Koh Man Nai: Coastal Cleanup and Sea Turtle Sanctuary

It was early.

Too early, in fact. I tend to be an early riser, but 3:30 wakeup time is extreme, even for me.

Nevertheless, I was standing at a gas station at 4:30am on a dark Saturday morning, drinking a tiny can of concentrated Japanese iced coffee and waiting for my meetup group's van to arrive.

It was a very sleepy ride along the eastern gulf coast of Thailand, but when we arrived just after 9 at a quiet pier just outside of Rayong, I was feeling energized and ready to have an exciting new experience.

leaving from the pier outside of Rayong

I had joined a volunteer group headed to Koh Man Nai, a small island not far from Koh Chang off the coast of Rayong.

Koh Man Nai is a small island with a single beach just 100 meters in length. It's a private island managed by a royal project and visitors are only allowed during a few hours of the day with special permission.

a typical Thai ferry

A half-hour ride on a rocking wooden ferry boat brought us to the pier on Koh Man Nai. Once a deserted island, Koh Man Nai has been developed into a sea turtle sanctuary under the initiative of Her Majesty Queen Dowager Sirikit. 

arrival on Koh Man Nai

We had come to Koh Man Nai to spend a morning volunteering to clean up the beach before paying an education visit to the Sea Turtle Sanctuary and Sea Life Museum.

the beach

While the beach itself was quite clean, occasional trash does wash up on the island. Since it's not far from the mainland, it's not uncommon for bits of plastic to end up on the beach. As a turtle sanctuary, it's imperative that the island be kept clean so as not to harm the already critically endangered animals.

driftwood

Our large group broke off into small teams, and we spent a few hours combing the entire island. Though the beach looked clean, looking closely revealed small pieces of trash that could otherwise have been overlooked. Even if it didn't feel like we were doing much, the garbage added up quickly. It was sad to see how much had amassed, and shocking how invisible all of the rubbish had been. 

friends cleaning up trash

That's why it's so important for volunteers to visit the island and work hard to keep it clean. Sea turtles require a pristine environment to thrive, one of the factors leading to their current endangered status.

walking across the island

Since it's a tiny island, it didn't take us long until we were satisfied with our work and the several large bags of trash we had filled.

After hauling our garbage bags back to the pier, it was finally time to visit the turtle sanctuary itself!

all the garbage we collected!

Sea turtles hatch twice a year, in September and February. The turtles that we got to visit were between 2 months and 1 year, and not quite ready for the real world!

It's a dangerous life for a turtle. Only approximately 1 in 1,000 hatchlings survive to adulthood. The sanctuary on Koh Man Nai helps to breed and protect these sea turtles, giving them a healthy and safe environment to grow up in. Visitors are limited and boats are restricted near the island, allowing the turtles to have a natural preserve and shelter to grow up in safely.

I got to meet two species of sea turtles: hawksbill turtles and green turtles. Now, I'd like to share with you some of the interesting facts that I have learned about these incredible creatures.

cleaning up near the Sea Life Museum

Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are classified as critically endangered. Hawksbill sea turtles are called so because of their distinct sharp beak. They can live to be 80 years, and can grow to up to 120 kilograms (about 265 lbs)! They feed on, among other things, jellyfish and coral.

Here's the coolest fact about hawksbill sea turtles: due to their diet of certain hard corals which also share the property, hawksbill sea turtles are biofluorescent (meaning that they can glow under a black light)! They are the only reptile in the world known to have this property!

hawksbill sea turtle

Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are actually not green. These endangered turtles come in a variety of shades from light brown to black. Juvenile green turtles are carnivorous, feeding on coral and jellyfish, but they become omnivorous as they grow, and spend much of their time feasting on seagrass.

green sea turtle

Although the green turtles that I got to see were just little babies, they were already the size of dinner plates. Green sea turtles can live up to 100 years, and can grow to an astounding 200 kilograms (about 440 lbs)!

1 month old baby

It takes a lot of work to keep these critically endangered animals safe, but Thailand takes the threats to them very seriously. The sanctuary on Koh Man Nai is just one of several throughout the country dedicated to preserving and protecting the sea turtles that call the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea home.

he's not ready for the real world yet!

By early afternoon, it was time to leave. We loaded our bags of rubbish onto our ferry to haul back to the mainland, then boarded the boat.

time to leave the island

The boat stopped at a reef a little way off the coast of the island where we enjoyed the beautiful scenery over lunch. After that, some volunteers took the opportunity to swim in the cool, clear water. 

we stopped off the coast for lunch and the chance to swim

We got back to Bangkok after dark, exhausted from a long day of adventure and hard work.

It was a wonderful experience. I got to see a beautiful new place, learned a lot, and had the chance to give back to this beautiful country that has taken good care of me during this global pandemic. I hope that I can do more volunteering day trips like this one.

And learning about sea turtles has only encouraged me more to look into something that I've been thinking about a lot lately: learning to dive. Next year, maybe?

it was a fun day!