TBK Gives to the Pawikans on the Secret Beach

 

    One of the many " Save the Sea Turtles " visuals at Nacpan Beach Glamping

When Alvin and I were staying in Alimurgan we wanted to go up Bato ni ningning but the 4 x 4 we hired did not show up so Alvin suggested we drove to the Secret Beach. The road was not cemented and very rough and I was not at all happy. Like Ran when I asked him if he had been there before and how he said " Once by Motorbike". I wish that my Kabayan would realise small cars cannot go to the same places as motorbikes! However when we arrived and were met by the guy looking after the beach, Wilfren, and he showed us the baby turtles he was protecting I forgave Alvin for taking me there!

I had learnt the word "Pawikan", Tagalog for turtle, some time back when Dionefel had shared with me the logos of the various youth groups in Alimanguan when I had sponsored their Christmas Celebrations . 

The turtles come ashore, lay their eggs and leave them. If they survive ( and many do not being eaten by predators) they become hatchings. They eat the way out of their eggs, and head out to sea alone. This is very unusual in the natural world as most new born babies have at least one parent to look after them and show them what to do

            The different types of Turtles, thanks to Nacpan beach Glamping

Hence the work that people like Wilfren , the Alimanguan Sagip Pawikan group and Nacpan beach Glamping does is invaluable. When they find the turtle eggs they protect them and once they hatch they ease their journey to the sea. 

Some quick facts for you:

• They incubate for 2- 3 months, depending on the temperature
• They take from 10 to 15 years to become adults
• An Adult turtle weighs around 2000 pounds ( 907 kg) 
• Only about 1 in 1,100 hatchlings will live to see their adult years.

Source: https://a-z-animals.com/blog/baby-turtle-five-facts-and-pictures/            ( accessed 22.4.22)

                                               From Nacpan Beach Glamping

Many of my delegates over the years have seen this video of how many adult turtles meet their death:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJmi_gwziy4

It is one of the few videos that I have ever shown 17 and 18 year old boys that bought a tear to my eye. We then asked who wanted to give up using plastic straws and issued the bamboo and metal straws that were kindly donated by Kevin Lovegrove to the Diploma students ( 60 of them- great job Kevin).

Just to help them remember to use their straws I then introduced them to the hashtag:

                           #StopSucking.

I even put a multiple choice question about it in their exam!

The humorous video made by the Lonely Whale Foundation puts it into perspective

Do you suck?

However talking about something, showing You Tube videos, and actually seeing the Pawikans close up are entirely different things. Wifren told us he was just looking after The Secret Beach and was not paid to look after the Pawikans or to keep the beach clean. He relies solely on donations like mine. 

         My thanks to Rhoda and Darren at Nacpan Beach Glamping for the tour

If you can help Wifren he has tents available for rent and a two bedroom property with aircon- you can call him on 09120345561 or his Facebook page is

Wifren's Facebook page

He kindly gave us some video footage of his Pawikans making their way to the sea and Chester is going to add them to the Vlog Alvin and I shot on the beach with Wifren's help. It will be uploaded to our You Tube channel in a couple of months so do not forget to like and subscribe.

My special thanks to Wifren for his hospitality and especially for showing us the newly hatched Pawikans. It was a very special moment. I shall return ( and give more next time- I only had 20 pesos with me!) and add you to my Palawan tour for my visiting guests.

This is The British Kabayan signing out from his Palawan tour. Next stop Lio Beach    

Ingat Palagi and Kita kits anaks