Day 7, Part Two: The Seaturtle Hospital 🐢🏥

After our lunch at Sombrero Beach we were lucky enough to get an earlier tour of the Turtle Hospital! We stepped inside the mint green gift shop and discovered authentic replicas of sea turtle shells on the wall. (With accurate sizes! They can be huge!) A seaturtle skeleton was encased next to some information about sea turtles. A TV showed a looped video about the history of the hospital. There were jewelry, hats, t-shirts, pins, keychains and more of seaturtles and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles :)

Our Tour Guide Karl was very informed and funny. He showed us a brief presentation about the different species of seaturtles, one that's been saved by the Hospital, and how they can be harmed in the ocean. Some turtles get strange tumors on their bodies from pollution. Others injure a fin from boats or develop Bubble Butt Syndrome, where a boat injuries their shell and pent up air develops under the shell. Turtles with Bubble Butt syndrome can never survive in the wild, so they stay at the Hospital and receive excellent care for the rest of their lives. The Hospital abides by the three R's: Rescue, Rehab, Release.

We saw the surgical room where a stuffed turtle lay on the operating table, meant to be something familiar to the turtles who need surgery. We went out back and saw iguanas nearby, and several tanks that seaturtles were living in. Some of them had their name written on their shell: Crush, Sally, Larry, Mac, Cheese, Rocky, Popcorn, Reagan and so many more cute names. Some were adults and some were juveniles... we saw one little baby! Some of the turtles were sensitive and didn't like looking at humans so parts of their tanks were covered. Some turtles were very sleepy and stayed beneath the surface. Others were quite playful and splashed the water with their fins. Most of them did poke their heads out of the water sometimes!

We made our way out to a huge pool that various fish and seaturtles were living in. We had the opportunity to feed the turtles. It was so sweet! The turtles were happy and all moving around trying to get as much food as possible. I loved observing how they expelled water out of their noses when they came up to the surface. 

The Turtle Hospital was a great place and it was a relief to see such vulnerable creatures happy and being provided great care. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last moments in paradise

Image
We started the morning by waking up at a harsh 3:30 a.m.. We left around 4 to began our short ten minute ride to the airport. We returned our rental car once we arrived at the airport and traveled to the bag check and security. After waiting about an hour we began boarding at 5:30.     After a short taxi to the runway, we departed from Tampa at exactly 6:26. While we were in the air we got to watch the beautiful sunrise from the East. Overall the flight was good, very low turbulence if any. We began our initial decent at 7:57 and landed at 8:20. Sad to see this field trip end. I just want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Park for making this an experience we will all remember for the rest of our life. I am also so grateful for all the memories with these amazing girls. ​ By: Hanna Surfus
Read more

February 25, 2023: Arrival in Florida!

Image
​Our first day in Florida was a success! We had a wonderful flight from Indianapolis to Tampa, and then enjoyed lunch at Chick-fil-A. We were all able to register for TSA pre check, which made a much easier experience of getting through the airport without stress.  Three members of our group had never flown before, but it was a great first-time experience for them, as our flight went smoothly. We arrived in Tampa around 11:30, so we were able to get a great start on our day from there! Then, we traveled north to Honeymoon Island for a beach day! We were able to appreciate the 86 degree weather, cool off by swimming in the ocean, and scavenge for interesting shells along the shoreline. We found many of those, as well as sand dollars and coral! After leaving the beach, we drove to Crystal River and checked in to our hotel before going out to dinner at Peck’s Old Port Cove. There, we ate lots of seafood.  It is safe to say that this was the perfect start to our field trip, and we...
Read more

Day Six: Classroom

Image
​Today we went into the classroom and learned about different types of coral diseases and what can make coral sick. We completed a few fun activities to visualize what is happening to the coral reefs. We learned all about carbon dioxide’s effect on the ocean and it’s magnificent creatures. The first activity that we completed was the quadratic analysis of bleached coral populations. We learned all about global warmings effect on the coral. Increased temperatures of the ocean make the zooxanthellae (algae) leave the coral. The zooxanthellae give the coral it’s stunning color. When it exits the coral, the coral then appears to be bleached. For the quadratic analysis we were given a picture of a coral reef and then a five by five grid to place over the picture. We then had to figure out which coral colony is bleached or in the process of bleaching. We also learned that the increased carbon dioxide increases the acidity of ocean water. This is because the ocean absorbs 1/3 of the carbon di...
Read more