I have a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Clemson University and a M.S. in Biology from Florida Atlantic University. I have been interested in turtles as long as I can remember, and I have been fortunate enough to work with them for several years. I assisted with research projects involving freshwater turtles as an undergraduate, and I participated in Mote Marine Laboratorys Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Internship in the summer of 2006. In graduate school, I studied swimming stability in green and loggerhead sea turtles. I also volunteered at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Juno Beach and had the opportunity to encounter leatherbacks while living in South Florida. I look forward to working at the GSTC and helping Georgia sea turtles.

Please join me in welcoming Erin to the Team!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

The race began with an email, sent by family friend, Linsey Pilon, to my mother, Diane Noble. This is an extremely elaborated version:

Cold New England turtles are heading to warm Georgia! Two loggerheads, one green, and seven Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are going to be driven non-stop to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island.

Five of the ten turtles’ journeys began at the University of New England’s Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center (MARC) in Biddeford, Maine. All five turtles were treated for cold-stunning, or hypothermia.*

Who were these fabulous five cold-stunned sea turtles? They were Denahi, Chiquita, Forest, Yoshi, and Petunia. All were originally washed ashore somewhere in Massachusetts (locations range), taken to the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA, and further transported to Biddeford, ME.

After their, “few month’s vacation from their wild lives” (rehabilitation), the turtles were brought back to the New England Aquarium. Why? They needed to pick up a few friends on their way to Jekyll Island, Georgia!

Route's release

Nine of the ten New England rehabilitated turtles were released on April 29^th, 2009. Route, a Kemps Ridley sea turtle, was not releasable at the time, but later released on May 30^th, 2009. For more information on Route, visit http://georgiaseaturtlecenter.org/our-patients/

Are you wondering why I turned my trip to Jekyll Island into a race with the turtles? I had been receiving email updates from Conservation International and National Geographic’ “The Great Turtle Race!” The satellite tagged leatherback sea turtles were tracked along their migration routes. When a turtle surfaced, the satellite transmitter on its back would send a signal to the satellite, and the turtle’s spokesperson would write a brief blurb about that particular turtle’s journey.

I was very excited to hear about the New England turtles’ trip to Jekyll Island because the excitement of The Great Turtle Race was still fresh for me. During my lengthy car ride, I thought about the turtles. How stressed would they be in the back of rescue vans? Were they as cramped as I was? Did they have any idea they were going to the free within 24 hours of arrival?

Another slice of my anxiety cake was that the turtles were coming from my hometown and my alma mater! It suddenly seemed like Jekyll Island, GA was the place to be. Even the turtles knew that! (My apologies for my anthropomorphisms.) Now that I am here on Jekyll Island, I understand why the turtles were sent here to flourish. The ocean is simply full of life! If I were a turtle, I would go where the food and the good accommodations (rock crevices) are. Wouldn’t you?

That completes my story of the race from New England to Georgia. I will have you know that the turtles arrived first and were released before I got to meet any of them, with the exception of Route. I suppose none of the cold stunned five wanted to share snowstorm stories, anyway.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Amanda Noble,

GSTC Sea Turtle Patrol Intern 2009

Have comments? Want to suggest a topic to me? Email me at amandanoble@me.com or add a comment to this BLOG. I will try to satisfy your requests for information by writing at http://georgiaseaturtlecenter.org/blog.

*Remember, turtles are reptiles. Their body temperatures are in direct correlation to their environments. If a strong current carries them too far north, they will be unable to keep themselves warm. Cold-stunning is exactly what it sounds like: the shutting down of the bodily functions due to extreme cold temperatures.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center welcomed two new education interns in early June of 2009. Nicki Pinnell and Stephanie Chong will be joining returning education intern, Liz Jeyes.

Hi everyone! My name is Stephanie and I am from Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2008, I completed my B.Sc.H. in environmental science & geography at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Despite the stereotype, I think I have only been caught saying “eh” once. In September, I returned to Science World in Vancouver, working in education and outreach. I needed a new adventure and so I will be here for the next four months as an education intern. I’m excited to be learning tons about sea turtles and living on Jekyll!

Hello! My name is Liz and I am a junior at Penn State University. I am studying Elementary Education and have taken many classes in environmental education. I developed a love of teaching about animals while volunteering at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center in State College, Pennsylvania. I have been working at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for the past 5 months and have grown to love sea turtles and their conservation. I hope to share my passion with guests to the center.

Hello all! My name is Nicki Pinnell, and I’m from Braselton, Georgia. I am currently two semesters away from completing my bachelor’s of science majoring in Wildlife at the University of Georgia. I’ve always had two passions in life, children and animals. Interning at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has brought those passions together. I hope to learn how to be an effective educator and an influential spokesperson for the conservation of endangered species

In 2008, The Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) embarked on a mission. In an effort to prevent excess waste, keep our soils & oceans healthy, and get kids involved in and benefit from the process, Scute’s Scribblers were born!

Scute’s Scribblers is a crayon recycling program initiated by the GSTC’s Education Department. Just one year ago in April, we put out a call to schools far and wide to start collecting their old, worn and broken crayons. What a response we received! Teachers and students alike from elementary, middle and high schools, stationed boxes in front offices, classrooms and lunchrooms to collect the crayon cast-offs. Initially, 80 pounds of crayons were gathered and made ready for a new life.

The pounds of donated crayons were peeled, melted to molten wax and reshaped into unique sea turtle shaped crayons!  From there, crayons were packaged & labeled. Using compostable cellulose bags and recycled labels, crayons were packed individually and in 5-packs to be featured as a donation purchase in the GSTC gift shop. Proceeds from crayon donations are deposited into a special account, dubbed Scute’s Scholarship Fund, which provides tuition for students to experience a GSTC field trip that they otherwise could not afford.

One particularly zealous student, 9-year-old Lorin Crair, struck out on her own mission to collect as many crayons as possible. Lorin, only 1 of 1350 students at Sabal Palm Elementary School in Jacksonville, FL, began collecting crayons in January mid-way through her third grade year. She designed and created ‘turtle pots,’ crayon collecting buckets which she placed in individual classrooms. At the recent Nest Fest event on Jekyll Island, Lorin, along with her parents, delivered the 88.2 pounds of crayons collected in only 6 short months. Lorin has no thoughts of stopping there! She recently placed a turtle pot at a local Italian restaurant that provides crayons to entertain waiting customers. Her goal is to collect over 100 pounds for the 2009-2010 school year. As a thank you to Lorin for her hard work, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff presented her with a plush Scute, the sea turtle mascot for whom the crayons are named and a Scute’s Scribbler in her favorite color, blue.

In the three months since Scute’s Scribblers debuted in the Gift Shop, Scute’s Scholarship Fund has received donations for over 370 crayons. We’re having a tough time keeping up with the demand! The good news is that two groups of students have already benefited from the program. Special needs students from Needwood Middle School in Brunswick, GA, had the opportunity to visit the Center where they saw Scute’s Ocean Adventure puppet show and visited with the sea turtle patients. A second group of ‘Young Women in Science’ from the Brunswick YMCA participated in Sea Turtle Rescue 911, a critical thinking program for high school students. They also had the opportunity to see women working in the science field ‘in action’ - Educators at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

With such an influx of crayons and so few staff, we recruited a little help! Yesterday, the Elderhostel’s Intergenerational Camp, a summer programs for grandparents & their grandkids, participated in a crayon peeling marathon. For one hour, 18 adults & 13 children sliced, peeled and sorted crayons in record time. Over 25 pounds of castoff crayons are now ready for the next phase of their recycled life.

Do you have crayons you’d like to donate to the Center’s efforts? Send your PEELED crayons to :

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center

214 Stable Road

Jekyll Island, GA 31527

Attention: Education Department

~Kelly O’Keefe, Educator

“We are big fans of the sea turtles and have enjoyed learning about them over the past year. My daughter’s 4th grade class did a 9-week unit on the environment ,and as part of that I helped with a sea turtle project for them. We learned all about sea turtles, made our own eggs and turtles from clay, and made some great posters and pictures about them. We adopted Griffin for the class, and they all loved the updates and pictures of him. At the end of the year, they did an exhibit on sea turtles and talked with all the parents about what they learned. As part of a recycling project, they also collected 3 big containers of crayons to donate to the Sea Turtle Center after they saw the crayon project on your blog.  I am enclosing a few pictures of their efforts so you can see how you’ve inspired a bunch of 4th graders in Chattanooga, TN to make a difference to the sea turtles.”

You can image how proud we were to hear about the different ways this class learning about and helping sea turtles. It’s great to have such amazing support from all over the country and from people of all ages!

THANK YOU TO THIS 4TH GRADE CLASS FROM CHATTANOOGA, TN AND THE FAMILY THAT SHARED THIS WONDERFUL STORY WITH US!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

June 16 marked the 2 year anniversary of the Georgia Sea Turtle Centers grand opening!   This year, we celebrated in true sea turtle style with a week of fun filled activities!  All events were filled to capacity and we were bursting at the seams with guests ready to celebrate with us! Monday evening at the Center, Director and Veterinarian Dr. Terry Norton gave an update on the Centers progress the last 2 years and where we hope to go from here. Tuesdays Birds & Bees chat with Lydia Thompson and Jim Gertis was a huge success! Guests peeked into the nests of 2 not-very-well-known creatures: the honey bee and the Wilsons Plover.  Movie-goers at Wednesdays Finding Nemo were not only treated to a big-screen hit, but freshly popped popcorn to munch on during the flick. The thought of helping keep our beach clean and an ice cream treat drew a crowd for Thursday mornings Beachsweep. And who could resist our fun-loving mascot, Scute the Loggerhead Sea Turtle? A visit from Scute delighted the young and young-at-heart at an early morning breakfast served on the Center lawn. Scutes visit was followed by a tour of the Center-in our pajamas!  

Despite scorching temperatures, we guesstimated over 1000 visitors joined us for the Saturday finale party at the Beachdeck. Festival-goers were invited to partake in a number of activities on the upper deck. This year, we had the pleasure of hosting Naturalist Georgia Graves, Birding Enthusiast Brad Winn, our friends at Tidelands/4-H & the Coastal ARK- all with so much to share! Don’t know much about nesting on Jekyll Island? If you had the chance to check out the goings-on, consider yourself an expert!

Sea turtles & Diamondback Terrapins, sharks & snakes, the gopher tortoise & other burrow-dwelling animals, American Oystercatchers & Red Knots, horseshoe crabs & even live beach critters were all featured as part of the educational exhibits. It looks like children of ALL ages participated in the fun!

The lower deck gave way to an impromptu dance party with Island Sounds DJ, Justin. Three go-rounds of the Kid’s Turtle Crawl obstacle course throughout the day called to beach athletes itching for a little fun competition. And a festival would not be a festival without a feast! Teddy gave the grillside fare a thumbs up!

We topped off the day with the successful release of Simone & Duffy, two rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle patients that arrived at the Center just a month apart. After almost one full year in the hospital recovering from illness & injury, the two were returned to their ocean home. Track their ocean adventures at www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org.

A huge thanks to our tireless volunteers & staff, the Jekyll Island Authority and YOU! Thanks for making this event possible!

~ Kelly OKeefe, Educator

As of July 1, 2009 the exciting and informative behind the scenes tours at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center will be only $20!  Children ages 10-12 will be just $15!  This includes admission into the center!  That means that for just an extra $14 you can come into our treatment room and see all of the unique equipment we use to help sick and injured sea turtles.  You will also have the opportunity to venture into our commissary and see just how we take care of our patients.  We will be offering these special tours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.**  For more information please give us a call at 912-635-4444.

**All dates and times are subject to change due to treatments or special events.  Please call ahead for reservations.  Individuals must be over the age of 10 to participate in these tours.

Want a chance to possibly see a nesting turtle?  Signed up for one of our Turtle Walks today!  Space is limit so don’t miss out…call for your reservation today: 912-635-4444!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

And then it was time for Sea Turtle Camp Graduation.  Each morning Camper created a picture of their most favorite activity at Sea Turtle Camp and presented it to their parents.   Our afternoon Campers chose their favorite sea turtle and discussed some important facts about them to their parents.  Each Camper was presented with a Camp Competition Certificate, a GSTC bracelet and a pledge card to vote for their Patient of the Year!

Read below to learn ways that people can help sea turtles from our Campers:

Morning Campers

“You can help sea turtles by slowing down when you go on a boat.”  ~McEver

“You can help by calling the Georgia Sea Turtle Center when you see a hurt or sick turtle.”  ~Sydney

“Shrimp nets should have a T.E.D. (turtle excluder device)!”  ~Reilly

“I can help sea turtles by picking up trash.”  ~Ashley

“I learned that we can take sick sea turtles to the turtle hospital.”  ~ Faith

“Instead of using J hooks, we can use circle hooks.”  ~Jackson

“We need to help turtles feel well by taking them to the hospital.”  ~Hanna

Afternoon Campers

“We can throw away our trash.”  ~Ciera

“You can help sea turtles by trying not to liter, donate money to sea turtle centers or to just learn more about them.”  ~ Jenna

“Help sea turtles by taking them to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center or move them across the road if they are a land turtle.”  ~Zoe

“We can help turtles by recycling and using bigger bottles rather than smaller bottles (reducing our waste).”  ~Juliana

“You can help by keeping your environment clean.”  ~Brooke

“Pick up the trash!”  ~Alex

“Use circle hooks, and check nets and fishing lines often.”  ~Colton

Today, our Sea Turtle Campers learned that they most important way to help sea turtles is through education.  These 15 Campers became sea turtle experts this week!  It is incredible the amount of scientific information they have retained.  Their duty after Sea Turtle Camp, is to continue spreading the word about sea turtle conservation to their friends and family.  Campers have also been invited to become Sea Turtle Pen Pals with a group of Campers from Pro Peninsula’s Sea Turtle Camp, in San Diego, California!

The GSTC Education Staff would like to thank Campers and parents alike, for participating in the first annual Sea Turtle Camp.  This was our first year hosting Sea Turtle Camp, and thanks to its success we plan on hosting additional weeks of Camp next year!

Congratulations Sea Turtle Campers, and thank you!

I would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to the GSTC Education Staff (Kelly O’Keefe, Teddy Ivey, Liz Jeyes, Nicki Pinnell, Steph Chong) and to former GSTC Education Interns Maura Brown and Whitney Groth.  They came back just for this week to help with Camp!  Thanks for making Sea Turtle Camp a success!

~Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator

Caretta...

...Hope

Our morning Campers decided on “Caretta,” the latin name for the Loggerhead sea turtle, and our new patient is a Loggerhead.  And the afternoon Campers decided on “Hope” because they are hopeful that even with only 2 flippers (she is missing both of her rear flippers) that she will have a successful rehabilitation here at the GSTC.  Put them together and what do you get?  Caretta Hope!

On our 4th day of Sea Turtle Camp, we focused on the human-associated threats that sea turtles face.  We learned about marine debris through our interactive game, Garbage in the Water.  Campers also became human board game pieces as we played the Sea Turtle Survivor Game on a giant, outside gameboard!  And no day is complete without a craft; Campers made reusable canvas bags, decorated with the Sea Turtle Prints they created by using recycled styrofoam trays!  Look how creative these Campers are!

Morning Campers

Sea Turtle Survivor (game)

“I learned that some of the reasons that the sea turtle are in the hospital are because of people.”  ~Sydney

“Sharks can hurt sea turtles!”  ~ Faith

“I like the Sea Turtle Survivor game!” ~Hanna

“I learned that it is easier to prevent polution, then to clean it up.”  ~McEver

“Polluting the water is bad!”  ~Jackson

“My favorite thing was when we played the Garbage in the Water game.”  ~Ashley

“You should not pollute!  ~Reilly

Afternoon Campers

Zoe shows off her reusable bag!

“I learned that things that are made from plants, break down faster.”  ~Zoe

“I learned that accretion is when sand bulds up somewhere - it is the opposite of erosion.”  ~Emma

“I learned what humans can do to help turtles, like turtle friendly lighting.”  ~Brooke

“I learned that when humans throw plastic bags in the ocean other turtles mistake it to be jellyfish!”  ~Ciera

“Boats are a major threat to turtles.”  ~Colton

Alex chose Cohen for his Turtle Print

“I learned that erosion can harm turtles.”  ~Juliana

“I learned that the main threat to sea turtles are actually humans!”  ~Jenna

“The white spots on an orca whale that look like eyes, aren’t really their eyes!”  ~Alex

Only one day left of Sea Turtle Camp!  Tomorrow we wrap up the week by discussing how people can help sea turtles.  More games, crafts and fun to come!

~Alicia Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator