Con Dao district consists of 16 large and small islands, but only a few of them are breeding grounds for sea turtles. Bay Canh Island is known as "The best eco-tourism island in Con Dao". Separated from the vibrant world outside, both wild and with blue sea and colorful corals, this is also the largest sea turtle sanctuary in Vietnam.
April to June every year is the peak of the turtle egg-laying season in Bay Canh Island - Con Dao (the island accounts for 90% of the turtle laying in Con Dao) Every night, about 6-8 turtles go to the sandy beach to dig nests, the peak in June can be up to more than 15 turtles/night.
On average, each turtle lays from 80 to more than 150 eggs, these eggs will be brought to the incubator by the conservation staff within 2-3 hours according to the appropriate temperature and light so that the baby turtles can hatch with their own sex (if there is a lot of light, high temperature, the eggs will hatch into males and if there is little light, low temperature, eggs will hatch females)
After about 2 months of incubation, the baby turtles will hatch and be brought back to the sea. When entering the water, the baby turtles will determine the direction and swim straight to the sea for 1 week in a row to find a large current, after about ten years of survival in the big sea, they will return to shore.
The survival rate of baby turtles to adulthood without being harmed by other species is extremely low, only 1 in 1000 live
After 30 years, adult turtles (now weighing more than 100kg, about 1m long) will return to the very place where they were born to mate and breed (turtles in Con Dao when they go ashore to give birth are attached with an identification code to track when they return to spawn)
Since the establishment of the sea turtle sanctuary in Con Dao for more than 30 years, more than 10,000 mother turtles have been recorded and nearly 30,000 nests have been laid (According to estimates, about 3 million baby turtles hatched, but only about 3000 survived and matured)
The day tour to see turtles breeding and visit Bay Canh island is one of the most special and unique tours of Con Dao. After 45 minutes by boat to Bay Canh Island, visitors will swim with a snorkel to see corals in the Bo Dam beach area.
After dinner at Bay Canh Forest Ranger Camp, the guide introduced the ecological characteristics of sea turtles, the conservation of sea turtles of Con Dao National Park and guided the rules, approaches to see the egg-laying activities of sea turtles and wait for the mother turtle to go to the sand to nest. lay. Time Sea turtles go to the spawning grounds when the tide is high at night. Releasing baby turtles into the sea is the most popular activity.
The program to watch the nesting and egg-laying activities of sea turtles at Fox Island of Con Dao National Park is very limited in terms of the number of tourists participating and there are many tourists participating, so visitors register in advance to be arranged.
In addition, you can swim and visit Bay Canh Island and many other nature exploration activities here.
Management of Con Dao National Park
Address: Ma Thien Lanh Street, Zone 3, Con Dao District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau
Phone: 02543.830.150
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