A Trip to the Turtle Hospital

Day 274  |  Marathon    

A local diver came by this morning and changed the zincs on our bowthruster and keel cooler. I joined Terri (Change of Pace), Chris (Miss Utah), and about 25 other folks up at the pool for a water exercise class. I thoroughly enjoyed all the resistance exercises and wish I could stick around for more opportunities like this. At noon we took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car and on the way back to the marina, stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop for lunch. The taxi driver had highly recommended it, and we were very glad we took advantage of this local knowledge.

Roger, Chris, Phyllis, and Andy from Miss Utah joined us for a 2:00 tour of the Turtle Hospital. Barry shuttled everyone over in two trips. There are seven species of sea turtles in the world. This hospital works with the five found in the Florida Keys: Loggerhead, Green, Hawksbill, Leatherback, and Kemps Ridley. At least three turtle ambulances were spotted on the grounds, ready to rescue turtles in distress ... and then transport them back to the water when fully recovered.

All the turtles we saw have been rescued and are being rehabilitated with the goal of a return to the spot at which they were found. The primary reasons turtles end up in the hospital are entanglement with fishing line or nets, boat strikes, intestinal impactions (primarily from ingesting floating debris), and fibropapilloma turmors. The hospital sees up to 200 turtles per year and has released more than 2000 back to the wild. Our tour took us by multiple tanks where we could get up-close looks at dozens of residents.

At the end of the 90-minute tour we saw several very young turtles that could have fit in the palm of my hand. Hard to believe these little hatchlings can grow up to the size of a "small" 100-pound Kemps Ridley or an enormous 2000-pound Leatherback. As an added bonus, I spotted my first iguana hanging out on one of the canopies. We returned to the marina and had only a short wait for the sunset.

Tomorrow morning at 5:30 we head to Key West for a day-trip to the Dry Tortugas and then another day of exploring the town. I am not taking my laptop with me so the next two blog posts will be a bit delayed. I will post when we return to Crossroads on Thursday.