Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia
Bungalow’s cool but what else do they have to do around here at the hotel?
Actually, quite a lot.
We went over to check out the dolphins responsible for our free lunchtime entertainment.
The part where you get the dolphin to leap at your beck and call? Yeah that’s extra.
The hotel also has a sea turtle hospital on site.
Turns out that sea turtles have a lot going against them:
1) Though many of them are considered “teenagers” most are not mutants, and none that we are aware of are ninjas. Which basically crushes Greg’s childhood hopes…
2) Parents abandon the eggs once they’re laid.
3) Some species of sea turtle will not lay eggs unless they are on the exact beach they were born on. So not only does the sea turtle have to return to the exact same spot, every year, to lay eggs but if that beach is gone, developed, bulldozed, whatever or the sea turtle gets taken to a, say, hospital and can’t get to its beach, then the sea turtle will never lay eggs again in its life. Additionally, don’t you think that their natural predators have figured out this little eccentricity of their favorite (unprotected) snack? Really, a little adaptability would go a long way for these guys. This results in the next point…
4) Most of the babies get eaten before they get to the water, many before they hatch.
So be nice to sea turtles guys. Just to get born they have to go through the wringer.
