Picture a perfect Southwest Florida late summer evening, with a slight breeze coming in off the gulf and just the right number of clouds for a beautiful sunset. Then throw in a nice mix of old and new friends and you have a wonderful evening for a baby turtle release on Bonita Beach. That’s the evening we had Friday with the successful release of the two baby turtles that were unable to escape their nest the previous night.
Local turtle enthusiasts gathering for a baby turtle release
A crowd of turtle enthusiasts ranging in age from 3 months to 70 + began gathering to see the baby turtles around 6:30 on Friday night. The stars of the evening were delivered by Lynne Crews, of Turtle Time Inc. around 6:45 and people quickly gathered around the small blue bucket to see the two baby loggerhead turtles.
Two young ladies resisting the urge to reach into the bucket
Lynne spent the next hour showing off the turtles and answering the many questions that were asked as people gathered to see the babies. As the sun began to set Kim Smith, who owns Bonita based Blue Turtle Graphics, took this wonderful picture of Lynne holding one of the turtles with the sun setting in the background.
Baby Loggerhead Turtle - Photo by Kim Smith
As darkness began to fall we gathered near the shoreline and the little turtles were released. If it had been a race it would have been no contest as one hit the sand running and was in the gulf within about 60 seconds. The small waves knocked it back only once before it sped back towards the gulf and was gone. The slower of the two turtles appeared to have one flipper that wasn’t as strong as the other so it’s trek to the gulf was a bit more deliberate. Once it hit the water it quickly adapted to the new environment and disappeared.
As the two baby turtles began their new lives by starting their 24 hour swim into the gulf those of us who came to see them off said our goodbyes and headed away from the beach, just minutes before the rains began.
Thanks to everyone who came to the release and for those of you who couldn’t come I hope these pictures can do justice to the wonderful evening we all had. Thanks as well to the Bonita Banner for posting the online article on the release Friday afternoon. There were several people there who would not have known about the release if not for that article.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations, on your second jobs as reporter, photographer.
Nice job and nice pictures, I noticed that you stopped at the
70’s with your age bracket, we had fun too. EJC
70+ covers a lot of ground as an age bracket