Yes, our amazing Little Princess has returned to nest in Chagar Hutang, 17 days after her last nesting emergence. She deposited her third nest for the season, laying a total of 162 eggs on the 18th of May and I was privileged to be with her! She came to nest early in the morning and gave us the opportunity to photograph her after she had completed laying her eggs. I even took a few video clips.

Our total tally for nesting activity in Chagar Hutang as of 18th May 2008 is 159 green turtle nests and 8 hawksbill nests. I seriously think we are going to have a bonanza year.

I went to Redang this time around with Slot H volunteers. One of them, Wei is a returnee and brought her brother and friends along. Included in the group was a couple from Singapore. We had some fun taking pictures at the Laguna Jetty in Merang as there were no tourists boarding the ferry with us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Laguna Redang Resort for providing our volunteers and staff complimentary ferry service between Merang and Redang since 2004.

I was pleased to be greeted by the new signboard upon our arrival at Chagar Hutang. Thank you Pei Yee and and Slot E volunteers for the fine painting job.

The volunteers had a busy first night with four successful nestings and release of a few hatchlings recovered from a hatched nest. They were introduced to the hazards of ant infestation with 3 nests attacked in their first 2 days. In one one them, over 20 hatchlings were already dead when we excavated the nest.

Our new solar-powered computer and charging system are now fully functional, thanks to Yap, our supplier and University Malaysia Terengganu for providing the funds. The satellite phone will be ready for use (only for emergency situations) once I get a Celcom number registered for this purpose. Many volunteers have requested for these services and we are pleased to be able to comply. The Turtle Gallery has turned out to be quite a cozy place for volunteers to hang out.

I would like to end this blog by sharing a picture taken last night when everyone came back from the beach due to the rain (last picture). As usual, Mahadi had everyone in stitches with his jokes and riddles.

We are now waiting for our new assistant to report for duty on 28th May 2008. Nurul, Fong and myself have been filling in since the position was vacated early this month.

Chan, on trip to Chagar Hutang from 17-19 May 2008.

• Little Princess, the amazing hawksbill that nests in Chagar Hutang
• What a full 3 days it has been…
• June Updates
• Sweet labour with 16 landings in a night
• A bit of this and that