Living like a local: An unexpected adoption

The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Hospital offers educational programming and volunteer opportunities for those interested in local sea turtles. (Photo by Michael Cline Spencer)

I’ve adopted a sea turtle. Actually, I have adopted two sea turtles.

Let me start at the beginning. My good friend bought me a beautiful bracelet from a local boutique called Crabby Chic. The bracelet has a sea turtle charm surrounded by beads, and proceeds from this purchase go toward the rescue and rehabilitation of injured sea turtles. The packaging of the bracelet includes a QR code with information about the turtle benefitting from your purchase.

My turtle’s name is Fusa. She was rescued in Cape Cod where she was found freezing to death. I totally get it. I wouldn't want to be in the cold ocean up there either. They initially treated her at the New England Aquarium. Once she was able, she was flown to Florida, via private plane with a service called Turtles Fly Too. She was rehabilitated and released, with a GPS tracker, from The Florida Aquarium.

My bracelet also came with information to install an app on my phone that allows me to check in on Fusa. This is really fun for our family, and at the same time, my daughter and I are losing our minds. My husband had to block the door to prevent us from rushing out when we saw she was headed to South Carolina. We figured we could hitch a ride on a fishing boat out into the ocean and call her name. One night we saw on our phone she went out way too far in the ocean, and I wanted to call some sort of shark monitoring group to keep any dangerous evil predictors away from Fusa. FYI, I could not find such a group.

The next day I started searching for ways to help our turtles locally. As it happens, we have a facility in Surf City. The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Hospital is just north of Wilmington and does a lot of work for the turtles in our area. I adopted a local turtle named Lennie who is permanently blind due to a brain injury and has been a resident of the hospital since 2006.  

This center is open to the public and has opportunities for volunteering. This past summer, they released 10 rehabilitated sea turtles to the cheers of 1,000 supporters watching from the beach. They also offer Turtle Talks on Mondays for free all summer.

Who knew that a little beaded bracelet was going to introduce me to an entire marine community? But I am happy that it did. When you come to Wilmington, check out the local boutiques because you never know what adventures they might lead you.

Info: Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Hospital