Turtles, Turtles, Everywhere

Our first full day, we decided to start with the NOAA Sea Turtle Facility. We knew we wouldn't want to leave the beach, once we got there, but thought the turtles might be fun to see. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a facility whose function is to rebuild the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle population which is the most endangered species of sea turtle in the world. They had a barn full of turtles ranging in size from a few inches to a couple of feet long. They were very cute. Most of them looked like they'd really like to get out of there though. It's hard not to feel sorry for the little guys, but I guess the alternative is extinction, so I suppose it's a good thing.

Evan standing by one of the medium-ish guys (girls?)

Aaron and Evan giving a size comparison to the skull of an adult sea turtle.

This one wanted out more than any of them. He just kept crashing into the wall of his little "cell". He never stopped the whole time we were there.

My poor kids posing for yet another picture. The younger boys with their swimmer-bedhead hair-dos. Two out of four with decent hair in that sea air is pretty good. There will be no picture of me as my hair went totally whacko. Not a pretty picture at all!

One of the little ones. Very Nemo-ish.