Return to the Sanctuary

Around lunchtime today I saw a post on the EMEG Facebook page, that 140 little turtles had hatched this morning, and they were going to be released in the late afternoon. Lucky Grandma was here so that she could keep the sick boy (yes, he's still been home from school today) company; Linnea, her friend Grace and I took another trip down the highway to Jebel Ali.

Thanks to it being a normal day, and probably also because you had to be able to come on short notice, there wasn't many people at all, yay!
When we arrived, they were busy weighing and measuring all the little turtle babies, before they were to be set out into the sea:

The mama turtles come up on the beach to lay their eggs in the early spring, and then it takes 60-80 days for them to hatch. All these turtles came out of just two nests this morning!

Once all the little turtles had been registered, we all went down to the beach and all the children go to line up and pick a turtle to help set off.

The turtles Linnea and Grace picked weren't too eager at first. We were told not to put them further than about a meter from the sea, so that they could smell it, but still, we needed to move them closer so that the current could help them.

Finally they started to set off! Bye little turtles!!

On the way from the Sanctuary, we saw some camels:

And these beauties (Arabian Oryx?), on the side of the road:

What a lovely afternoon!