Above: Alyson Boswell with Surf
 

Sea Turtle Hospital News - Topsail Island, NC

Encore, encore!

Two weeks of hard work at the hospital last summer didn't scare intern Alyson Boswell. In fact, the physical nature of the work played a major part in her decision to come back this year for the entire twelve weeks. The prospect of "a summer of manual labor" was just too enticing an offer to pass up. But she also gave credit to her college roommate, Grace White (aka "Pong" of our famous intern duo "Ping and Pong") for a rousing and inspiring pep talk.

Excited about returning to our "hot, sweaty environment," she gravitated to food preparation and has become the undisputed mistress of filleting. When you have a bunch of picky little turtles that demand a meal with no bones, somebody has to make it happen.

Knife in hand, Alyson tackles the catch of the day and serves it up to our patients, hardly ever having one of her customers complain or return their dinner to the chef. She also enjoys doing something many of us find a little fearsome, working with our temperamental water filtration system.

At first, "it all looked overwhelming," to her but now it's like second nature. Nothing shows off our turtles like clear, sparkling water, and one of the reasons they look so good during open house is because Alyson keeps all those filters squeaky clean.

Although the work is pretty much what she remembered from last year, there have been a few surprises. For one thing, we have a lot more turtles, many requiring daily medical treatment. Since our building didn't miraculously expand during her absence, she's found that we have to relocate several turtles outside during open house. And she didn't realize just how fascinating our work is to the media. Every week reporters show up, camera crew in tow, ready to document life at the sea turtle hospital.

Two things have been particularly memorable for her so far. Number one was the June release and seeing some of the turtles she cared for last summer go home. The other is witnessing a sick turtle take a major step towards recovery. That emotionally overwhelming moment came when little "Wrightsville" finally accepted food from her, breaking a 3-week fast.

When she's not at the hospital, Allyson spends time just enjoying island life, especially the beach. This Wilson native returns to NC State as a junior, where she'll literally be back in the saddle as a member of their Equestrian Team. After graduation with a major in Animal Science pre-vet, she plans to continue on to grad or vet school.

Happy trails!

From "Ambassador Lennie's" journal

"Today Miss Jean, Miss Sandy and I drove to Ocean Isle Beach, (OIB.) Gloria Hillenberg and the OIB Turtle Patrol invited me to be their guest of honor at their annual Sea Turtle Day event. Since I'm the hospital's official ambassador, I was happy to accept their invitation. I rode on Miss Jean's lap and acted as the navigator - talk about the blind leading the blind! When we finally got there I could hear a lot of cheering from the crowd and I found out there were several thousand people waiting to greet us.

During the day, I could hear kids of all ages having a great time, getting their faces painted and getting special turtle tattoos. Miss Jean described some of the sand sculptures to me and they sounded really awesome. I wish I could have seen them, but because of my injury, my sight will never come back.

The OIB group also had a silent auction and all the proceeds were donated to our hospital so we can keep helping sick and injured turtles. Miss Jean said they also donated a surfboard with a hand-painted loggerhead on it to be auctioned off at our lobster dinner. I really liked everybody I met today and I can't wait to go back again next year.

PS: I thought Miss Jean's driving was pretty scary but Miss Sandy takes the experience to a whole new level!"

Got flippers - need wheels

Our turtle lady, 'Lilmar' is hoping for Christmas in July: a wheeled cart that she can use to roll her turtle stuff to and from her weekly Turtle Talks. It's not easy to transport a really big turtle shell and all the cool handouts she uses for her program, so we're appealing to our adoring public for assistance. We're thinking about something that looks like a library cart, with two shelves, and it doesn't have to be new.

If you can help save Lilmar's back please call her at: 910-328-2374 to make the necessary arrangements,(it's tax deductible).

Turtle Talks continue every Wednesday through Labor Day. This one-hour presentation, 3:45 - 4:45 pm is chock full of visuals and handouts that are appropriate for ages K-adult. Cameras are welcome and there'll be plenty of great photo ops. The site is the Surf City Community Center, JH Batts Rd. (off Rt. 210 between Docksider and Gilligans.)

Admission is free but donations for our turtles are appreciated. Please leave food and drinks in the car.

For more information call the hospital at: 910-328-3377.

Hospital open house

This year, we've had record-breaking and very generous crowds of visitors. And we've got some really neat stuff for those of you who'll be leaving us and returning to the frozen north: long sleeve T's, hoodies (sweats) and toasty fleece head bands for when the snow flies. All of our merchandise is printed or embroidered with our exclusive turtle hospital designs, so you can take a little piece of your visit home with you.

We open daily from 2:00 - 4:00 pm, except Wednesday and Sunday. We occasionally close without notice for incoming turtles and dangerous weather conditions, but generally for only a short period of time.

Please note that two incorrect phone numbers appear in various places in the "Coaster" magazine: the correct number for reporting turtle activity/strandings is: 910-470-2880. The correct number for the hospital is: 910-328-3377.

Topsail Turtle Project

Remember the old TV commercial that went something like: "you tell a friend, then they tell a friend, then they tell two friends…" Well, we had that happen last week when a family vacationing on North Topsail spotted a mama turtle coming up to nest. Now this family just happened to be friends with the family of a former summer intern, so they called them.

That family called the former intern, who in turn called one of our current interns. Our current interns, who were just finishing a meal at a local restaurant, called our Director of Beach Operations, (Terry Meyer), who in turn, called her area coordinators.

Did I lose you?

Anyway, many folks witnessed this miraculous process, except for Terry, who arrived shortly after mama finished up and headed home. But with the flurry of nesting happening here on Topsail. there's still a chance for another sighting.

As of this writing we have 63 nests, two more than the total number we had in 2007, and almost twice as many as we had at this time last year. These ladies are working hard, and you can keep track of their efforts on our website: www.seaturtlehospital.org.

Please report all sea turtle activity (nestings, strandings, injured turtles or hatchings) to our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer @ 910-470-2880.

Questions, comments or suggestions for stories: Contact me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.