Pages

Monday, January 20, 2014

Jekyll Island January 18-19 2014

Sea Turtle Hospital
Jekyll Island has been on my radar for years as a place to stop on our way to Florida.  I was interested in the 20 miles of bike trails around the island.  We decided to stop on our way south this time.  We arrived in the afternoon of Saturday.  It was very nippy and not suitable for biking.  However I had a plan.  Jekyll Island is on the the barrier islands that sea turtles use for laying eggs.  On Jekyll Island is one of the world’s Sea Turtle Hospitals.  All American Sea Turtles are endangered so having a hospital to heal the injured is a big deal.
The first thing at the hospital is a learning station with lots of information about sea turtles.  Included is a map of Americorp Volunteers that have worked at the center.  Since Amy was in Americorp, I was interested.
They have an operating room where they treat the turtles and you can watch.  This caught us right away.  This turtle is being treated for infections.  He has multiple infection sites that are cleaned daily.  Hopefully he will be released this summer since he is improving daily.
While the turtles heal, they need a nice pool of seawater!  The next building houses the healing turtles.  Most of the turtles have been injured by boat propellers.  This badly injured loggerhead turtle has several metal plates holding his shell in place as he slowly heals, a process which will take nearly a year.
 Different turtles in the 10 swimming pools.  Large turtles.
 and small turtles.
Its a really interesting place.

Beaches
We found Driftwood Beach our first day.  Such a cool spot and its only 0.75 miles from our campsite.

We would like to talk to a local geologist.  The literature I could find said that longshore drift is causing the obvious erosion of the beach at the North end of the island.  We think part of the issue is the rise of the ocean, but that is a guess on our part at this point. This is the South end of the island where sand is being deposited.  
The trouble as we see it is that it is also being eroded at the same time. 
This is low tide and the trees here are being buried.  The birds don't mind.
The island has the bike paths we came for and some go directly to the beach.  This is what we did on the beach.  Sat around and watched the waves and birds!  Its a great place to go camping.

Jan

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5:07 PM

    yeah, it looks VERY interesting. wish i went there with you. too bad it's too hot in the summer.

    c

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are welcomed. Please consider using our links for internet purchases. We earn a commission!