The Borneo Vacation.....part 3......The Turtles

Next morning we had breakfast at Sepilok....scrambled eggs, butter, toast and homemade banana and pineapple jam. We were told to pack for an overnight stay at turtle island. JAR and I had our backpacks all ready....I packed two tee shirts, a pair of pants and toiletries. The digital camera batteries already recharged. BHR appeared to be bringing only his little waist bag. I insisted that he needed to bring at least one change of clothes plus his tooth brush.....oh oh he had no little bag to put that in. BHR found an old paper bag which I could see was almost torn apart. I went to the reception area and managed to get a plastic bag for him. Thats how BHR travelled for the next few days....with a paper bag stuck inside the plastic bag!
They took us on a bus to a tiny shop at the orang utan center to buy water before driving us to the Jetty. Our guide whose name is Amran entertained us almost the whole 45 minute ride. He seems knowledgeable and friendly. We met a local family of five, a German couple and a young New Zealander girl whom the three of us adopted and she became part of our group on the Turtle Island. The ride down the river was pleasant and entertaining. We passed a fishing village and the kids there waved at us. We all waved back. Friendly people. We were brought to Libaran Island for lunch. The food was not too fantastic but the four of us walked along the village nearby and met up with some locals. One family was about to have a feast and they offered us some delicious coconut cakes baked on a charcoal oven. Upon reaching Turtle island, a funny fish 'stood up' and practically walked beside our boat.....JAR was thrilled to no end by this fish. I didnt manage to actually see it but several people on the boat did.
We were placed in a bungalow at Turtle Island. I discovered that I had only packed the pants and had no tee shirts in my bag pack! I walked to the canteen where they sold some teeshirts and got me one. JAR spent the afternoon swimming in the sea. I accompanied him until I decided to go get the tee shirt. then i went back to my room to take a nap. JAR woke me up and insisted that I return to the sea with him. I didnt have the heart to refuse him and I was glad that I did! I always had this phobia about being in the water and drowning....JAR said that the water was shallow....he was right.......I used the mask and snorkels and moved about where the water was no higher than my chest.....beautiful fishes swam around me....I was in heaven! Thank you JAR for helping me overcome one of my fears in life!
We had dinner (I had a minor incident here....I threw up the first mouthful due to some gas in my tummy). Then we all sat around and chatted while waiting for the 'Turtle Time' or "Penyu" call from the rangers. There were 15 sightings of mother turtles come egg laying that night. The rangers only allowed us to disturb one mama. We saw how she laid her eggs and covered the hole. then they took us to the hatchery where we were allowed to hold an egg. later we were given a tiny baby turtle each to hold. It was all very exciting.
We were lucky that mama turtle came at about 9pm so we could have a relatively early night. We had to be up early next day for the next part of our adventure in Sukau!