The Turtle Hospital

Halfway through our visit to the Keys we shifted RV parks, moving 30 miles back towards Miami, to Fiesta Key RV resort. Bob (with a little nudge from another full-time family we ran into at the resort) finally decided it was high time to finish up his SCUBA certification that he had started in Calgary 8 months ago, and booked in for two afternoons of diving with a local dive shop. That left the kids and I to our own devices.

While Bob worked on his SCUBA certification, the kids and I went to the Sea Turtle Hospital in Marathon (tour required, if you want to see the turtles). Lily has been reading the National Geographic Kids Sea Turtle book on the Ipad a lot lately, so she was extra excited to see sea turtles for real.

Sea turtle populations are under a lot of pressure from human activity, and all the species here are endangered or threatened. Encounters with boat propellers, fishing line & hooks, and pollution (plastic, especially) take their toll on the population, and a number of turtles each year are injured or get sick. When that happens (or when they just get lost), and people find them, these turtles are taken to the Turtle Hospital for help. The turtle population (especially the greens) is also susceptible to a virus, which causes tumors to grow, and the Turtle Hospital is one of a few in the world who will perform surgery to remove them. 

The hospital has a 90 minute guided tour, where we first learned about the five different species of turtle found in the region and how the Turtle Hospital helps them. Our group then had a quick tour of the surgery & X-ray room (where we were shown some of the fish hooks removed from former patients; happily there were no patients that day) and an overview of the rehabilitation tanks. Next, we were off to the turtle enclosures where some rescued turtles rested in tanks, either awaiting surgery or recovering. The turtles are released back into the ocean as soon as they are deemed well enough, although in the case of those who have ended up with tumors that means waiting one full year of being tumor free. These longer term stays were in small sea water pools. 

Others, who are too damaged to be able to survive in the wild, remain at the hospital. These permanent residents hang out in a big pool, fed by natural seawater, and they all look pretty content – especially when they get handfuls of turtle food! 

Although interesting to me, the kids both found the presentation part of the tour a bit slow. They did get to touch turtle shells, skulls, sponges and a conch shell, though. During this part of the tour, Morgan asked several very thoughtful questions, proving that while he looked bored, he was taking it all in. 

What is a turtle shell made of? A: bone

Why would a turtle swallow a fish hook?  A: the hooks are baited and so the turtle only sees food, not a fish hook

Why do the turtles float? A: because of gas – either intestinal gas, or from gas build-up near the shell caused by a boat strike

Visiting the turtles was definitely the highlight of the tour. Lily took many pictures of the various turtles, taking special notice of the smallest turtle in the bunch – a fellow who had blown off course, and was regaining strength before release. 

Morgan examined each of the turtles, but seemed especially drawn to one who had just had surgery to remove tumors the day before (and was still in bandages). 

It was a really interesting visit, and we all learned a lot about sea turtles and the human impact on them here in the Keys. I have come away with a new appreciation and awe for these animals, for the efforts that people are taking to ensure they do not disappear, and a reminder for myself to do what I can to help keep my planet clean. I hope my children did too.