Adrian and Sarimah are 2 young turtles from KB, that have been dating for 10 months and feel the time is now right to start a family.
They want to move to a new reef, which provides the best protection and shelter for there baby turtles, so they decide to jump on the fast moving ocean current, called the Sheffield Hallam Express and swim to Maratua Island in Indonesia Borneo.
The journey was long and tiring but on arrival to Maratua, they are amazed at the stunning and beautiful coral reef awaiting them. The underwater world is magical , as the suns rays, twinkle and sparkle, on the beautiful Whittlestone reef, stretching for many kilometres.
That evening the setting is particularly beautiful, with the full moon making the night sky and the ocean look brighter than usual. The full moon is also triggering the corals to release there eggs, that float to the surface, causing the ocean to be rich with plankton and glowing, fluorescent blue in the moonlight.
The setting is so perfect that Sarimah breaks the good news to Adrian that she is pregnant and expecting baby turtles. Adrian is overjoyed by this, but his happiness soon turns to concern, when the peace is disturbed by the noise of crashing thunder, sounds of bang and boom. On closer inspection a boat has come onto the reef, taking advantage of the bright moonlit night.
The boat is being driven by a Russian captain called Quentin. Quentin and his fellow countryman, generally have a lack of respect and total disregard towards marine life and the ocean environment. From Adrian's own experience they have been known to trample down shallow coral's and poke and smack turtles, for fun when they see them on the reef or in the ocean.
The loud noises that Sarimah can hear of bang and boom are of Quentin dynamite fishing. They use sticks of dynamite to blow up the reef, sending tons of dead fish, turtles, sharks and dolphins to the surface and in doing so completely destroying the reef. Quentin then sells them to criminals in Nearby Sabah.
Adrian is so angry, that he swims towards Quentin's boat, with the intent of putting a stop to his actions. There is a disregarded stick of dynamite hanging off the side of a boat near some rope. Adrian ties it on and waits for Quentin to light it and throw, which of course does not hit the water, but explodes on the side of the boat.
The boat only incurs minor damage, but Quentin is irritated by Adrian's medaling and takes out a pistol, shooting at him in the water. Most bullets miss, but one ricochets
off Adrian's tough hawksbill shell into the boat, causing it to leak and sink slowly. Quentin's boat is now sitting on the bottom and part of a dead reef.
The next day Sarimah inspects the reef, which is completely dead and depleted of life. It is like swimming over a grave yard with all the coral and marine life completely gone.
Even the mangroves near the beach are destroyed, so the reef shark does not have a nursery for his babies and worse, Sarimah does not have a home for her baby turtles. Once the eggs are laid in the sand and hatch there will be no shelter for the baby turtles to grow up in.
Sarimah decides she will have to make do, with the ship wreck to use as shelter for her babies. She swims inside the hull to check the safety aspects and for aggressive Russians but Quentin is nowhere to be found.
It seems that Sarimah is so stunningly bright and beautiful like the moon that some eggs from the coral event of the full moon, were attracted to her, thinking that she is the beautiful bright moon.
The coral eggs have attached themselves to her flipper, which she has unknowingly rubbed onto the soft wood of the shipwrecked hull.
The coral seeds have now taken root in the soft wood and are thriving. So much has grown in a short space of time that Sarimah transplants them to the dead reef.
Sarimahs loving and caring motherly instincts, together with her beauty and green fingers have encouraged the corals to thrive into a small coral garden. Within 6 months they have grown into a forest of coral which has replenished the reef back to it's former glory.
After Sarimah's tender loving care has regenerated the reef back to health, her babies will have a head start in life. Sarimah has so many babies, that she now has to think up names for them all. Check out my conservations stories at [ Ссылка ]
