15 January 2007

Today's conservation effort


We love to walk down the free beach at the north end of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and when we do, we stop to pick up all the pieces of glass that we come across and dump them in the bins.

Today, we gathered a lot of glass - mainly due to the surf tumbling onto the beach, as it's uncovered, or washed up, a lot more than usual.


We also rescued some wildlife!


On the last of our usual 6 laps of the beach, we came across 2 Indian gentlemen throwing something back in the water. It was a small turtle and unfortunately, due to the men still having their shoes on, they didn't throw it back far enough.

We waded out to rescue it, and as J refloated it, it was obvious that it was ill. Covered in barnacles, it made a feeble attempt to swim away but was very weak.

We carried it down the beach and gave it to one of our dive instructor friends from the Pavilion Dive Centre at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, who promptly took it into the diveshop to receive some TLC.

We hope that it will survive. We know that it has a better chance of doing so now, than if it was left to fend for itself on the beach.

Wth all the disturbance occuring to their natural habitat in the shapes of palms and world maps, these little guys need all the help that they can get.

19 comments:

Lirun said...

i do that too in israel!!!! i clean the shore as i stroll down it - whether med sea dead sea or galillee..

good on you

nzm said...

Lirun: Welcome to our blog! I thought of you today while watching the surfers riding the waves! There were some great swells and some nice sets happening on the outgoing tide with an onshore wind. Pity the water's a bit cold, but the guys in wetsuits were having a blast!

Anonymous said...

hey.. dint know you were in Dubai.

Pandabonium said...

I miss the turtles in Maui's waters. They seem to have made a comeback after years of protection.

Lirun said...

hey mate

youre killing me.. we havent had a decent surf in ages.. apparently there was one weekend of it while i was in iceland.. grrr

so last weekend i went snowboarding up north..

hip swivelling on ice and waves.. all the same hehe

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Good on you! If everyone did twenty minutes a day cleaning up public spaces and looking after little creatures what a difference it would make!
I was astonished one time when I walked through a kind of track behind some mangroves to see so much junk washed in from people throwing stuff from boats.
W.

Anonymous said...

Stuh-ning photo. And the turtle population will thank you.

Jayne said...

Awwww poor little turtle! You did a really kind thing by trying to get it some dedicated attention.
So.......like......if I have a word with those 2 Indian chaps, dya think they could throw grandma in......possibly a bit further than the turtle?

Anonymous said...

Oman is much better that way...beaches are mostly neat...

Anonymous said...

The photo of the Burj makes me wish for warmish water :D ... the sky looks pretty clear too, for a change ...

Anonymous said...

Good on you. I've obviously missed a memo somewhere - you guys back in Dubai again?

Shazza said...

squirrels, foxes and now turtles... something's telling me that you two should change your professions and do something with animals:) maybe a wildlife park? animal documetaries? but seriously, I second peceli and wendy: good on you! and remember the cree indian saying: "Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money."

Destitute Rebel said...

Its really sad what the mega development projects and tourism is doing to the natural habitat in the middle east. I'v seen turtles injured by boats for snorkeling, divers are not told how to treat marine life, and recently I saw dolphins covered with scars i'm guessing from propellers of boats. desert safari cars are turning the brown and red sand into black. Dubai and other middle east destinations have to start acting responsibly if they want this to last and make it a good experience.

Anonymous said...

Falafel sandwich is very popular in this part of the world.

Anonymous said...

Ooops...sorry..that was not for you!

nzm said...

Harsha & Paresh: Yes, we're back in Dubai for a few weeks again and loving the beach walks, but bloody hell it's cold!

Pandabonium: I once swam with a turtle at a marine sanctuary off Oahu - the name of which escapes me right now. It was an awesome experience, as have all my other encounters with turtles and marine life.

Lirun: my next post has a couple of pics for you! heh!

Wendy: Thanks! Without getting too big-headed, we much prefer picking up the glass and litter than picking up shells which we watch others do. We're giving something back for the pleasure that we get from walking the beach.

Shannon: thanks and welcome back from your vacation - your pics from around NZ are awesome!

Jin: you are wicked when it comes to poor old grandma - she's not that bad really! But I'm sure that if you asked them to take off their shoes, they could wade out further into deeper water to chuck her in! :-)

Kishor: we did notice that about Omani beaches - pristine. But then, you don't have the population, the construction nor the ship traffic that Dubai has to f**k things up - yet! I hope that Oman doesn't go the way of the UAE with the litter problem as it starts to develop.

Mise: welcome back, stranger! It may look warm, but Dubai is freaking cold at the moment given the temperature at other times of the year. We have to put on sweaters and socks to sit outside!

Sha: LOL - maybe J could be Crocodile Kraut? Sorry, couldn't resist that!!! That Cree saying is beautifully tragic and heartbreakingly truthful at the same time.

DReb: it's a very fine line that the UAE is to tread right now, and the sooner that they start to think about conservation, the better. I think that if he was still alive, Sheikh Zayed would be very concerned about what's going on now. I recently read somewhere that they're even turning off some of the irrigation to his greenification projects in Al Ain in an effort to conserve water. While I understand the need to conserve water, they're starting at the wrong point. No more fountains and less beautification that requires water around the highways and cities would be a good start.

Kishor: LOL!! Falafel is popular here too!! We also get them in Germany from our local Turkish kebab store!

Anonymous said...

Cold?! Lady it's -18C the other night.

Don't tell me Dubai is cold.

BuJ said...

welcome back!

Anonymous said...

You guys are awesome!