Day 52 - Marathon to Islamorada - The Turtle Hospital

We arrived at the Turtle Hospital around 8:40 a.m. and paid the admission fee.  While we waited for the tour to start, we read the wall boards and displays that educated us about sea turtles and told the story of the hospital.  It began in the 1980s when the founder owned a small hotel on the site.  He used a pool as an aquarium and had it filled with local fish for viewing.  One of the visiting children asked where the turtles were (turtles were big in the 80s due to the popular Ninja Turtle series and movie).  Good question, thought the owner.  He began researching sea turtles and how to obtain one.  It turns out that the only way to legally have one is to rescue a sick or injured turtle.  Thus the hospital was born.  The motel was destroyed in a hurricane and now the site is dedicated to the hospital buildings, complete with emergency and operating rooms, and several outdoor pools for recovering turtles.  When sea turtles are injured or sick, they absorb air bubbles and float.  Anyone noticing a floating turtle can contact the hospital, who will come and pick it up with one of their turtle ambulances if the caller can get it to shore.  The day we were there, they had 35 sea turtles, 11 of which are permanent residents as they will never recover enough to be released back into the wild.  Very interesting and worthwhile visit if you go to the Keys.

 

We walked back to the boat in a light drizzle and left the dock at 11:30 a.m. on our way to Islamorada.  For our route today, we decided to take the Florida Bay side of the Keys, after going under the 7 Mile Bridge, to avoid the rougher water on the Atlantic.  The ever present crab pots greeted us but we are getting very used to them.  Small, low buildings lined the shore and we couldn't distinguish much as we were pretty far out.  Even so, the water is shallow, just over 7 feet – we are getting used to this too.  We passed a few small islands off the Keys to our port and then the Everglades National Park, a protected area in which no crab pots are allowed – hooray! 

 

We arrived at Plantation Yacht Harbor at 3:15 p.m.  Our friends Dan and Ellen Downes met us later and took us to dinner at an Irish Pub and then to the grocery store – bonus!