There we rented a convertible(our 1st) and drove the countryside looking for shells, beaches, and sea turtles. We had so much fun, and the scenery was beautiful.
Our hotel room was on the beach and our view of the Atlantic Ocean was awesome. We walked on the beach every day, waded in the ocean as well, met face to face with a sting ray, and were impressed with all the markers they had for sea turtle nests.
We thought it would be funny if we brought back some real flamingoes for our friends to put in their yards....no more plastic ones!
We got to see alot of sea turtles. I wanted to see some hatchlings and especially was hoping to see a leatherback sea turtle. They are so cool. David and I were able to see many rescued loggerhead hatchlings...and...we saw rescued leatherbacks. They were in tubs about 30 feet from us and it was hard to photograph them, but I did manage to get a picture, although alittle fuzzy. They grow up into huge, huge turtles. Around 700 lbs. They will eat their weight in jelly fish every day. Their skin is softer than the hard back turtles which helps them to beable to dive deeper than their cousins.
Leatherbacks can be hard keepers. In the picture, you may be able to see that there is something stuck on the turtle's back. The turtle is attached to a "halter" with a "rope" attached. This gives the turtle a certain amount of distance to swim. He is not allowed to swim to the side of the tank because he would run into it over and over again and hurt himself.
I call the loggerheads in the following picture, the three muskateers. These turtles are 3 years old. One has a blue spot on him which means he is a boy...one has a pink spot on her which means she is a girl...the facility didn't know what sex the third turtle was.
One of the most impressive educational exhibits we saw were the sea turtles who had been injured by man made machines.
As a person, it hurt to see the damage that had been done to these beautiful creatures. As a nurse, I was alittle frustrated at what they are able to do for the turtles who get injured by motorboats as compared what they can do for the human being. I understand that it is costly to make prosthesis and to perform nerve regeneration surgeries, but it makes sense to me that we should repair the damage we do to these sweet natured sea turtles who are under our care.
This gentle creature was damaged by a boat engine. His injury is the whitish area on the left side of his back towards his tail. He can not float because of this injury and will never get to live in the oceans again. It's the work of many volunteers and contributions that make it possible for injured to have some quality of life.
We saw loggerhead hatchlings that had been rescued by neighborhood folks. I am glad that they took the time out of their busy lives to bring the little ones who get lost to the center so they can have a second chance.
These hatchlings will get a ride on the next boat that can take them to "seaweed lane" where they will feed for a while and the go about their journey in the ocean.
Naturally, being away from home we had to eat out. We found a few places that were really pleasant to eat at. However, our trip would not be complete without a date night out on the town. We dressed up in our nice threads and went out to eat to a nice restaurant not too far from our hotel. David was not required to wear a dress coat. He volunteered to wear the tie. I'm not really sure what getting all dressed up has to do with any of it because what really counts is that you enjoy the company you are with.
As you can see below, David looked handsome in his brown suit, and Robin was cute in her green dress.
(Just kidding...we didn't become turtles!! These are two of the statues outside of the center of one of the turtle exhibits.)
1 comment:
Are those last two pictures of turtles real? They look fake or are they real. I am confussed. Fun stuff about the turtles. I really like the pic of dad in the car- looks good "on him" :). I am glad yall planned a vacation together.
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