Kerachut and Baby Turtles

It was the month of June, and I heard from Wai Lian that there would be turtles laying eggs at this month of the year, in no other than Kerachut itself! It was the perfect opportunity for us to go hiking after a long week of stressful work, and also to admire the beauty and serenity of the beach in Penang. On that fateful day, Saucer and I almost didn't manage to make it, because he overslept! And since I was supposed to wait for his call to wake me up, I overslept as well. :P Luckily for us, the group was kind enough to wait so that we could start hiking together. :)

The trail into Kerachut beach was densely covered by tall trees. I love the fact that they helped to protect us from the harmful UV rays of the sun!

Dense trees

See? I am so proud of myself to have climbed up so many steps. *LOL*

Many many steps

After almost 45 minutes of incessant sweating and complaining, we finally reached our destination. This mini bridge connects the ending point of the trail to the starting point of the beach.

Mini bridge

It was scorching hot when we were there, so walking on the beach barefooted wasn't exactly a nice idea. This was the first sight that befell upon us when we reached. Such peace and tranquility. If it was not for the burning hot sun, I would have laid down here with a good book with chilled orange juice! And my Ipod. And oh, a hammock won't hurt either. :) Total bliss!

First sight

Another angle from where I was standing. The sky was so clear even my point-and-shoot camera could capture the clouds clearly. :)

Beautiful beach

We were then on our way, walking towards the signature pier of Kerachut beach. There is no mistaken identity when it comes to this pier, because it's unique in its own way. There were a couple of times when I spotted wedding pictures that were taken at that very spot as well. Again, walking on hot, soft, sand was NOT fun. The sand kept trying to enter my shoes and my feet kept sinking which each step taken.

Pier at one end

Look at our foot steps! This picture is so cute!

Footsteps

The best part of Kerachut, aside of the beauty, is the cleanliness. One could hardly spot litter on the beach, because the people who visit Kerachut understand the importance of keeping the beach clean. People like us. *wink*

Clean beach

There... We've reached the pier! Oh by the way, there is also another form of transport to get to this beach, which is by boat. Of course, I always think those boat rides are really not necessary and they cut throats, too! The price, I mean.

Famous Kerachut pier

This is me attempting to capture a shot which is similar to that shown in a Kerachut flyer. :) What do you think? No photoshop done ok.

Famous Kerachut pier

Look at how nice this picture is, with just a slight tweak in the background colour.

Sepia


Black and white

I went around capturing pictures of the surroundings as well. From an unknown, isolated beach, Kerachut has now become a well-maintained camp site. It is extremely popular among students to camp here, what with such a magnificent view of the beach and even public toilets provided!

Camp site

What's more? There's even an area for people to cook! Campers are so spoilt here, if you ask me. I remember during my good old secondary school, I was a member of the St. John ambulance, and our training camps were definitely FAR from this.

Kitchen?

Before we left, we made our way to the nearby Turtle Conservation Centre. That was one of the main reasons we went to Kerachut, remember?

Turtles Conservation Center

Look at how they incubate the turtle eggs! They have to be there for 55-65 days before they're ready to hatch. Shockingly, the amount of eggs has deteriorated tremendously over the years. I'm sure it is a well-known fact that turtles are indeed endangered species. Therefore, I applaud centers like these which take the effort to conserve as much as they can, the population of this dying species.

Eggs incubator

We saw a HUGE turtle! OK, it's a fake one, but it does certainly look real here, doesn't it?

Turtle

It was our lucky day because according to the person in charge, these baby turtles just hatched on the same morning we were there! I couldn't capture a nice picture as they were moving around frantically and we're not allowed to use flash. Here's the best that I could do.

Baby turtles

Extremely adorable!