‘The officers were using a drone to scour the shoreline for sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs when they saw the turtle through the drone’s camera at 1:29am today (Jan 2).
The nest was laid about 500 metres north of the Phang Nga Coastal Fisheries Research and Development centre, just over halfway nborthwards along the 13-kilometre beach.
The size of the turtle saw officers give her the nickname ‘Mae Lampi’ (‘Mother Lampi’) and cll her visit to the beach a New Year’s Gift.
The turtle’s shell was 105cm wide and 180cm long. The turtle had a distinctive pattern on her left flippers.
The officers were clearly able to identify the turtle as a leatherback.
A search found the nest, some 80cm deep and 27cm wide. The nest contained 120 eggs. Of which 78 were fertilised and the remaining 42 were ‘hollow’.
As the nest was at risk of flooding by seawater, the officers moved the eggs to another site beyond the highest tide line near the tourist service center. which also serves as park officers’ base of operations.
Park officers and volunteers will watch over the nest to protect it from natural predators, and humans.
The eggs are expected to hatch sometime between Feb 25 and Mar 1.