clear just how big the groups were, actually sixty people in each. Luckily however, it wasn’t busy at all on the night we were there, and group two was only twenty people, so they re-arranged so that there were forty in each. We still thought this was a lot, but as we got to the place where the ranger was, we

all gathered round and everyone had a good view. The ranger explained that she had found some turtle hatchlings and had just temporarily covered them with sand to stop them coming out, and was now going to uncover them, put them in a little plastic cage that she had positioned in the sand just next to them. We weren‘t allowed to take photos at that point, as the first thing the turtles look for is the light from the ocean, and camera flashes would have confused them. She said that once they were all in the cage she would bring them round and then we could photo them. As soon as she brushed some sand aside, the tiny little things started appearing. Out they came, digging their way with their front flippers. It was truly a sight to see. Once they were all out, all 98 of them, then we got to have a close look and to feel the strength in their front flippers was just amazing!! They were so tiny, and yet already so powerful, and dare I say it - ever so