Holidaying with the Hawksbills

When you live in the Maldives plenty of people are under the impression that you are permanently on holiday. I tend to enjoy being the object of envy so I don’t waste time correcting them (other than pointing out that I’m getting paid for it). But from time to time it’s good to do some work, so I have journeyed to Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi for a short time to spread the love of marine biology and see how I can help with regards to the environment on their island.

The UAE has in recent years taken many new initiatives with regards to environmental care, and we at Hyatt fully support this turn of events. It’s important that we are responsible, ultimately allowing our guests enjoy the natural resources.  

Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi is perched on the edge of a nature reserve, which during the summer months, hosts the critically endangered hawksbill turtles to lay their eggs.  That they still feel comfortable to come ashore just meters from the hotel is remarkable.  Lights, obstacles or noise easily disturbs nesting females; so we must take great care to cater to their sensitivity.

Hawksbill turtles are old friends of mine from the Maldives; they are such regular visitors of the Hadahaa house reef that at least two seem to be resident. Hawksbills are astonishing for many reasons starting with their choice of food; as adults they almost exclusively eat sponges. We think of sponge as a soft and cuddly substance, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Most sponges are full of needle sharp spines and powerful toxins making them decidedly unpalatable for most creatures. But not the Hawksbill. They have a titanium* digestive system and a hooked beak that allows them to feast on this otherwise untapped food source.  More than just good for the turtles; this is also good for the coral.  Declining turtle numbers is having serious consequences as unrestrained sponges grow over and kill the coral, jeopardizing the future of the entire reef.  

Turtles rely heavily on their instincts, although very lovely, they are not especially bright. The brain is a hungry organ in terms of oxygen demand and since turtles have to relentlessly hold their breath to survive in the underwater world, conserving oxygen is a priority. It turns out; having a tiny brain is not so stupid after all. I sometimes find myself getting jealous of the turtles have an innate ability to always know what to do and where to go. From their first few hours in the nest, they break out of their shell and sense the direction of gravity knowing that they must dig up. Not all the way, because they may have to wait below the surface to sense the temperature of the sand, making sure that it’s night when they make their perilous crawl to the sea. Once again, no instructions needed, they head towards the greatest source of light (which should be the reflection of the moon on the water).  Upon reaching the shore they detect the direction of the waves and automatically swim out to sea. After a few years in the open ocean they manage to direct themselves towards a coral reef to feed so that 20 to 30 years later, they are ready to reproduce. Turtles are able to hone in on variations in the earths’ magnetism and travel hundreds of miles to find the exact area in which they were born to lay their own eggs.  The most remarkable thing of all, this was happening 150 million years before GPS.

* I don’t mean literally- that is biologically very improbable. 

A beautiful hawksbill swooping over the Hadahaa house reef