Like any hospital, there are protocols to protect patients. Only here, visitors are asked to rinse their shoes in a foot bath before stepping into a giant room of whirling pools, and an occasional splash.
This is Sea Turtle Care Center at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston where sick and injured sea turtles are treated. On this day, a juvenile, green sea turtle named Lavender glides across a tank.
“Oh lavender, look at you,” Care Center Manager Melissa Ranly says, beaming with pride as she prepares to release her favorite patient.
Ranly took that late-night call back in May when Lavender, an endangered species, turned up along the jetties off Hilton Head Island, anemic, dehydrated and emaciated.
She says this is sea turtle stranding season, when warmer water attracts both turtles and people.
“During warmer months, we tend to see a lot of these turtles come in with fishhook ingestion or entanglement in fishing line,” Ranly says. “We see boat strikes, those types of things.”
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Ranly says Lavender has old injuries to her back flippers, but she can’t rule out a predator, like a shark. She says the juvenile green also has a corneal ulcer on its left eye.
“We see that a lot of very weak animals that are just kind of tossed around the surf,” Ranly says. “They can get bumped into the sea grass, sand or shells.”
For the past three months, Lavender has been treated with fluids, antibiotics and vitamins. This turtle’s ready to be released from its recovery pool for good.
But first, Lavender’s brilliant starburst shell is scrubbed, its temperature taken and its eyes protected, before being placed in a travel bin.
Ranly doesn’t know if Lavender, roughly five years-old, is a boy or a girl. She says that won’t be detectable until it's an adult in 30 years. Green sea turtles, by the way, can live to be as old as 100.
“It's gained a lot of weight and looks healthy and so we’re excited to have her back out there,” Ranly says.
Out there, is the ocean where Lavender’s caregivers will likely never see this turtle again. Ranly grabs her turtle care bag as she takes Lavender to a waiting boat, docked beside the aquarium.
Behind the wheel is Nigel Bowers. He’s worked for the aquarium since it opened, 25 years ago.
“It’s not my first rodeo,” Bowers says.
But it is his last. Bowers is retiring after setting Lavender free. This is the aquarium’s 467th sea turtle release.
Bowers says he knows the perfect home for the endangered juvenile to feed, about 45 minutes away.
As we leave the Charleston harbor, the Ravenel bridge disappears. Dolphins surface along the intracoastal waterway and marshy inlets. The area feels remote and that’s ideal, Ranly says.
In addition to getting caught up in fishing gear, Ranly has seen her share of sea turtles with swollen bellies from ingesting plastic.
“When they get backed up, they build up gas and float,” Ranly says.
“This has them at the surface where they’re more susceptible to boat strikes and predation.”
Sea turtles are a key stone species, meaning their health can tell us a lot about the health of our environment. They’re also the perfect ambassador for conservation, says Aquarium Public Relations Coordinator Melissa McLaughlin.
“When you look at a sea turtle, there’s like, people get really attached to them,” McLaughlin says. “There’s, you know, something in their eyes.”
Aquarium visitors can watch recovering sea turtles through a giant window at the Sea Turtle Care Center.
Somewhere past Dewees Island and the Isle of Palms, Bowers slips the boat into a quiet marsh.
“Alright Lavender we’re here” Ranly says as she lifts the top off the turtle’s red, travel bin.
She picks Lavender up a final time and gently places it in the water. The little green sea turtle makes a splash, then quickly disappears.
Still, Ranly watches.
“Oh there, it just popped up for a breath,” Ranly says, pointing to Lavender now swimming several feet away.
Lavender will need that breath for deeper dives in the wild. Ranly takes a breath too.
“It’s bittersweet because we love being able to care for the animal,” Ranly says.
“But it’s great to see them swimming out there where they should be.”
Ranly hopes this where Lavender thrives and one day breeds, saving this endangered species.
