US-Florida: Paddle Boat Tour Group Rescues Injured Loggerhead!
Tourist ship rescues loggerhead sea turtle near Sebastian Inlet
By Terry Galvin
staff writer
April 29, 2005
SEBASTIAN — Patrons of the morning cruise on the River Queen certainly got their money's worth late Thursday morning near the Sebastian Inlet.
A dozen members of a Red Hat Society ladies group of Sebastian were on board and they got an up close and personal look at a young loggerhead sea turtle, rescued by River Queen Capt. Kathleen Benjamin and mate Doug Bromley.
"They (the Red Hats) all were talking about what a great show they got today," River Queen Cruises owner Joanne Howard said.
"We saw him right at the Inlet. We thought it was a manatee at first until we got closer and we could see it was a loggerhead," Benjamin said.
"It had to be injured because it had trouble diving and kept bobbing back up every time it tried to dive. When we got closer, we could see it had a crack in its shell just above the tail, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to rescue it. If they (sea turtles) get a hole in their shell, the shell fills up with air and they can't dive," Bromley said.
Bromley said he tried to hoist the about 100-pound turtle onto the boat three times by himself before finally asking Benjamin to help. Between them, they finally got the loggerhead on board and took it back to Capt. Hiram's, where the River Queen is moored.
Jonathan Gorham, Indian River County coastal resource manager, met them less than a half hour later on the dock and checked the loggerhead for tumors and its injuries.
"It's not even half grown," Gorham said, "but it could be as much as 10 years old. (The shell) looks like it's healing very nicely already, so I'm sure the Fish and Wildlife Commission's turtle rehab center will find it salvageable."
Once the turtle is healthy again, Gorham said, it will be returned to where it was found and released.
Loggerheads have been known to live for more than 100 years and can exceed more than 500 pounds.
