Jekyll Island Field Trip

We have several fall field trips scheduled for this month. This past Thursday we went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and the 4H Tidelands Nature Center on Jekyll Island. My daughter was out of school the last half of this week, and my husband took off work so we were able to go on this field trip as a family (minus our son at college).

the group

Here is our guide, about to feed Amy, an injured loggerhead sea turtle. Amy has trouble swimming down to feed, so for now she lives at the Center and serves as an ambassador for her species. They expect her to overcome her injuries and be released in the wild soon.

We were able to meet the patients at the Center and our guide shared with us about the injuries these turtles have suffered. This one was injured by a boat propeller. One of the turtles even had a stroke! He is currently unable to dive down to feed, and he is in rehabilitation where he is relearning to swim!

friends

We even saw one of the patients having some sort of procedure performed.

It was fun learning all about sea turtles, about their journey from hatchling to adulthood. I thought it was neat that no matter how far they migrate, females will always return to the same beach where they were hatched in order to lay their eggs. Wow! Only God can get the glory for that! And males will spend their entire lives in the ocean, never going ashore.

Our next stop was at the 4H Tidelands Nature Center where we participated in a herpetology program and learned much about the reptiles and amphibians native to our area.

getting started

We learned that this terrapin lives in the salt water marshes of Jekyll Island.

petting a yellow rat snake

father and daughter, enjoying the program

These next photos are of some of the inhabitants of the Nature Center:

yellow-bellied sliders

I forgot what kind of snake this is, but I thought it was so cool to see it drinking from its water dish!

soft-shelled turtle

hermit crab

watching the starfish move about in their habitat

It was such a nice day, we decided to finish up our trip with a stop at the beach! Some of the kids swam, but most just waded in the surf. The water was definitely a little chilly! Even we adults decided to take off our shoes and roll up our pants legs and walk on the shore. A fun ending to a fun day!

I do believe a fun time was had by all!