Every morning and afternoon at MRCI we conduct a turtle watch from our office, where two of our volunteers note the time and number of turtles they spot. Volunteers also participate in an active turtle survey 2-3 times a week.
The active turtle survey is much more fun, with a small group of snorkelers going out in the morning on a very large transact survey. Starting from the reef, volunteer divers follow it down towards the next beach whilst spotting and documenting turtles living in the area or migrating through.
The most commonly spotted is the Hawksbill turtle that also hatches here on a turtle beach. Green turtles are harder to spot as they are shy and usually hang around the sandy parts, feeding on seagrass.
Volunteers monitor and document not only the number of turtles they see on a day, but they also try to get a good photo of the turtle’s head which is later used for identification of that specific turtle. This helps to monitor how many of the turtles are local ones.
This is also usually the time when our volunteers have a little bit of fun trying to capture more creative shots of turtles and turtle selfies too. Follow our Instagram feed to see other amazing pictures from our turtle surveys.
