Akasha Goes Home...Slowly

Saturday April 30 was a Turtle Day in Ponce Inlet, FL. Run by Marine Science Center (MSC), the event started at 10 AM at the MSC in Ponce Inlet, and ended somewhere after 3 PM after the release of a few seagulls, pelicans, and two turtles back into their natural habitat.

«The April 30 event will culminate in the likely release of an adult loggerhead sea turtle. Akasha arrived at the center Nov. 6, 2009. Akasha is a remarkable story in resilience. She was admitted to the MSC near death, with a severe head injury caused by a boat propeller. The injury not only split her skull open, but also broke her jaw in 2 places and put gashes in her shell, and also sliced her right front flipper. Her broken jaw did not allow rehabbers to tube feed her, so a feeding tube was surgically inserted through an incision in her neck. This allowed rehabbers to feed her for several months while her jaws healed. Now Akasha, who weighs nearly 165 pounds, can feed on her own. Her other injuries have healed and after 18 months, Akasha is ready to be released to the wild.»

The roads in Ponce Inlet are one lane in each direction, and the event easily created a traffic jam, making me nervous, as I did not want to miss the moment when a mature turtle rushes (in turtle speed, of course) to the ocean. Ended us with Olga taking the driver’s seat and me jumping out of the car and running to the beach leaving all cars behind.

I still was a bit late as there was a huge crowd forming a corridor from the vans that brought the animals from MSC, and it took me quite some time getting through the crowd, thanks to a camera with the Canon white telelens, so that people thought I was on official business.

The corridor started on the beach and went way into the ocean as we have shallow waters here.

First they released the seagulls, then pelicans, and then there was a turn for the Turtles. The first one was a younger and smaller, and female volunteers of MSC carried the turtle to the water. That was seamless. They put the turtle into the water and it immediately disappeared.

Akasha was a different story. A much heavier 18-month «guest» of Marine Science Center seems confused by the crowd, and once brought to water, was just laying on the sand looking around. So, the volunteers, and this time men, started pushing Akasha towards the ocean, but with not much success. So they carried the turtle a bit further to deeper water, and the turtle seems to start moving.

Then Akasha remembered all the stress the ocean caused her when she nearly died, and Akasha decided to go back. It was fun to watch how several men were trying to get the turtle to the ocean. The crowd was pleased, volunteers were trying to keep kids from running towards the turtle, which was even more difficult than to push the turtle in the right direction.

To our amazement, the pelican, released just minutes before, came back waiting for a turtle friend and was following the turtle until it disappeared in the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

There were a lot of children on the beach. They had a very important lesson in life. Lesson about life, about compassion, lesson about what it means being humans...

It was a wonderful way to spend time on the Beach in a quaint small town of Ponce Inlet at the tip of the Peninsula away from the bustling Daytona Beach... In Ponce Inlet, where there are no high-rises, no motels and hotels, and all businesses besides Marine Science Center are waterfront restaurants, and Marinas.

It is home to loggerhead turtles like Akasha, and it is a wonderful home to just over 3 thousand residents, who cherish the beauty and safety of Ponce Inlet, a small town in Florida.

A real treasure. A paradise...

By the way, I work in this Paradise called Ponce Inlet. And if you are interested in it, call me 386-405-4408.