Sullivan's Island Property

Photo by Post and Courier

Few turtles get to experience the joy of flying. However, three lucky turtles managed to finagle a one-way ticket from Maine to South Carolina, thanks to efforts made by various groups, notably the Sullivan’s Island turtle watch group.

A 95-pound Loggerhead Turtle barely fit through the cockpit door of a small two-person, single-engine airplane. Accompanying him were two smaller Kemp’s Ridley turtles. No peanuts were served on the 1,300 mile trip from Biddleford, Maine to Charleston, South Carolina.

The loggerhead was on its way to the South Carolina Aquarium, the other to a Georgia sea turtle hospital to continue treatment after cold waters in the North Atlantic stunned them last year.

They need longer rehabilitation, and the sea turtle hospital in Maine needed to make room for a new season of distressed sea creatures. The loggerhead is also undergoing rehabilitation due to loss of bone and scutes as a result of cold water stunning. However, it is on pace to be released as early as next spring.

“Cold stuns” are an endemic problem for sea turtles when weather changes water temperature too fast for them to move farther south. They become lethargic and eventually can quit moving or die.

The Kemp’s Ridleys are an endangered species; the loggerhead is a threatened species.

The six-hour plane ride was much healthier for the sick and stressed turtles than a 25-hour car ride. The volunteer pilot, along with help from the pilot’s association and the aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital, funded much of the trip.