by Karen Sota

With cooler weather and a major renovation project in Sea Turtle Bay rapidly approaching we needed to get our flippers in gear to make sure every patient cleared for take-off made it to the beach ASAP. On October 12th with a glorious Carolina blue sky and a friendly ocean we bid a fond farewell to our last graduates for 2022.

Three juvenile greens, Belle, Magenta and Jazzberry Jam were the first to crest the walkover and stroll the runway (with a little help from our staff) for a final photo ops and royal waves of their flippers to the large crowd of fans lining the beach. Belle had an especially long recovery, having been admitted in early 2020 as a very sick little girl. She subsequently developed osteoarthritis which takes years to resolve even with the best care and medication. But she made it. She leaves behind her often-times “tank mate” Rosemary who will miss her dearly. Well, maybe not. Belle did have a habit of stealing Rosie’s veggies at every opportunity. Magenta and Jazzberry Jam, both local rescues from the Cape Lookout area were also released. Magenta was cold- stunned and anemic but tripled her admission weight in the space of six months. Jazzy had a run in with a shark that left her with a very large wound on her neck. It was touch and go, or for a while ”don’t touch” as the wound was pretty gnarly. But with a lot of specialized care, including honey treatments she made a complete recovery.

Two Kemp’s, Maddie and Black Pearl were next to meet the crowd. Black Pearl, also from the Cape Lookout area was the victim of a boat strike. In addition to the usual meds, she was also given the honey treatment along with physical therapy on her neck and flippers to get her in tip-top shape for her journey home. Maddie stranded in Massachusetts and arrived with a plane load of other cold-stuns. A definite favorite during public tours this little cutie also tripled her weight during her stay with us.

Finally, it was Copper’s turn. This juvenile loggerhead stranded in Wrightsville Beach after being
accidentally hooked on a fishing line. Unfortunately, the hook had travelled into his esophagus and had to be surgically removed by the great vets at CMAST. Having a sore throat never affected his appetite as he was the first turtle to pop up in the morning with a big grin and a “got breakfast?” look on his face. He managed to convince Dr. Harms that was totally OK and ready to roll so roll he did, down the beach on our “turtle taxi” waving good-bye with his big boy flippers. Out of six turtles he seemed to be the most reluctant to actually leave us, taking a few steps and then turning around over and over to take one last look at the island before finally catching a wave and heading out. Bon voyage, class of 2022.

With fewer visitors to the island and our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers officially off-duty until next May we rely increasingly on our locals, anglers and boaters to notify us about any turtle in distress. If you see a turtle that’s been injured or stranded call our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at: 910-470-2880. If she is not available, you may call the hospital during operating hours: 910-329-0222. We will take the information and send trained volunteers to retrieve the turtle. The State of NC hotline for stranded, sick and injured turtles is 252-241-7367. The state number picks up 24/7. All conservation work for endangered sea turtles at KBSTRRC and on Topsail Island is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, ES Permit 22ST05.

Hospital closed for public tours. We are closed to the public at least through November 24th for facility improvements. If all goes well, we may be able to open for a few days in December. In the meantime, you can visit our gift shop and adopt a turtle on-line at our website, www.seaturtlehospital.org. Check our Facebook page for the latest information and any updates on our progress.

by Karen Sota
​The last nest laid on Topsail has hatched and hopefully a good portion of those babies made it out to the Sargasso Sea where they’ll spend the next year or so. Our recent admits have been victims of entanglements with fishing gear, mostly nets, and boat strikes. Some will be with us over the winter but thankfully most of them are short-timers that we will release soon along with several patients already given their swimming papers by Dr. Harms.

We’re getting ready to close to the public to complete major renovations in our main area, Sea Turtle Bay. But you can’t safely do that kind of work if there are turtles swimming around with contractors on lifts replacing lights and refinishing the floor. Our remaining patients must be relocated to other parts of the hospital for about six weeks. Not a problem; we have the space and most of them are small. Lennie, our permanent resident will have her tank moved into Sick Bay. The others will join her and if it gets jampacked, we have two other turtle-friendly areas. That leaves one noticeably big challenge: Snooki.

This very special loggerhead lady tops three hundred pounds and lives in the largest tank we could get through our doors. But we have two issues with her tank: it won’t go through any other doors, and it also needs some touch-up work done before we move it back into Sea Turtle Bay. (Note: anybody used to working with fiberglass who can help us out - let’s talk!) Luckily the therapy pool in Sick Bay is almost the same size as Snooki’s tank so we’ll be moving her very, very carefully into that pool. But how, you ask.

Over the past month several of our staff have been spending time in the water with Snooki, getting her used to “company” and being closely handled by people. After some initial side-eye and a look of general amusement she decided they were there to entertain her, a new toy (in some cases toys) to play with. Soon we’ll introduce the sling that will fit under her and hope that she’s receptive to that. The plan is that when the day of the move arrives she will be used to not only swimming onto the sling but also comfortable with “her people.” Then it’s a matter of pure muscle to get her onto the turtle taxi, down the hall and into the therapy pool. That’s the plan and we hope Snooki will be on board, literally, when the day comes.

With fewer visitors to the island and our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers officially off-duty until next May we rely increasingly on our locals, anglers and boaters to notify us about any turtle in distress. If you see a turtle that’s been injured or stranded call our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at: 910-470-2880. If she is not available, you may call the hospital during operating hours: 910-329-0222. We will take the information and send trained volunteers to retrieve the turtle. The State of NC hotline for stranded, sick and injured turtles is 252-241-7367. The state number picks up 24/7. All conservation work for endangered sea turtles at KBSTRRC and on Topsail Island is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, ES Permit 22ST05.

Hospital tours end October 15th. Tours are Friday and Saturday from 11 AM – 2 PM. You must schedule and purchase your tickets in advance for a specific day and time through our website, www.seaturtlehospital.org. We will be closed October 16th through November 24th for facility improvements. You can still visit our gift shop and adopt a turtle on-line at our website. 

by Karen Sota

​Tuesday June 14th was homecoming, or more accurately, home-going for ten rehabilitated sea turtles: one loggerhead, two Kemp’s and seven greens. Nine of these critters were victims of cold stunning, Kemp’s “Magic Potion” being the exception. His decision to choose a quick snack on a baited hook landed him in our hospital for a month.
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​This was our first public release for the year and sea turtles can certainly draw a crowd. Despite the forecast for extreme heat and humidity it looked like nearly one-thousand people managed to make their way to the beach and hang in there until the last turtle powered through the surf.

​The smaller turtles were brought down to the shoreline in their transport tubs and then carried by our volunteers slowly up and down the exceptionally long lines seeming to enjoy the oohs and ahhs of their adoring fans and striking poses for photo ops. We’ve learned over the years that some of them are just hams when they see a camera. “Sea Glass” one of the larger juvenile greens got a ride strapped down on our special “turtle taxi” because she’s, well, kinda crazy. Our larger turtle taxi hauled loggerhead “Burnt Sienna” who tipped the scales close to one-hundred-twenty pounds  down to the surf. Once they hit the water only a sandbar close to shore slowed them down, for just a few seconds. They were gone with barely a wave of and flipper for a final goodbye.

Even though ten turtles have left the building there are still patients who are waiting for you to visit, including permanent resident and hospital ambassador “Lennie” and crowd favorite Jersey girl “Snooki.” Our senior interns are giving our regular staff a bit of a break for summer and are very enthusiastic about their twelve weeks with us. You’ll be meeting most of them during your visit and we “regulars” always hope our guests can come up with a question or two that makes them do some research or must ask one of us old-timers for help in answering. We’ve added another hour to our tour to accommodate the overwhelming request for tickets. As of now we will be open from Noon – 4 PM though July.

Nesting season on the island is in full swing with (number to come) nests at this writing. There’s no way to predict when or where a mama turtle will come ashore so if you happen to be here when she does consider yourself incredibly lucky. Please respect mom and the exhausting process by maintaining your distance and not using flashlights or flash photography to distract her. If you spot a nesting mama, or anything unusual such as an injured or stranded turtle please call our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at: 910-470-2880. If she is not available, you may call the hospital during operating hours: 910-329-0222 . We will take the information and we will send a trained volunteer to meet you to assess the situation. The State of NC hotline for stranded, sick, and injured turtles is 252-241-7367. The state number picks up 24/7. Please note that all our work with sea turtles, at the hospital and on the beach, is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, ES Permit 22ST05.

​Again, through June and July we will be open seven days a week: Mon – Fri, Noon-4; Saturday,102, and Sunday Noon-2. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance through our website: www.seaturtlehospital.org. Select the date, time and the number of guests in your party and purchase your tickets. We limit the number of guests for each time to make the experience more enjoyable and to continue our commitment to keep you and our staff safe as we continue to respond to any changes in Covid. At this point masks are not required. Sorry, but we are not able to accommodate walk-ups for tours once we sell out for the day. Please keep in mind that summer traffic can be very heavy, especially on the weekends so plan your arrival accordingly. If you are coming only to our gift shop (not for a tour) you can enter through the single door to the left of the main entrance.​

by Karen Sota

The ladies are in the house – or actually on the beach. After a bit of a late start those turtle moms are finally here and our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers are out at dawn looking for signs of nests.

Topsail is pretty much loggerhead territory, but the past few years have seen a green (possibly more than one) take a liking to our sand. Research has shown that our northern loggerheads do not reach maturity until about thirty-five years of age, so these ladies trudging through the sand are good-sized gals, many of them tipping the scales at around three-hundred pounds. They are not built for land travel, so you can imagine the effort involved in hauling yourself through the sand on flippers to find the perfect home for your babies. Believe it or not that’s the easy part!

Once mom selects a spot, she digs out a nest about two-feet deep, using only her rear flippers.  Then she deposits her clutch of eggs, which average about 100-120 a nest. After carefully filling and packing the nest with sand she uses her powerful flippers to fling sand all around the area to disguise her work. Then it’s the long haul back to the sea where she spends a few weeks of R&R before her next trip ashore. It’s normal for these gals to lay between one and five nests over the course of the summer. Our volunteers verify, mark and record data on every nest. If the nest has been laid in a vulnerable location (below the high tide line or in a high traffic beach area) they carefully remove and relocate every egg to a safer area.

Since 2010 we have been participating in a research project at the University of Georgia (http://www.seaturtle.org/nestdb/genetics.shtml) that is tracking the nesting patterns of our northern loggerheads. One egg is harvested from each nest and the DNA and other data is recorded and analyzed. The results are quite interesting and show that sea turtles are indeed mysterious in their nesting habits. Some ladies nested several times in a small area of beach, while others were less discriminating and travelled up and down the eastern seaboard. These critters continue to surprise and amaze those of us who work with them.
Although we have numerous eyes on the beach our visitors have always played a critical part in our work. Many times we have gotten calls in the night that “there’s a turtle on the beach.” There are some important things that you can do during nesting season to keep our ladies safe.

• Do not harass a nesting turtle in any way. Not only is it illegal but you could cause her so much stress that she abandons the process and loses her eggs. Stay back, do not crowd or chase her or take flash photography. Keep pets away.

• Keep beachfront lighting to a minimum. Turtles can become disoriented by bright lights and head off in the wrong direction. With the tremendous growth on the island, especially of massive rental properties even “normal” indoor lighting at night is proving to be a huge distraction to the nesting moms. Every year there are increased instances where mamas (and hatchlings) have gone over the dunes and ended up in parking lots and on the highways.

• Do not leave heavy items (chairs, canopies, umbrellas) on the beach overnight. A turtle can become entangled in these.

• If you dig a hole do not walk away without replacing all the sand. It’s dangerous not only to turtles but to humans who can stumble into it and break a bone (it’s happened.)

Respect the nest and any instructions from our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers. They have all been trained in the proper procedures. We do encourage you to ask them any questions that you might have, however. If you spot a nesting mama, or anything unusual such as an injured or stranded turtle please call our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at: 910-470-2880. If she is not available, you may call the hospital during operating hours: 910-329-0222 . We will take the information and we will send a trained volunteer to meet you to assess the situation. The State of NC hotline for stranded, sick, and injured turtles is 252-241-7367. The state number picks up 24/7. Please note that all our work with sea turtles, at the hospital and on the beach, is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, ES Permit 22ST05.

Through June and July we will be open seven days a week: Mon – Fri, Noon-3; Saturday,10-2 and Sunday Noon-2. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance through our website: www.seaturtlehospital.org/visit.html. Select the date, time and the number of guests in your party and purchase your tickets. We limit the number of guests for each time to make the experience more enjoyable and to continue our commitment to keep you and our staff safe as we continue to respond to any changes in Covid. At this point masks are not required. Sorry, but we are not able to accommodate walk-ups for tours once we sell out for the day. Please keep in mind that summer
traffic can be very heavy, especially on the weekends so plan your arrival accordingly. If you are coming only to our gift shop (not for a tour) you can enter through the single door to the left of the main entrance.

by Karen Sota

We talk to our turtles all the time, and they generally respond to the sound of our voices. In all honesty they’re probably only paying attention to us because they think we’re there to deliver a meal. But what can turtles really hear, especially underwater where they do most of their hearing? Since last year some of our patients have been participating in non-invasive research to find answers to that very question.

The project is being conducted by our turtle vet, Dr. Craig Harms along with Charles Muirhead PhD student (Duke) and Wendy Dow Piniak, PhD (NOAA) with funding from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM.) The ocean is a noisy place with naturally occurring sounds including storms and hurricanes. But there’s also a lot of people noise from commercial, recreational and military activity. Our proximity to Camp Lejeune has desensitized us locals to the “sounds of freedom” but how are sea turtles responding to Coast Guard boats, ordnance and low flying aircraft?

The research is designed to determine what thresholds sea turtles are most sensitive to; what’s the quietest sound they respond to at each frequency (or as a musician would call it, “pitch”). It’s important to remember that our turtles are not harmed in any way. The method used is the “Auditory Evoked Potential” (AEP) method, the same one employed to evaluate hearing in babies and non-verbal patients and involves attaching external sensors that measure brain activity. We use our surgical room for the study as it is the quietest spot in our hospital. A large tank of water is rigged with an underwater speaker and a platform where the turtle is secured then lowered and raised in the water as the sounds change. It requires some swaddling of the flippers with additional restraint of a bag for the feisty turtles. There’s quite a bit of specialized electronics involved to generate sounds and record data. The equipment is so sensitive that we have to tiptoe around the building as even the sound of a door opening and closing anywhere near the surgery can contaminate the data. Each turtle spends about an hour in the tank to get enough clean readings.

The research is ongoing. Obviously only our smaller turtles can participate and despite their reputation the Kemp’s have been the most compliant. The greens – they definitely need the bag. It’s pretty cool research and if I were a turtle I’d raise my flipper to volunteer.

Beginning in June we will be open seven days a week: Mon – Fri, Noon-3; Saturday,10-2 and Sunday Noon-2.  Tickets MUST be purchased in advance through our website: www.seaturtlehospital.org. Select the date, time and the number of guests in your party and purchase your tickets. We limit the number of guests for each time to make the experience more enjoyable and to continue our commitment to keep you and our staff safe as we work our way through Covid. At this point masks are not required. Sorry, but we are not able to accommodate walk-ups for tours once we sell out for the day. Please keep in mind that summer traffic can be especially heavy on the weekends so plan your arrival accordingly. If you are coming only to our gift shop (not for a tour) you can enter through the single door to the left of the main entrance.

​Nesting season has officially arrived, and our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers are out on the beaches before sunrise looking for signs that mama has nested. We usually see our first confirmed nest around Mother’s Day so keep your eyes peeled. If you spot anything unusual such as a stranding or nesting, please call our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at: 910-470-2880. If she is not available, you may call the hospital during operating hours: 910-329-0222 . We will take the information and we will send a trained volunteer to meet you to assess the situation. The State of NC hotline for stranded, sick, and injured turtles is 252-241-7367. The state number picks up 24/7. Please note that all our work with sea turtles, at the hospital and on the beach, is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, ES Permit 22ST05.