Jasmine takes a break from the miday sun. Some lovely stairs built by yours truely. Clouds rolling into Juara...we've seen alot of rain in March. Most of it appreciated.

Well...I head back to the states in a few weeks. I will be very excited to see everyone again and share my stories and adventures in a much more intimate and thorough way than I have been able to convey on this bloody blog. However, I will be very sad to leave Tioman and my new family in Juara.

We just dropped of some students at the ferry this morning. They were an international bunch who study in Hong Kong. They came to us to help with the turtle project and learn a bit abou the conservation efforts on Tioman. We managed to get them out snorkelling and hiking in the jungle as well as get them involved in the project building site.

Talking with them their last night, we were able to get an idea of their impression of the Turtle project. Alot of them were touched by the work we have been doing, and seem to now understand the difficulties such conservation efforts have, working with governments and local communities. They all seemed understand the need for involving the local community as a major player in the efforts and also saw the value in reaching out to groups from distant places. However the one take home message that we tried to impress upon them is that, this isn't a turtle issue. Just as I often said in dealing with the salmon restoration efforts in the US. We aren't managing salmon, we have no need to manage salmon. We manage ourselves and our interactions with these creatures and environments. That seems to be the hardest pill for people to swallow is that we need to be more aggressive managing our ac tions and impacts on these areas. It won't be long before these issues are knocking at our door and we are faced with very immediate measures for solving these problems. Why do we not get the picture and learn to take these steps now, before it is too late. The turtles are a nice feature for which we can learn not just about the turtles, but also about the sea and the beaches and the ecosystems they rely on. Leaving us with no other choice than to protect these areas and our own well being.

Ciao for now.

Andy