No - this isn't a photo from our section of beach along the Atlantic coast. Things have been rather slow relative to the sea turtle nests on our beach since many of the nests were destroyed by the waves of a previous hurricane that passed by our coast way, hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic. We only have about 7 nests remaining that we are quite certain will produce hatchlings. Most of the other nests have either been destroyed by the waves (approximately 9) or have already hatched (approximately 16). The stakes and ribbon of one nest that we had been keeping track of were recently pulled by the staff of EAI, Inc. - no evidence of any hatchlings (tracks or other evidence of hatching), but probably just because the "due date" for the nest to hatch (we had calculated that it would have been 60 days of incubation around 9/9/10) has passed, so they may have decided that it either wasn't going to hatch, or it was a "false" nest. It appeared that they had dug up the nest to confirm their theory.

As for the two photos embedded in this posting, our family recently had an opportunity to visit the Florida Oceanographic Society facility in Stuart, FL, to view and "pet" some small "stingrays" in their small sea water tank, and see some of the larger specimens of fish, stingrays, and sharks in their outdoor seawater "lagoon". Of special interest this time was the addition of "Turtwig", a 100 lb. green sea turtle (see photos) to the lagoon. Turtwig was donated in July to the Florida Oceanographic Society from theLoggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, FL. Turtwig arrived at LMC in August of 2009 after some special care. He had been injured by a propeller and has difficulty maneuvering because of some damage to his shell and hind flippers. He will spend the rest of his life at the Florida Oceanographic Society because of his permanent injuries, but he is being "target-trained" (as seen in the photo) to swim toward the trainer when she shows a blue circle in the water. In order to get his "treats" (carrots, lettuce, brocolli, etc.) he must swim toward and touch the "blue circle" at the end of a plastic pipe. This training will ensure that he will also get his needed medications and vitamins every day.