Sunrise at Turtle Beach

After a week’s contemplation and planning, we worked out the details and decided to take a chance and go to the Turtle Reserve in Sur. We picked our companions from our former trip, Nithin and Divya and started our 3-hour night drive.

Turtles are among my favourite and there was no doubt that I was excited about this trip, even though chances of seeing one were slim, since turtle season is during July to October. But, I was promised a lovely sunrise and my heart was set on that.

We opted out of staying over, besides my husband fancied a night drive and we reached Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve around 2:30 am in the morning. The reception was closed, and we were told that they would open by 4:30 am which gave us ample time to get some shut eye.

Around 4:45 am, we headed to the reception area and freshened up a little. The Reserve offered hotel facilities and guided tours to the beach to see the turtles. We waited in the quiet lobby, which was getting crowded with hopeful, yawning tourists like us among which were a few sleepy and sullen children. I remember one man jerking awake and asking aloud if the turtles have arrived.

After a while, a man appeared in traditional Omani attire and announced that the tour will begin shortly but as of now there are no turtle sighting, however, we can still go see the nesting beach. I was not too disappointed, the lure of sunrise by the beach was enough for me.

We shuffled slowly toward the beach, which is a fifteen-minute walk from the building, the cold was at its fiercest before dawn and we held on to each other for warmth. The sky was lit bright by the moon which hung low behind the building, and I had to rub my eyes and check again to see if it is some sort of flood light. The starlit sky was masked by the moon which outshone them all and I vaguely remembered it was the day after the full moon.

I could hear the quiet rush of the waves crashing on to the shore and part of me was elated being near the sea. We were the last to reach the nesting ground and we saw a small crowd in the dark and our guide pointing excitedly with a red light, and it was a dream come true as there was a turtle on the beach after all.

The red lights are supposedly less intrusive to the turtles, and we were strictly instructed to not use flash or disturb it whatsoever, however we were free to observe, and we were taking in the sight a bit incredulously albeit drowsily.

The turtle was nestling itself in the sand with its flippers. We could trace the tracks from the sea to where it settled itself. It was still dark outside, but the moon provided enough lighting and in addition to that, the guide switched to a non-invasive white light to see the turtle better.

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While my phone has a pretty good night mode camera, my photography skills always took a backseat in crucial moments. So naturally I gave the phone to my husband, and we managed to get a few clicks of the turtle thrashing in the sand.

He asked me to pose in front of the turtle and I hunched over on the sand to not block anyone’s view. To the general amusement of the crowd and to my utter embarrassment, the turtle decided this was the right moment to burrow a little more vigorously and I ended up getting sand all over me.

I shook off the sand and my awkwardness, yet I could still feel a little sand in the pockets of my cardigan as I posed once more and as I looked to my left, I could see the light seeping through the sky between the jagged rock formation, the waves on the beach shimmered slightly in anticipation of the sunlight still light years afar.

Our party of four bade goodbye to the turtle for the moment and walked a few steps forward to the beach to catch those first rays of the sun. The moon still shone bright ready to rival the sun and as the dawn blossomed slowly across the sky, we were able to appreciate how beautiful the beach is, being untouched by outsiders.

The sky became layers of blue, white and orange and sparkling planet which I believe to be either Venus or Mars, there was some sort of planetary conjunction happening that night.

The sun ascended shyly in between the rocks, and we made our way to the rock after a while, and we found paw prints and broken eggshells, which we deduced was eaten by a fox. I almost stepped on a pufferfish skeleton as well.

As I posed sleepily for pictures, I noticed how the sun and the moon were up in the sky together, just out of reach, bidding hello and goodbye before the moon faded into the brightness of the sky.

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We went back to see the turtle, still digging into the sand and a quick google reverse engine search revealed it was a Green sea turtle, the other common turtles that visit the nesting beach are the Leatherback Sea turtle and the Olive Ridley turtle.

The adrenaline was wearing off and drowsiness got the better of us by then, I looked to the sun and the turtle one last time and we headed back to the reserve.

I slept like a log until we reached a nice Kerala restaurant in Sur called Oru Selfie Thattukada to have breakfast.

I could not sleep post breakfast owing to the breath-taking view of the sea on our way. We made a slight detour and stopped by the pretty pebble beach near Wadi Shab where we saw shoals of fish and turtles bobbing happily in the distance, while seagulls flew lazily overhead.

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After a short stroll, we headed our way back to the car and finally onwards home with new memories to cherish.

Shout out to Nithin and Divya for taking our pictures and videos, and for the lovely impromptu homemade lunch.