On Wednesday June 3, 2009 education interns Nicki Pinnell and Liz Jeyes, and husbandry intern Justin Whisante went on their first turtle walk. The walk was led by April Herbert, a GSTC volunteer. We started off the evening with a 30 minute slideshow about the sea turtles of Georgia and their nesting process. We then hopped in our cars and headed to the beachdeck. We took an hour long beach ecology walk and learned about all kinds of sealife. On our walk off the beach we almost stumbled right over a nesting loggerhead sea turtle. She had crawled up the beach to the dunes and was digging her egg chamber. We stepped really far back away from the turtle and watched until turtle patrol arrived to check and see if she was tagged. When turtle patrol arrived we found out that this was a sea turtle that had nested on our beaches a couple weeks prior. When she began to lay her eggs, April took small groups of about 3 people up to watch the nesting process. It was the most amazing sight. Turtle patrol is permitted to take pictures of the nesting turtles for documentation by the Department of Naturtal Resources, so we snuck into a picture to show all of you how large she was.

Happy Turtling,
Liz, Nicki, and Justin
GSTC Interns

 Looking for some family fun this summer?

Join the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for

Arribada Adventures!

Arribada Adventures is a family program designed for turtle enthusiasts both young and old! These two hour programs will introduce you and your hatchlings to Georgia’s turtles! Become an expert turtler through hands-on activities, games, crafts, and outdoor exploration.

 Saturday Mornings, 9:00am -11:00am

Cost: $10* for each participant**

*GSTC Members receive an additional 10% off.
**Please note that price includes general admission to the GSTC.

June 20: Totally Terrapins – Get to know the Diamondback Terrapin up close and personal through a live animal presentation. Learn about the threats they face and participate in a release!

June 27: So YOU want to be a Sea Turtle – Sea turtles spend the majority of their lives in the ocean! How do they do it? Learn about the 5 species of sea turtles that visit Georgia’s coast and learn what makes them unique.

July 4: Nifty Nesters – Sea turtles are egg-cellent nesters. Become a momma sea turtle and learn all about the nesting process by playing a fun and interactive game on the beach. You’ll also learn how they do it by building your own edible nest!

July 11: Cracking the Crawl – Become a sea turtle detective and learn how to identify tracks in the sand and who they belong to. Sea turtles are not alone out there on the beach. Explore the beach environment and discover other critters who call the dunes home.

July 18: Turtles on the Move – Where in the world do sea turtles go? They begin their lives on the beach and then spend the majority of their lives in the ocean. Sea turtle biologists use a variety of methods to follow sea turtles as they migrate through the ocean. Learn about the different tags we use and how you too can follow sea turtles online!

July 25: It’s Tough Being a Sea Turtle – Discover the not-so-glamorous part of being a sea turtle and the difficulties they face. Through interactive role play and games, participants will simulate how humans contribute to the pollution of the marine environment.

August 1: Lend ‘em a Flipper – Learn how YOU too can help our fine, flippered friends by participating in a beach sweep and creating recycled sea turtle art.

August 8: Giving Sea Turtles a Chance – Come learn what the Georgia Sea Turtle Center is doing to help sea turtles. Participate in a mock sea turtle rescue and learn how we rehabilitate a turtle!

Space is limited and reservations are required. For registration and location information, please call (912) 635-4444

Hope to see you here,
Liz Jeyes
GSTC Education Intern

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is proud to present our first ever Sea Turtle Camp!  We are offering two sessions; a morning session for 6-9 year olds and an afternoon session for 10-12 year olds.  Each day is filled with games, crafts, educational programs, and of course, a yummy snack!  Our Campers will learn everything there is to know about sea turtle biology, conservation and the threats that they face through our interactive, 5 day camp.

Today our Campers received an Introduction to Sea Turtles, learning about the Amazing Adaptations that sea turtles have to survive in their ocean home, specifically the 5 species that are common to Georgia.  Read below to learn what our Campers learned today;

Morning Campers (Left to Right: McEver, Reilly, Jackson, Hanna, Ashley, Sydney, Faith

“I learned that the Kemp’s Ridley is the smallest.”  ~McEver

“The Leatherback is the largest in the world!”  ~Reilly

“I learned about the 5 types of sea turtles that come to Georgia.” ~Jackson

“I learned about sea turtles swallowing food.  They have little spines that hold the food, so they can spit the salt water back out!”  ~Hanna

“I learned that the top half of the shell is called the carapace and the bottom half is called the plastron.” ~Ashley

“Green sea turtles’ heads are little.  Hawksbills have a pretty shell on their backs.”  ~Sydney

“I learned that Leatherbacks eat jellyfish.”  ~Faith

Afternoon Campers (Left to Right: Juliana, Ciara, Colton, Alex, Brooke, Zoe, Emma, Jenna)

“I learned that Leatherbacks dive 4,000 feet in the water.  That’s why they have soft shells, so they won’t crack.”  ~Juliana

” I learned that there are 7 types of sea turtles found worldwide and 5 that live in Georgia.”  ~Ciera

“The Leatherback is the biggest turtle and dives the deepest.”  ~Colton

“Leatherbacks have a soft shell.”  ~Alex

“I learned about how many sea turtle species there are - 7!”  ~Brooke

“Epibiota means things on a turtle’s back.”  ~Emma

“I learned that the reason a Leatherback sea turtle has a soft shell is because they have to dive deep under water.  If their shell was hard, it would crack!”  ~Jenna

“That the stuff that lives on the back of a sea turtle is called Epibiota and it’s good for camouflage.”         ~Zoe

Stay tuned all week long to learn more from our Sea Turtle Campers!  I am particularly excited about Sea Turtle Camp, since I developed this curriculum for my Master’s Thesis at Duke University.  While it was originally created for the Caribbean region, this curriculum can be used anywhere!  I am thrilled that Sea Turtle Camp has come to Georgia and that it will help children became as passionate as I am about sea turtle conservation.

~Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator

Simone-BEFORE

Simone-AFTER

After almost a year being under the watchful eye of the GSTC, Simone and Duffy were given the all clear by Dr. Terry Norton to return home to the great blue sea.

Both turtles have made a miraculous recovery from when they first came in, it was hard to believe they were the same turtles from when they first came in, to their release.

Duffy-BEFORE

Duffy-AFTER

I personally remember when Simone came in, as I was on patrol, walking the south end when all of a sudden around 4:00am we heard someone calling turtle patrol on the radio. I was one of the three that night and we all had a confused look on our faces when we responded to the radio transmission as who would be calling us. It turned out to be Jeannie Miller letting us know she just picked up a turtle found on Little St. Simon’s Island, GA and wanted one of to go check on her before the vet staff arrived later in the morning.

I was the one to head into the Center around 5:00am, and sitting in one of the blue dry-dock tubs at the Center was this turtle (Simone) completely covered in barnacles, not moving except a breath every now and then. In under a year’s time she made a complete turn around to being one of the most energetic turtles, very beautiful, and with a unique personality.

SIMONE

It was great to see her take a few crawls back facing the crowed as to say good-bye and thanks before making a grand entrance into the sea (she actually created a small wake).

DUFFY

Duffy’s story is also an amazing one. She was captured on the Georgia Bulldog close to the same time as Simone. She had a huge hole in her rear right flipper (RRF) that Dr. Terry Norton could put two hands in very deeply and you could see the severed femur. With a lot of TLC and an experimental treatment packing the wound with honey and honey comb, Duffy made a miraculous recovery. When placing the transmitter on her, Terry took one last look at her wounds, where you could barely put a few fingers into the RRF and maybe about knuckle deep. Duffy also had her own unique personality who was always fun to treat

We at the GSTC wish them the best of luck in their new adventures and will miss them, but we are glad they are home.

Thank you to all those who helped out with the release, and for all those that were able to make it out to watch the turtles return home.

Sincerely,
Simon Dilts
Sea Turtle Patrol Intern 2009

We are the 2009 Sea Turtle Patrol Interns!!!

(Back Row L-R: Amanda Noble, John Lyons; Front Row L-R: Simon Dilts, Stefanie Ouellette, Norah Stevens-Kittner, Ashley Hill)

Hello Turtle Enthusiasts!
We are the 2009 Patrol Interns, and we would like to introduce ourselves to you. Each of us has written a brief paragraph about ourselves. The introductions are in order based on the dates of our arrivals. We are hoping you will envision meeting us in the order that we met each other.

4/1/09 Simon Dilts
I am what I am I am…a turtle patrol intern man (well more of a big kid) I was first introduced to the sea turtle world in the summer of 2000 and fell in love with it. It helped orient me to college where I received a B.S. in Organismal Biology from Adams State College in 2008. After I was done, I knew I wanted to work with turtles again, and was fortunate enough to land one of the Sea Turtle Patrol Internships with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center last summer. I loved it so much that I came back for another round this year. Chances are if you don’t see me on the beach (most likely covered in sand with a big smile on my face) you will see me in the rehabilitation pavilion at the Center helping the vet staff take care of some of our sea turtle patients, that you are welcome to come see your self! Check out the Center’s wonderful website to find out more!

4/30/09 Amanda Noble
I received a B.S. in psychobiology from the University of New England in 2008. I’ve spent the last year writing and editing my young adult fiction book, Entrance into the Sands Forest. My book debuts this summer, while I’m at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center learning to protect the beautiful and endangered sea turtles of the Atlantic. I intend on blogging often; so I would love to know what you, My Audience, wants to know about interning at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

5/1/09 Ashley Hill
I graduated from Florida Institute of Technology in May 2008 with a B. S. in Marine Biology. While in school, I performed several research projects on the beaches of Brevard County and in the Indian River Lagoon. I also volunteered with the Sea Turtle Preservation Society in Indialantic, Fl and was involved in Beta Beta Beta, the biological honor society. After graduation, I interned at the Smithsonian Institute working on the United States Antarctic Program’s website. I am excited to be living on a beautiful island while working with amazing sea turtles!

5/2/09 John Lyons
I recently completed my B. S. in Biology at Northeastern University, where I did fieldwork in Tahiti and California. I love diving, and discovered that I also love sea turtles while interning in the New England Aquarium’s Giant Ocean Tank! Aside from aquarium animals, I’ve also done husbandry work caring for a pharmaceutical company’s zebra fish colony. I’m really happy to be here doing work that could help sea turtles, and I hope that I’ll get some inspiration this summer for work that I can do as a graduate student.

5/12/09 Norah Stevens-Kittner
I recently graduated in May 2009 from Guilford College with a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Spanish. I first “encountered” sea turtles while studying abroad in Mexico, working mainly on a project tagging Green sea turtles and has loved them ever since. I am really excited to be here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center as a patrol intern and will definitely keep everyone posted on the crazy adventures here at Jekyll Island.

Thank you for spending some time with us today. Please, check the Georgia Sea Turtle Center website (http://www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org) for the blogs that we will be maintaining throughout the 2009 sea turtle nesting season.

Sincerely,
Flippin’ Awesome (the unofficial band name of the 2009 patrol interns)
THE 2009 PATROL INTERNS!

Please join me, Stefanie Ouellette, Marine Field Programs Coordinator and ‘leader of this pack’, in welcoming the 2009 Sea Turtle Patrol Interns!!

HAPPY TURTLING!!!!

After 7 VERY long days and nights, our six teachers have successfully completed the first session of the 2009 GSTC Teacher Workshop.  In addition to a day in husbandry, and a night with Turtle Patrol, all six participants presented an educational program to the public and led a Turtle Walk!  After our final Turtle Walk, I was under the impression they would go back to the hotel and relax, and then I received this;

“Teachers always have to have the last word and we would like our last one to be a big old THANKS! We all agree that we have been given the chance of a lifetime to work with some of the most special patients and we thank the GSTC staff for having the patience to work with us. In Georgia, we have all stumbled across logs, but imagine our excitement on our first turtle walk to stumble upon a nesting loggerhead who had never before been tagged. Our boys boasted that they would bring in a leatherback on their patrol and indeed they did! We saw our loggerhead on Saturday night and we spent the night with the very picky leatherback on Monday night. We were taught by a true teacher as we raced through the maritime forest with 4-H director, Richard Chewning. He renewed our spark with his energy and enthusiasm. Georgia Graves saved our thumbnails when we dug up the nifty little thumbsplitter and taught us piles about the ecology of barrier islands. The staff of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center shared their vast knowledge with us during our visit. As we migrate back to our own respective parts of Georgia, we will share our education with our own little hatchlings.

As teachers, we understand that scheduling, planning, and organization are vital for memorable educational experiences. We would like to thank Alicia for her time and effort to make this an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us.

To the upcoming July teacher turtle team in teal, we believe that records are made to be broken. We challenge you to work hard, sleep little, learn much, and above all, bring in those turtles! We hope you have a successful trip and hope you leave with as many wonderful memories as we have. Last but not least, we’d like to thank our fearless leaders (and yes, they were FEARLESS), Dr. Marti Schriver and Dr. Ken Clark for doing the legwork behind the grant that brought all of us here. If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, please make this one of your summer destinations. We promise it will be an experience you will never forget!”

Happy Turtling,

Amy, Elizabeth, Mark, Rob, Sandra, and Tracey

I speak on behalf of the entire GSTC Staff when I say, it was a pleasure working with each and every one of the.  They truly were a great group of individuals and we continue to look forward to working with them in the future.  Tracey and Rob came down today to assist with Nest Fest!  Thanks again guys for a great week!  Be sure to check back with us next month, when we offer the second session of the GSTC Teacher Workshop.

~Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator

This just in…we will be releasing a few sea turtles THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2009!! 

We had a few obstacles to overcome (getting transmitters in and permission from Florida to release turtles that came from there) but it has all worked out so we are planning the release.  This entire week we’ve been celebrating our 2 year anniversary and Nest Fest event.  The finale of Nest Fest week is on Saturday from 12pm-4pm at the Beachdeck (FREE!), which will end with the sea turtle release (please see our website www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org for more information about Nest Fest).  Here are the details of the release:

When: Saturday, June 13, 2009

Where: Beachdeck, Jekyll Island, GA

Time: 4:00 pm

Who: Duffy,  Simone, and Pumpkin (all loggerheads with a satellite transmitter attached to their carapace!)

DUFFY

PUMPKIN

SIMONE

*Please note that all releases are subject to change at any time (including day, time and/or location) and in the best interest of the turtle(s).  We will attempt to provide any new information or changes via this blog as they become available.  Currently 2 of the 3 turtles are not behaving quite normally after their treatments yesterday (satellite transmitter placement, flipper tags, PIT tag and final exam), but this tends to be a common reaction and typically resolves itself within a few days.  However, if any of the turtles are still not behaving normally by Saturday, those individuals will not be released as planned.

Hope to see you at the Beachdeck and at the release!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

Only one day left…looks like Mark and Rob have truly enjoyed their experience here at the GSTC.  Even if they did have to wear the color teal!

“Taking It Back Home”

As the heat and humidity roll in to the coastal area of Georgia so do the injured and sick turtles. Our next to last day here at the GSTC, we were provided an opportunity to view and participate behind the scenes in husbandry. The staff and volunteers were very gracious in lending their time to demonstrate the dedication that is put forth everyday toward educating the public and rehabilitating the patients. As more turtles are admitted into the center, the difficult task of assessing and providing each patient with the care needed falls on the professional staff of the husbandry. The goal of this department is to rehabilitate toward recovery that enables a turtle to resume a normal life in their natural environment.

Unfortunately, one the newly admitted patients passed away this morning due to injuries sustained on the causeway earlier this week. However, for this loss there was something gained; the staff was able to extract six terrapin eggs for incubation. From these eggs, hatchlings will emerge and will be given an opportunity to return to their natural habitat.

As we wrap of our final days we collaborated on how we could incorporate our experiences into the classroom back home. Each teacher takes with them ideas and concepts learned from the variety of resources found on Jekyll Island. These approaches provide endless activities that offer higher level thinking and enhanced learning for our students. Concepts such as classifying organisms, identifying tidal ranges, ecological relationships, oceanography, and adaptations are among the few to be brought back to the classroom. The partnership between GSTC and Georgia educators creates a shared opportunity to publicize the importance of conserving Coastal Georgia.

Thanks for having us!!!”

~Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coodinator

~Mark Weese and Rob Lindsey, GSTC Teacher Workshop Participants

As promised, here are a few photos of our leatherback from her first emergence & nest…

Step 1: Crawl up the beach and find a good spot

Step 2: Dig a chamber and lay your eggs

Step 3: Cover & camouflage your nest

Step 4: Head back to the sea

Step 5: Aahhh, refreshing ocean…now swim into open water

Hope you enjoyed a look at our Leatherback Lady!

Sincerely,

Stefanie Ouellette

Marine Field Programs Coordinator

The week is going by very quickly!  Read below to learn about Elizabeth and Sandra’s day in Husbandry:

“Awesome! The only word to describe the experiences that we encountered today while working in the hospital section of GSTC. The morning started off with the routine duties including temperature checks of the water and the cleaning of the tanks. We were actually assisting the hospital staff with the feeding procedures for each of the turtles. Can you imagine the feeling that was generated inside us as we saw the eyes of the turtles when their meal was presented? Oh but wait. You haven’t heard anything yet. The transmitters that are to be mounted on the turtles arrived yesterday, so today the hospital staff put one of the transmitters on the turtle called Pumpkin. They first gave her a general physical to make sure she was ready to be released. Blood was drawn for testing and some was given to two professors from Armstrong State University who were doing research on immunity markers in sea turtles.

Dr. Norton and his assistants began preparing Pumpkin’s shell for the application of the transmitter. Once her shell was ready, they used an epoxy glue to hold the transmitter on. The epoxy was applied all over the transmitter, not just the bottom, so it would hold on longer and the center would receive data for a longer period of time. With this transmitter, Pumpkin can be located any time she is above the water so the GSTC will know where her migration takes her and where she nests in the future.”

Happy Turtling,

Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator

Sandra L. Bailey, Ed.S Science Education, GSTC Teacher Workshop Participant

Elizabeth P. Toole, Ed.S. Science & Gifted Education, GSTC Teacher Workshop Participant