There are a couple of beaches, at this time of year, where a relaxed stroll in the dying light of day requires a particularly careful step. It's not the big Andaman waves washing up against the ridged sand, or the kids running around with kites in the sea breezes — it's the batch of baby leatherbacks scurrying across the path, heading for the surf and one chance in a thousand of making it to adulthood.

These days, baby turtles don't so often pop up from nests as get dropped off from the local marine preservation centre by truck. This slight alteration to the aesthetic of Mai Khao and Thai Muang beaches has two important benefits. For one thing, far more baby sea turtles are making it into that surf, where previously they were prey to poachers and other local wildlife, and — as visitors to Thai Muang have discovered — a sea turtle release makes a great excuse for a party.

Turtles have survived ice ages other earth-shattering calamities, but the emergence of humankind's insatiable hunger has proven too much for these docile giants. Listed as endangered since 1970, the unfortunate leatherback is victim to human predation of its eggs and flesh, as well as drowning in fishing nets. In more recent years, species numbers have been further depleted by chemical pollution of the oceans, and from their mistaking discarded plastic bags for a favourite meal — squid. Having treated the leatherback so poorly to date, it's nice to see that some of us are trying to do something about it.

This Songkran for instance, saw a major release of turtles at Mai Khao Beach, on the northern end of Phuket. Several protection projects are run by local villagers living along this 15-kilometre stretch of quiet beach, and many of these received a significant boost last year when the newly opened JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa (JWM) chipped in 2 million baht to help establish the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation.

The Foundation, which has a representative from WWF Thailand on its advisory board, helps raise funds and international awareness for the local leatherback defenders through such activities as the turtle fun run held the day after this year's release. JWM also makes sure its guests are informed about the plight of the leatherback, raising a significant amount for the foundation from guest donations.

The international company behind this resort has an unparalleled reputation for supporting eco-projects near the locations of its hotels, and it can only be hoped that the Phuket branch can be as successful as the company's Mexican resorts, which support projects that help bring 10,000 baby turtles back to the sea each year.

When a baby leatherback first scrabbles its way to the surface of its sandy nest, it instinctively heads towards the brightest horizon. To aid the little fellows make the right choice at the Thai Muang Beach release, held early each March, the Royal Thai Navy enlists the help of the local squidboat fleet. The squidboats line up a couple of hundred yards offshore and splay their long arms of powerful bulbs. Shortly after dark, and in a dazzling blaze of luminescence, the squid boats light up the shoreline, offering just enough encouragement to keep the hatchlings away from the bright-burning revelries onshore.

The Thai Muang release makes a great opportunity to see how Thai culture is approaching the challenges of eco-awareness. At first glance, the huge market of food and plastic wares, beer-tents and booby-prize stands, parades and speeches seems incongruous and excessive when marked against the fragility of its tiny reasons for being. However, the message behind the means more than helps make sense of it all. The celebrations at Thai Muang are the manifestation of the happiness invoked by this good fortune, making the message clear — protection is good; see what fun can be had saving a species.

While the festival whirls away in the background, down on the beach one last leatherback baby flaps its way towards the rising tide. Left to its own devices, this little fellow could out-live all of us and out-grow even the healthiest eater. The largest ever found was a 3-metre long male off the coast of Wales that weighed almost 900 kilogrammes. To get that far, this hatchling would need all the luck that saved his species from the dinosaurs and ice ages, but at least we can say we gave help him on his way.