South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtles Join the Sea Turtle Trek for Florida Release!

Sea Turtle Trek

The 6 SUVs pulling into the gas station one behind the other, looked like the Secret Service. But instead of men in suits getting out of the vehicles, a bunch of road weary yet jolly sea turtle biologists and volunteers piled out. The crew of 12 from the New England Aquarium and National Aquarium started the trip to Florida in Quincy, Massachusetts on Saturday. They made several stops on their way to pick up sea turtles from various rehabilitation facilities that were ready for release. The stop at 5am on I-95 to pick up 5 sea turtles from the South Carolina Aquarium made the grand total 52!

Meet the Turtles

First, meet the 5 South Carolina Aquarium sea turtles that were released:

McNally was one of 10 cold stunned sea turtles flown to Charleston on December 5, 2012 from the New England Aquarium. Blood was pulled (left photo) on McNally and all new patients for baseline health assessment.

Kennedy and the other little guys were safely contained in banana boxes during the December flight donated by Charleston's own Gary Davis of Davis Air, Inc.

Ollie suffered severe propeller strikes to the carapace and skull but healed amazingly well. This little green sea turtle had an extra spunky personality and was a favorite.

Kit is a loggerhead that cold stunned off the NC coast in January. What a difference a few months of care in our Sea Turtle Hospital made in Kit's physical appearance!

Preparation and loading at the South Carolina Aquarium
Long time Sea Turtle Hospital volunteer, Barbara Bergwerf and I met at 2:30 am at the Aquarium for preparation and loading of turtles. The plan was to meet the Sea Turtle Trek caravan on I-95 between 4-5 am which was about an hour away.

Barb and I transferred Kit from his holding tank to the transport container.

The 3-year old loggerhead was pulled from the Sea Turtle Exhibit on the 2nd floor of the Aquarium. Two extremely cute 1-year old loggerheads are now in the exhibit!

The two Kemp's ridleys, McNally and Kennedy (pictured), were sleeping on the bottom on their tanks when I pulled them out. Needless to say, they didn't put up much of a fight!

With the help of Aquarium night security Jamison Scott, the 5 sea turtles were loaded into the Husbandry Van and the first leg of their journey began.

5am Sunday morning at a truck stop on I-95
Barb and I drove approximately an hour to I-95 to meet the Sea Turtle Trek. Our turtles were added to mix and away they drove for the final leg of the trip to Jacksonville, Florida.

 

When we met the caravan and opened the van doors, we found Ollie trying to sneak out of his container. Luckily we had packed the containers well so this was as far as the little escapee could get!

Each vehicle was full of turtle boxes large and small; it was like putting a puzzle together to fit them all!

The Sea Turtle Trek crew had been on the road (trading off drivers) for 13 hours but still had big smiles on their faces! I joined them for a quick photo before they started on the last leg of the trip. 

The Release

The Sea Turtle Trek arrived in Jacksonville, FL about 11am on Sunday morning and released all 52 sea turtles into the ocean. The release crew was happy to feel the warm Florida air and firm ground under their feet.

Transport boxes with turtles were offloaded from the SUVs to the beach.

The 5 South Carolina Aquarium sea turtles were released first!

The South Carolina Aquarium sea turtles left to right: Ollie (green); McNally and Kennedy (Kemp's ridleys close to their releasers and namesakes, Kerry McNally and Adam Kennedy); Kit (loggerhead), Shannon (exhibit loggerhead).

The exhibit loggerhead and Kennedy race for the waters!

The last batch of sea turtles to be released were almost 30 from the New England Aquarium. The entire release crew lined up with turtles. What a moment!!!

Two amazing women - Jennifer Dittmar, Rescue Coordinator for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and Connie Merigo, Rescue Manager for New England Aquarium. With the help of their staff and volunteers, these two did an amazing job coordinating the Sea Turtle Trek to help 52 threatened and endangered sea turtles get back to the ocean. Great job, ladies!

Most of these sea turtles were rescued this winter as part of the largest cold-stunning event on record in the Northeast. Many facilities, including the South Carolina Aquarium, pulled together to house the sea turtles because the New England Aquarium's Animal Rescue Center was overflowing with turtles. And many of the facilities were able to get sea turtles on this release....a beautiful ending to an exhausting but exhilarating winter. Releasing these animals back into the ocean has a way of wiping away the crazy amount of hours we all worked to get to this point - THIS is why we do what we do.

With love of turtles,
Kelly Thorvalson
Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager

Organizations involved in the Sea Turtle Trek: New England Aquarium, National Aquarium in Baltimore, University of New England at Biddeford, National Marine Life Center, Riverhead Foundation, Virginia Aquarium and the South Carolina Aquarium.

Three Sea Turtles of Three Species Released by Boat Bringing the South Carolina Aquarium to 99 Sea Turtle Releases!

On October 19, three sea turtles were released by boat just off SC's coast. Charlie and Merigo, a loggerhead and Kemp's ridley, were rehabilitated at the South Carolina Aquarium (SCA) and the third, a juvenile green sea turtle, was rehabilitated at the National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB). Releasing three species of sea turtles is very exciting and to make it even more exciting, the NAIB green was fitted with a satellite transmitter to track it's migration.

From Aquarium to Dock

The National Aquarium and South Carolina Aquarium staff met at 5:45am Friday morning to load the sea turtles for release. What an exhilarating way to start the day!

Olympian swims in his/her overnight home in the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital after being transported from the National Aquarium in Baltimore on Thursday.

Charlie makes a last big splash Friday morning before he gets loaded up to head home.

Gumby watches as wet Stephan and Chuck load Charlie into the transport container.

Merigo's transport container is much smaller than Charlie's. A little spray down and s/he was ready to go!

Olympian looks out from his/her transport container.

The turtles get pulled from the husbandry van and carried down the dock to the boat.

The small turtles are much easier to transport!

The Boat Ride
Special thanks to the boat owner John Hill and his crew, David and Charlie, for helping us release the turtles by boat. This was the fourth sea turtle release from the El Tejano in the last few years and we are grateful for the support! We also thank Joe and Jane Sylvan, Elena Terry, and the National Aquarium crew for being part of the release and making it that much more meaningful. Below are a few photos of the boat ride to release the turtles at 4KI, an artificial reef about 10 miles off the coast of Kiawah Island where water temperatures were 75 degrees F.

From left to right: first mate, Charlie Lewis; boat captain, David Redd; friends Elena Terry and Joe and Jane Sylvan; Chuck Erbe and Amber White from NAIB; Kelly Thorvalson from SCA; and owner of the El Tejano, John Hill.

Joe and John on the way out to the reef. Once there, these two helped release Charlie, the 150 pound loggerhead.

A beautiful morning!

John and Kelly chatting, most likely about sea turtles or fishing!

The Release
Merigo is a 9-pound juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered of all of the sea turtle species. Merigo was brought to the South Carolina Aquarium with a group of sea turtles found cold stunned off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts and initially treated at the New England Aquarium. Because sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles, they become hypothermic when exposed to extremely cold water temperatures. Merigo is the last of the MA group to be released.

Ready, set...

GO!

Swim, swim away! Good luck, Merigo!

Charlie is a 150-pound loggerhead sea turtle that was captured by the SCDNR In-Water Research Program in June. Charlie was injured by a stingray caught in the same net, the barb puncturing the front left flipper and neck. Because stingrays release venom from their barbs, medical treatment is necessary.

Charlie was anxious to go and was only on the side of the boat for about 5 seconds before being released!

Goodbye and good luck, Charlie!

Olympian is a 9-pound juvenile green sea turtle that was brought to the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) after being spotted floating off the New Jersey coast in August. Olympian was treated for over-inflated lungs and possible pneumonia. The National Aquarium team has attached a satellite tag to Olympian and hopes that the tag will lend insight as to where the turtle overwinters, and if/when it returns to the east coast next year. You can keep an eye on Olympian’s journey here.

Amber ready to release little Olympian!

SPLASH!

Good luck little Olympian! 

When you go to Olympian's tracking map, notice that within a day of the release 10 miles offshore, s/he had travelled right to the Charleston Harbor, not far from the South Carolina Aquarium! This is certainly not the best place for sea turtles because of the boat traffic but luckily, s/he made it out and is hugging the coast traveling north. Interesting that despite being released off the coast, his instincts brought him right back inshore!

Want More?
Check out the media articles about this release:

News 4 Charleston video and article
Post and Courier article
Post and Courier video and article

Thanks to all involved in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of these sea turtles. It takes an army to make it happen and each and every step along the way is so important!

Kelly Thorvalson and Whitney Daniel
Sea Turtle Rescue Program staff
South Carolina Aquarium