FOLLOWING Flatbacks
Our trio of turtle-watchers lies awake under the Milky Way, bare toes dug into the sand, listening to the sea. At 2am a westerly breeze blows in on the rising tide, and as we gaze up into the inky, luminous sky, turtle guru Andrew recites a love story about the God of the West Wind who calms the sea so the kingfisher lovers Alcyone and Ceyx can lay their eggs safely on a floating nest.
Soon, flatbacks turtles will lumber silently ashore to lay their eggs too — 650 middle-aged beauties who return every winter to this tiny rookery on Bare Sand Island, 50km out of Darwin. These are Australia’s own sea turtles — the only species endemic to our shores — yet what we know about flatbacks very much depends on the growing body of research gathered by this very group of insomniacs.
Two hours before the high tide, the flatbacks () appear like clockwork in numbers that keep the AusTurtle
