Sri Lanka- Day 4

On the way to the beach on Day 4 we stopped and toured a local sea turtle hatchery. It was so fun to see so many varieties of turtles in all their different stages. This hatchery is non-profit and sits right on the beach so they are able to release the turtles into the wild after they hatch. The director of the hatchery uses donated money and money from admission to the hatchery to buy turtle eggs from fishermen who find and sell them. They hatch the eggs and then release them into the wild after a few days. Several of the 7 species that are native to this area are endangered so they are doing a great work.

Seeing turtle eggs. They are kind of squishy and about the size of a ping pong ball.

1 day old turtles! They are already able to swim and crawl at 1 day.

The turtles are kept in big tanks that are covered by wire mesh to keep the birds from eating them.

Allen holding a bottle-nose turtle. All of a us took a turn holding him but he flapped his fins so hard and fast that it was impossible to get a photo that looked like a turtle instead of a blur.

 Right outside the hatchery was a guy harvesting juice from the coconut flower. All throughout the island you can see coconut trees with ropes strung between them that the workers walk across to harvest the juice. The juice is made into an alcoholic drink called toddy that is expensive because of the amount of juice required to make it. The workers walk between the trees with their buckets and fill them with the juice. We stood and watched them harvest for a long time and I tried not to feel nervous as the man walked across the ropes. Can you spot him in the pictures below?

 Just a pretty view of the beach: