Hello Everyone,

For those that don’t know me my name is Simon Dilts and I was one of the Sea Turtle Patrol Interns this season with the GSTC from May to early September, and was gearing up to be the next husbandry intern until I received an email asking me to apply for a full time camera position with Wild Earth (a live web based wildlife tv station better know as WE) and was offered the job.

I have always loved working with wildlife and from an early age knew I wanted to do nature photography for a living and at the start was learning still photography. In the summer of 2000 there was a couple of firsts, I had my first sea turtle experience and picked up a video camera for the first time to film it. So my plans altered slightly after that to include being part of a camera crew for a nature show. I have had the opportunity to work with various wildlife and been in some beautiful places that I always wished I could share the experiences with others.

Now I can as WE is a live 24 hour tv station located in the Sabi Sands area of Kruger National Park in South Africa. To where we do 2 game drives a day, have different programs (including a chat where I am usually the one that does it), and the rest of the time have 2 cameras at a water hole on.
So now you can see exactly what I am up to and see some of the things I see half the world away.
http://www.wildearth.tv is the main site and there are links to all of the things we do here, where the WE social network is amazing and people post videos and pictures from the drives all the time. Also I am usually in the chat room talking away so you might catch me.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it to my new home safe and sound, and everything is going well with plenty of wildlife seen already (including leopards, elephants as you can see, cheetah etc).

Part of my heart still remains (and will always remain) at the GSTC as I truly love the center and all of those that work/volunteer there.

Sincerely,
Simon Dilts

Photos by: Top, Pieter Pretorius.
Nyala on the right, Simon Dilts

P.S. I also am interested in seeing how many of the staff read the blog as I posted this with out their knowledge Don’t worry I won’t do it again I just thought you might like a surprise from half way around the world.

“Hello,” from the GSTC Interns!

~Colleen Nissen, Teddy Ivey, Jenny Hederman (Education Interns) and Rachel Thomas (Husbandry Intern)

Here’s the latest news on our released turtles that have satellite transmitters and seaturtle.org updates you may have subscribed to….

DYLAN & JOEY: On seaturtle.org Dylan and Joey are listed under the same project: Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Georgia Aquarium Monitoring of Released Turtles. If you subscribed to receive updates on Dylan, you have probably noticed that you are now receiving updates on Joey too. Well, when you subscribed for updates, you actully subscribed to receive updates on ALL turtles listed under that Project. Joey was a turtle raised in captivity–similar to Dylan, just not kept as long. His most recent home was at the Georgia Aquarium. They decided it was time to release Joey, which they did on Sept 11, 2008. For more information on Joey, please visit the Georgia Aquarium’s website (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/) and seaturtle.org. Now, why are you no longer receiving updates on Dylan but are getting them for Joey? Joey is sending very good high-quality signals that relay accurate locations (and therefore plottable with confidence in accuracy). Dylan on the other hand, has not transmitted a high-quality plottable signal since 9/7, although she has been giving us a number of very low-quality signals all along, as recently as 9/16. These signals are just that, signals. They do not actually give us a location (in terms of GPS coordinates), they just tell us she is still there. Are you still with me? So after a certain period of time, if a turtle has not transmitted a high-quality signal, the mapping system inactivates that turtle & subsequent updates. It will become active again should the turtle start transmitting high-quality signals again. We’ve seen this happen in other turtles (i.e. Bevelyn), so it may still happen with Dylan! Please see previous BLOGS regarding more in-depth explanations about signals and how they can relate to behaviour.

BEVELYN, SPITFIRE & VIDA:
Bevelyn is back in the Gulf of Mexico. She has been transmitting very good signals for a while now! On her map, there is a point that appears to be inland Florida, please ignore this point, it is inaccurate–occasionally that type of error can occur.

Spitfire’s last plottable point was on 9/10. She is still there, just transmitting very low-quality signals, as recently as 9/17. She is another example of a turtle who stopped transmitting good signals for a while, but has popped back up!

Vida is doing well and continues to transmit very good signals. She is just of the coast of NE Florida, acting like a typically juvenile loggerhead of her size!

Thanks again for your support! If you are interested in adopting one of our eligible turtles (In-house or Released), please visit our website: www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center had the pleasure of hosting the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Sea Turtle Watch Camp (Henry Hall Program), August 4-8, 2008. This energetic group was eager to learn about sea turtle biology, conservation and the threats that they face, and the GSTC Staff was happy to share our facility and knowledge with the group. I just received some turtle-riffic pictures from the group and wanted to share them with you.

After a long day of travel, the group first enjoyed a Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the GSTC. This included a personalized Patient Update and a guided tour of the Treatment Room and the Commissary (where we prepare food and medicine for our patients). Shown left are some of the students showing off their highly fashionable footwear (hospital booties), required for our Behind-the-Scenes Tours.

The group also had the opportunity to attend both a night-time Turtle Walk and two early morning Hatchling Walks. As honorary Sea Turtle Researchers, they completed the Sea Turtle Nest Excavation Data Sheets as our Marine Field Programs Coordinator (Stefanie Ouellette)excavated a previously hatched sea turtle nest. One lucky straggler hatchling, whom the group affectionately named Touché (shown right), was discovered in the nest and later released into the ocean.

Before heading back to Baltimore, the Sea Turtle Watch Camp was able to assistant in a turtle release. Dusty (shown left) is a yellow-bellied slider, was a patient of ours for over a year! While at the GSTC her wounds healed successfully, and we were able to release here in a nearby pond right here on Jekyll Island.

This was the second year in a row that the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has collaborated with the National Aquarium in Baltimore for their Sea Turtle Watch Camp. Each year we have been able to add new and exciting activities for the group. A special thank you to Kathy Siegfried and the Sea Turtle Watch Camp Staff! We truly look forward to working with you again next year!

~Alicia B. Marin, Education Coordinator