Loggerhead Marine Life Center Juno Beach, FL |
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Rating |
Excellent |
Age |
7 and up |
Lockers |
Not Available |
Restrooms |
Available |
Food |
Near |
Closest Coffee |
Down the street |
Recommendation |
This was one of our favorite stops in our Florida trip. It took us over an hour to get there and was well worth it. FREE! |
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Review: by Will
This is one of my favorite stops ever. If you are in the area, and you like animals, you must stop here.
The Loggerhead Marine Life Center is there to help sea turtles that have been injured. They use all sorts of veterinary procedures including surgery and antibiotics. The volunteers rescue sea turtles that are reported to be in distress. They bring them back to the facility, where they are given a full physical, and a course of treatment is prescribed.
While they are recuperating they are in large tanks full of water that allow them to swim around and get stronger. These tanks have an open top and a clear wall so they may be observed by the medical staff and visitors alike.
I personally visited all of the turtles there. These included green sea turtles, loggerheads, and hawksbill turtles. Don't get your hopes up to see any leatherbacks here. They cannot stay for more than a few days as the tanks here are not equipped, or big enough, for them.
The Loggerhead Center treats about 50 turtles a year, and returns over 70% of them to the wild. They also care for over 1000 hatchlings per year, and release them. While we were there we saw one turtle, Gilda, getting surgery. She had to have a flipper amputated. Don't worry though, she is doing fine, and sea turtles quickly adapt to having one flipper missing.
One of the loggerheads was named Gideon. Gideon was my favorite turtle there. He sort of liked to show off for everyone and he loved to blow bubbles. About 1 month after our visit he was released on Juno Beach, and the posting said he did not look back. We know this because the center posts updates on the website about all of their patients.
I listed this as for kids 7 and up because of the fact that some of the turtles are missing flippers and this could be disturbing for some young children. You should know this, and if you think your child could handle this they could probably go much younger.
This is one of the best places you could ever visit.
Other Reviews:
Dad: There is also also a small interpretive center that explains the plight of these wonderful animals. Make sure you take time to go through this part of the center. The volunteers are wonderful, and will answer questions at length. We had a great discussion with a docent who had to leave to help move Gilda off the operating table. I would say that this could be a quick stop, but if you ask a lot of questions you could spend many hours here, like we did.