Between August and March each year the females visit our beach at the full moon to lay their eggs, which they bury up to a metre in the sand. Between six and eight weeks later, again at night, the eggs hatch. The newborn hatchlings struggle gamely to make their way to the sea, their tiny heads bobbing above the waves as they swim far out into the moonlit water. For the next 20-25 years they will swim thousands of miles around the oceans of the world, before the females return for the first time to the very same beach to lay their eggs; the males also return after 30 years.

But these amazing figures also tell a sad story: though eight out of ten eggs hatch, only 1 out of 1000 hatchlings that make it to the ocean survive. Birds, large fish, diminishing breeding habitat and food stocks are not their only enemies; humans have traditionally harvested eggs, fresh hatchlings and adult turtles.

Fortunately, at Neeleshwar there is now there is a local volunteer NGO group that collects the eggs [totalling 7000 in 2006], takes them to a protected hatchery 2 kms south along the beach, and supervises the safe return of the hatchlings to the sea.

We at the Hermitage are keen to do all we can to help join in the worldwide fight to preserve this rare and endangered species.