Archive for June, 2010

We did it – we took the Family Giving Challenge and, quite literally, ran with it! $1,000 was raised from the Love A Sea Turtle 5k & Nature Walk and donated to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in the name of the “Love A Sea Turtle Family”. A plaque with our name will be in the new turtle hospital. Thank you to all who participated and contributed! Mrs. Beasley was very happy!

When I was at Topsail Island, I met someone who has the BEST job EVER! Her name is Kathleen and she started E.M.A. (Ecological Marine Adventures). She was so nice and allowed me to tag along for one of the adventures she offers on South Topsail Island, the Nightly Ghost Crab Hunt. Armed with flashlights, we set out with another family looking for these creatures of the dark. She taught me things I never knew about ghost crabs. I learned that ghost crabs have their own hole and know it by its distinct scent. I always thought they just skittered to the closest hole. It was fun chasing them around at night!

E.M.A. offers daily adventures, Monday-Saturday, from 9am-9:30pm. You will explore tidal pools, collect sharks teeth, sift through the sand, use seine nets and bucket scopes, collect specimens and learn about the importance of water and how animals thrive and survive in the ocean. Check out her website, www.ematopsail.webs.com and when in Topsail, make sure you schedule an adventure.

Oakie arrived at the Sea Turtle Hospital during my internship. The interns took special care to treat the wounds every day with direction from Jean Beasley.

This was the first turtle nest my grandfather has ever seen! Can you imagine the effort it took this mother turtle to crawl up the dune?

Coast-to-coast baking to raise money for the Gulf marine life affected by the oil spill. Host a neighborhood bake sale or encourage your favorite restaurant or bakery to participate. July 9, National Sugar Cookie Day, is the official kick-off and we’re baking through the month of July. Check out the Great Bake For Oceans’ Sake for more information. Bake sale proceeds will go to the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies – www.imms.org.

Village Point Market has been baking turtle-shaped sugar cookies and donating proceeds to the Sea Turtle Hospital. The cookies were available for Earth Day and World Oceans Day. They’re ready to offer them again as the cookies have been very popular.

Once our turtles have been rehabilitated, passed their physicals, been tagged and are ready to re-enter their world, there’s pretty much nothing that will stand in the way. Last Wednesday, the rain came down in sheets, the wind blew every which way but up and the thunder and lightning were downright scary. But hospital volunteers and invited guests stood their ground for almost three hours, huddled together under a big tent waiting for a break in the action. And meanwhile, just inside our gate our smaller turtles were planning their early escape as their homes filled almost to the brim with rainwater. Good thing we caught sight of those little flippers breaching the edges of the tanks or they would have “self-released” into the sound before we knew what happened! Actually, they would have gotten only as far as our fence before piling up in frustration.

On the bright side, the storm gave us a chance to mingle (if you call turning around in circles mingling) with people we don’t get to see too often. We had a slew of interns who made it in from the hinterlands, with representatives from every year from 2001 to our current crop of 2010 interns. Turtle adoptive parents (from our Adopt a Sea Turtle program) were invited and many came to say goodbye to their “kid.” Key players in our new hospital (Baldwin Construction, Cavanaugh & Associates and the Sullivan family) were there to remark on how next year will be a new chapter in our lives. The rest of the crowd including hospital and beach volunteers (many from other turtle projects up and down the coast), long-time hospital supporters, TV and print media and a crew of super duty turtle transporters, the big guys who don’t mind getting bruised and bloodied by flippers as they carry really, really excited turtles to the surf. And if that doesn’t sound crazy enough, we also had the large cast and crew from the TV show “Aquakids” filming the event. They spent most of the previous day with us, following and interviewing our hospital volunteers while they worked. (The material they filmed will be edited together for a half-hour special on our hospital. You can Google® “Aquakids” to find out more about the show.)

Finally, a little after 2 p.m., Mother Nature shut off the waterworks long enough for us to load up the sixteen turtles (eleven Loggerheads, four Greens and one Kemp’s) that were headed home. Because most of the school kids scheduled to attend either never made it or had to head back to school to meet their buses, we weren’t sure what to expect. We were surprised to see that several hundred brave souls stuck it out, no doubt entertained by nesting and hatching stories from our Topsail Turtle Project beach walkers who do a great job with crowd control during our releases.

With the skies still threatening, we kicked it into high gear while Mama Jean stood center sand and directed the action. The Loggerheads went first, with our big girl “Bogue” bringing up the rear. They didn’t need to be reminded what to do when they hit the water – they all shot through the waves and were quickly out of sight. Next, the babies (Greens and the Kemp’s) were carried down the sides, all the while waving to the crowds with their flippers while keeping focused on the prize — home. Those little critters are like rockets in the water and became blurs as they headed for parts unknown.

With “the kids” gone, we quickly returned to the hospital where twenty-five patients in need of our special rehab skills were waiting for us. There will probably be more by the time you read this. Did I ever mention that our new hospital couldn’t be built fast enough?

The Turtle Hospital is OPEN!!

Some of “the kids” may have left the building, but there’s plenty to see when you visit us from now through the end of August. We are open daily (EXCEPT Wednesday and Sunday) from 2 to 4 p.m., weather permitting. In addition to getting an up close look at some of our patients, including our resident Kemp’s “Ambassador Lennie,” you can outfit your family and friends in the exclusive turtle hospital T-shirts and accessories found in our gift shop.

We especially need funding for our new $1.2 million building and we also need your financial support to keep our current facility open. Although admission is free, a suggested minimum donation of $2 per person is greatly appreciated. We see a lot of $20 bills in our donation jar, and once you meet our patients and see the way we put your money to work, we’re betting you will do whatever is possible to make sure we can continue.

The lines can be long so come wearing sunscreen and bring an umbrella if you’re not used to our sunny Carolina skies. This will be our last summer in our current location (behind the water tower in Topsail Beach.)

Topsail Turtle Project

Our beach walkers finally have reason to celebrate — those lovely Loggerhead ladies have come bearing eggs! You can check the daily tally on our website: www.seaturtlehospital.org. Even if you don’t have “the shirt”, you can still help us in our efforts to keep Topsail Island a paradise not only for people, but also for our precious sea turtles. Keep your eyes peeled for any and all turtle activity, including nestings and/or strandings. Point of contact is Terry Meyer, our Director of Beach Operations, at 910-470-2880.

What’s with the oil?

For right now, we’re all waiting to see just where this oil is going and how this catastrophe will impact our rapidly dwindling number of sea turtles. We’re on stand-by, and we may need your help in transporting turtles, if and when we get the call. Stay tuned.

Questions/Comments?

Contact me at: [email protected] with questions or comments. For an application to become a hospital volunteer or to be added to our future e-newsletter, contact me at: [email protected].

Karen Sota is the volunteer media coordinator for the Sea Turtle Hospital in Topsail Beach.