I have lived in Thailand for too long. 15 Years give or take. In that time i’ve managed to get some good contacts. One of those contacts is the Royal Thai Navy. Yessss. And boy… did we had a nice trips ! Together with a befriended tour company (i know the owner 🙂 ) we did an educational tour to the turtle conservation center at the Similan Islands Marine National Park. I’ve been coming there for years and years for my speedboat tours, so quite familar with the turtles and people 🙂 . 

The Similan Islands are a open for tourism but Islands 1, 2, and 3 are closed. On Island 1 is the Turtle Conservation Center. It is a real privilege to get invited to come to Island 1.  In my 15 years in Thailand I managed to go quite a few times, mostly because of my work for the turtle conservation center. 

The trip was organized in coop with the Royal Thai Navy to give the kids more knowledge about the turtles and why it is so important not to pollute the sea. All in all it was a success ! 

The Similan Islands Marine National Park is a tourist hot spot. As a hotspot you should think its overcrowded. But compared with Phi Phi Islands its quite tranquil. Phi Phi Islands are really overrun. Though, at times, it can be crowded with over a 100 speedboats scattered over the various islands. The islands in the south of the archipelago are closed and that’s where the turtles hanging out 🙂 

At the Tab Lamu 3rd Naval Base there is a turtle conservation center managed by the Royal Thai Navy. Throughout the Southern Coastline of Thailand there are various Turtle Conservation Centers. It is an initiative of the Princess of Thailand and they are under her royal protection. You can visit and see the baby turtles. But als big ones…. They care for them. The baby turtles are picked up from the Similan Islands and been brought to the turtle conservation center where they can grow and strengthen. In this way they have greater chance on survival. Example: from a nest of a 100 only 10 (or less) survive. 

So below some photos from the trip, the turtles, the Navy and me 🙂  

So how do we get them to the Turtle Conservation Center ? Well, simple. In a bucket and with my speedboat 🙂 At the conservation center they will go to a basin with saltwater (sea water). The basins are numbered: you have day old turtles, week old, month old, etc. They all been separated. Also by species. It’s not only green turtles: no, we got loggerhead and hawkbill turtles as well. And sometimes we have a leatherback turtle !