Welcome to Jekyll Island!
Gift shop silliness.
A baby sea turtle that was stranded and rescued. So cute!
Terrapin
The building in the back with all the turtles was my favorite. It was so interesting hearing all their stories and watching a demonstration about how they care for the turtles.
The books tell the stories of the turtles complete with photos of the condition they arrived in, and the surgeries that kept them alive. The turtle in the tank above had something very heavy land on him, cracking right through his shell. He now has titanium strips on his back. It was very interesting to look at the book, and I snapped photos of the images but they are pretty gory! I think this turtle was actually worked on by a surgeon from a hospital who donated his services.
You can see several titanium strips in this photo, as well as bone cement that was used to fill in around the cracks and where the top layer of the shell was damaged.
This sea turtle has a shark bite injury to his front left flipper, see how it is mostly missing? When this turtle is fully healed, they plan to release it, as turtles can survive in the wild in this condition. The turtles that are released are fitted with tracking devices so if they become stranded or injured again, they can be rescued. Turtles who prove themselves unable to live in the wild are put up for permanent adoption and eventually live in zoos and aquariums.
Little Mr. got to choose something from the gift shop, and he chose this turtle wearing a blue hoody that reads "Georgia Sea Turtle Center." He affectionately calls him "Blue Guy."
When you first come over the bridge and arrive on the island, you'll start to see this marking on the road. It you follow the turtles, they will take you to the sea turtle center. I think it's a fun addition. This was the last one, in the parking lot right outside the center.
Dunes on Jekyll Island
Trees bent away from the coastline.
We ended up at a marina for lunch. They had really good shrimp and grits here but the rest of the food wasn't that exciting.
Our view.
Our lunchtime visitors. There were 3 or 4 of them and they were a little too friendly for my liking! They were cute though, and Little Mr. liked them a lot.
It makes me happy when this happens. :) Sweet sleep!
The Jekyll Island pier.
Little Mr. got to wade in the water... one of his favorite things to do! They are heading back in this photo.
A silly, happy boy.
Salt marsh.
A better view of the whole pier, it's a neat structure. I don't have a photo of the whole thing, but see how it is wider than this entire photo? There is a covered area in the center, and then each end as well.
Shells are often used on the outsides of buildings here. This is the exterior of the public restrooms at the picnic area near the pier.
We stopped in for some ice cream, as it was a pretty warm day.
One end of the pier.
The other end of the pier.
They also have a pretty neat area with toys for kids and mini golf. Little Mr. had a blast here!
What a fun outing!!! You all must have enjoyed the turtle rescuing place and the pier!! Glad "Little Mr." got a turtle to remember the place later!!
ReplyDeleteStill remember the only time I was there with my daughters mother-in-law who lives there during the winter instead of New Hampshire. She is a tennis player and good on the clay courts. I had never played on clay so got creamed every time. It was fun though and made me happy to get back to our hard courts!!