The first time I heard a sea turtle “sigh,” I was genuinely stunned. In the darkness, under the faint beam of a flashlight, the large mother turtle let out a long, heavy breath. She paused for what felt like forever before slowly using her back flippers to scoop sand from the nest she was digging. In that moment, I could feel it clearly — she was exhausted.
Now, imagine for a moment that you are that sea turtle
The probability that a hatchling will survive, grow to adulthood, and return to its birthplace to lay eggs is 1 in 1,000. One single survivor among a thousand eggs. Think about that.
A newborn hatchling must find its way to the ocean alone, guided only by instinct and the shimmer of the horizon. It must learn to feed on sea grasses and tiny marine creatures, then disappear into the deep — places so remote that even humans have never fully explored them. When it reaches maturity, in a miraculous way that still puzzles scientists, the turtle returns to the exact beach where it was born, mates, and waits for the right tide to crawl ashore and nest.
In a single night, the mother turtle may crawl up and down the beach several times to find a safe spot. Once she chooses, she spends more than an hour digging a large pit, then a deeper, rounder chamber for her eggs. After laying, she uses nearly another hour to cover and disguise the nest before dragging her tired body back to the sea.
It is a long, perilous journey
Sea turtles face predators, natural dangers, and — most threatening of all — humans. Nests can be damaged by animals, stolen, flooded by high tides, or accidentally dug up by other turtles. Even when relocated and protected by conservationists, only 70–80% of the eggs successfully hatch.
If you ever have a chance to join the IUCN volunteer program from June to August — or visit Côn Đảo during nesting season — try taking a night shift at Bảy Cạnh Island. Watching a turtle lay her eggs for the first time, hearing the soft shuffle of sand and that long, weary sigh… you will feel a connection to her struggle for survival that words can hardly describe.
And when you return home, perhaps something as simple as being mindful of your plastic straw, the shopping bag you reach for, or the excess we often take for granted — that alone is already helping.
Because every small action brings a brighter future for the sea turtles who continue their ancient journey, one sigh at a time.
