The Turtle In The Whitsundays

• Natalie Stuchbree
• Short Story
• 2019

The Turtle in the Whitsundays

On a hot, sunny day at the beach there was a sea turtle pushing its way up the sand with its big, wet flippers. The sea turtle traveled slowly on the sand and stopped before it went on the grass. It dug a hole then laid some eggs. The turtle buried the eggs with sand. Forty-five days later, some of the eggs hatched. Baby turtles came out. All of them went to the water except one; that turtle was picked up by a man. The baby turtle screamed. He called her Sheila then carried her to the water.
But then a sea eagle snatched Sheila and started flying ever where celebrating! The man who was putting Sheila in the water started scaring the sea eagle. He jumped up and down, waving his arms. Then the sea eagle dropped Sheila in the middle of the beach! Sheila was screaming even more than before!
AHHHHHHHHHH!
The man caught Sheila as she was dropped from the sky, and then placed her carefully in the water. Sheila swam away in relief. She swam away fast leaving a trail of bubbles. She was so exhausted by the time she caught up with her brothers and sisters, but she still managed to tell them all about her experience.
Some years later, Sheila pushed through the sand with her flipper, up to the top of the beach like her mother. She dug a hole then laid some eggs before she buried them under the sand. Forty-five days later they hatched. They all went down to the water except one, she was just sitting there enjoying the peace and quiet until a man stood next to her. It was exactly the same man who had helped Sheila all those years before. He knelt down and said, “You’re a beauty.I’ll name you Shaneal.”
Then Shaneal slid and slipped down the sand, into the water and swam away.