Tetepare Turtle Fun:

After a 2 hour snorkel on Sunday morning (very tiring but gorgeous – only 5 sharks this time) we had a quiet afternoon because we were going out to camp on the turtle nesting beaches overnight.

The boat left late afternoon, arriving at the beach in a very eventful way. Because of the big waves, the guides had to skilfully surf the waves in the little motorised boat till we landed on the sand; at which point we had to all jump out and drag the boat up the beach. Because the boat could only take 3 of us at a time, it had to be done 3 times, and we were all soaked and laughing by the end.

By the time we were all out and on ‘dry’ land, it was sunset so we all stood taking lots of pictures until it was time for dinner in our little shack. Dinner was all cooked and laid out from the resort, so no making fires or any of that hassle – roughing it in style – yum! The medics amongst us also spotted the whale vertebrae just dotted around the jungle which nobody else had ever noticed.

Then we all took a walk out to the end of the beach (about a mile down the way) and settled down in the sand for the night, to wait to see if any turtles came to lay some eggs. Whilst we were unlucky with the turtles (as none came overnight), as far as the experience goes, it was well worth the lack of sleep:

The beach sand is volcanic, so is actually black, and it glistened beautifully in the moonlight. The stars were beautiful and it was just so peaceful to lie back and watch them, while listening to the waves on the beach a bit below.

Finally, on the last day, they saved the best activity........Turtle rodeo!! The guides have to measure and tag turtles so luckily for us, they let the guests watch the show. What happens is that the guides stand on the roof of the front of the boat, and look for a turtle in the water (the water is so clear that they can see them). Then they chase it around for a bit i(with the boat) until it gets to a shallower area and close enough for one ranger to literally jump on top of it. Then he kind of hugs it and holds on to the flippers and passes it into the boat. Once they have 2 or 3 like this, they head for a beach to put them down onto so that the measurements and tagging can be done. Such a brilliant experience!

Tetepare adventures (part 1) –

(Pronounced Teh-teh-par-ray)

We set out on our little boat on Friday morning, not really knowing what to expect. We’d been told it was very basic accommodation, and there were millions of insects and flies, but that it was amazing. All of this turned out to be completely true.

Our journey out was fairly eventful spent watching the stunning scenery. We got to see a few flying fish, and then happened to go through a large pod of spinner dolphins who started chasing the boat for a few seconds – magical!

The malaria curing tree

When we arrived on the island, we were greeted by our guides and taken to the leaf huts which were to be our accommodation.  They were basic, but very comfortable and clean, and the hammocks outside were so good to laze around in. Later that day we went for a bush-walk where Tuni (sp) our guide showed us all the bush medicines for curing pretty much everything from malaria, to bone fractures, to high blood pressure. Not so sure about the one that mends bones, but it sounds like some of them might have value. 

We ended our walk at ‘crocodile lake’ where thankfully the largest reptiles we saw were monitor lizards, despite the enthusiastic dog imitations perfomed by the guides. The boat then picked us up and took us back to the dugong zone for us to snorkel. Whilst a couple of people managed to catch sight of the dugongs, they’re really shy creatures and as soon as the rest of us tried to swim closer, they fled. The whole area is a marine conservation area though, so fishing is not allowed, and for that reason, the fish are 2-4 times the size of the other fish in the area.

The next day we set off to have a look at the bat cave. We had originally expected to go to a large cave in the boat, but that one was damaged in an earthquake in January. So we went to a much smaller one, where you had to crouch down all the way to the main cave at which point the idea was you’d scare the bats out and watch them fly around. I am ashamed to say that the thought of hundreds of bats flying at my face in that small space was too much for me and I chickened out only about ⅓ of the way in. Got a good picture of a bat flying at Mia though – one eventually sat on her head for a few seconds. 

weekend away

Well it's been a fairly normal week so far for us. The hospital was a bit subdued on Tuesday because unfortunately 2 patients died on Monday night. They were both acutely ill and we can't think of anything more that could have been done here, but they don't do post-mortems unless there's possible foul play, so we'll never know. 
Otherwise, things just plodded along as normal. Mia went out 'on tour' in the boat with one of the doctors as well as a couple of nurses and the dentist. They visit areas that would otherwise not have any care but because these areas are quite numerous, most only get visited once every 6 months. Apart from one with a district nurse based there, that means that they have to wait for this, or paddle (or get their family members to paddle) the 4-8hrs to the hospital. This explains why many patients present so late in their illnesses. Hopefully I'll be going out on a similar tour with some of the nurses next week if they go. 
I don't think I'll be posting any updates until Monday as a few of us are going to an island called Tetepare about 90mins boat journey from here for the weekend. It's very remote, but is meant to be beautiful, and I'm really hoping that we might see dugongs, or MAYBE turtles nesting!
Hopefully I will have lots to tell, and lots more photos by the time we all get back.