Georgia Sea Turtle Center

At the entrance

Over Labor Day weekend, the kids and I visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island.  The barrier islands of Georgia are a popular nesting spot for several different types of sea turtles.  The Georgia Sea Turtle Center patrols these nests, educates the public, and rehabilitates sick or injured turtles.  There are always a lot of activities going on at this center including day camps, beach clean-up efforts, and turtle walks (during nesting season).  I've been wanting to visit this place ever since it opened in 2007, but we've just never gotten around to it.  The trip was definitely worth the drive, and has left me wanting to smack myself for not having visited before.  I was just amazed by the great work being done here.

Stamping her bookmark

The visitor center is pretty small, but has neat and well-laid-out exhibits.  After paying a very reasonable entrance fee, we were all given bookmarks.  We took the bookmarks to different stations and used the stamp machines to fill in five blank spaces on our bookmarks.  These stamps told us what "fate" we would have if we were turtles.  Owen had the best luck of any of us- he was a male turtle who migrated to the Caribbean, had barnacles growing on him, and lived to be a sub-adult.  I had leeches and died as a juvenile- boo.  Another neat exhibit showed various items- like cans, rubber boots, glass bottles- and told us how long it would take these things to decompose in sea water.  I thought this was a very effective way to deter littering.

This little fellow was hanging out in a tank in the visitor's area.  He was the first turtle we saw, and he got the kids' attention fast.

 After learning all about sea turtles, we walked next door to the hospital.

In the hospital, large tanks on both sides of the room contained wounded or sick sea turtles.  In front of the tanks were little cards that told visitors the name of the turtle, why they were being treated, and detailed information about there treatment plan.  The most common reason for treatment were boat wounds and debilitation- although one turtle was there because it had been bitten a couple of times by a shark.  We hung out in the hospital for a little while so that we could hear the presentation given by one of the workers.  It was really very informative.
 

There was no shortage of turtles in the hospital.  Here were two of the loggerhead turtles- Tiburon and Shirley.  They were enormous.  Tiburon was the only full adult turtle present, and he weighed in the neighborhood of 150+lbs.  

 Tiburon was definitely a favorite.

 As we were walking back through the visitor's center to leave, some of the doctors brought Shirley into the examination room.  (There is a glass panel in the visitor's center so that you can see medical procedures being performed).  Someone was stationed on our side of the window to explain to us what was going on.  Shirley was getting her pre-release examination.

Carrying the turtles down to the beach

After our visit, we returned home where I raved about our trip to everyone and "liked" the Sea Turtle Center on Facebook.  Well, the very next day I see a notification on FB saying that they were going to release Shirley and Tiburon (the big one) on Friday afternoon.  So, the kids and I headed back to Jekyll on Friday afternoon for the release.  It was amazing.  There were so many people there, and everyone was cheering for these two turtles.

Waiting for the big moment

 Shirley was the first to be released.  Since there were so many spectators present, the staff walked her around a little so that all of the well-wishers could see her properly.  Once they started heading toward the water, we walked down to try and get a better look.  We had to take our shoes off and roll up our pants, but we had a pretty good view of the events.

There goes Shirley

 After Shirley was on her merry way, it was time for Tiburon to be released.

Tiburon seemed to struggle to get to the water more than Shirley- probably because he is so big.  When he finally made it, there were many cheers and whistles.

Seeing these turtles released was such a neat experience.  The kids and I are now enamored by sea turtles.  I am going to keep my ears open so that we can participate in future sea turtle programs.