Since retiring, I try and to stand by the 3 Rs- Relaxation, Reflection, and Rejuvenation. Well, I have found an organization that also practices the 3 Rs – Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Release. That is the goal of The Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida. The center is a sea turtle research, rehabilitation, education, and conservation center. The Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s mission is to promote the conservation of ocean ecosystems with a special focus on sea turtles. Its facilities include a sea turtle hospital, a research laboratory, and exhibit areas that include live sea turtles and other coastal creatures.

Education at Loggerhead Marinelife Center

The Exhibit Hall at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center has aquariums that guide you through Florida’s ecosystems. Explore Florida’s underwater habitats and learn about local fish, corals, and invasive species like the Lion Fish.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center also has a Digital Reef that is quite popular with the younger crowd. Visitors are encouraged to create a three-dimensional sea creature through a touchscreen coloring application. The finished aquatic animal is sent to the Digital Reef where it joins other unique animals created by guests! Some of our newest residents at Loggerhead are the Moon Jellyfishes.

The exhibit also includes a replica of the fossilized skeleton of an extinct sea turtle that is over 13 feet long.

Rehabilitation at Loggerhead Marinelife Center

Outside is the rehabilitation center where you will find numerous tanks of sea turtles that are receiving treatment and are recovering. Each turtle is named and has a brief description of why they are being treated. This sea turtle hospital offers the opportunity to watch ocean conservation in action and lets guests get up close to threatened and endangered sea turtles. From new hatchlings to older turtles being treated for injuries, a variety of patients are on display in open outdoor tanks.

The goal for each sea turtle rescued and receiving treatment is to be rehabilitated and released back into the ocean. A turtle release brings out quite a crowd when they are released back into the ocean. “Big Chase” heads back to the sea after a successful recovery.

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center offers every possible way to get its message out to the younger generation. The center educates students and the community about our coastal ecosystems and the simple ways we can help to protect the environment. One of the simplest ways to help would be to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Sea Turtle Health Center

The Veterinary Center allows the Loggerhead Marinelife Center to provide immediate on-site medical, surgical, and diagnostic treatments to sea turtles. Loggerhead turtles are treated from hatchlings – juveniles to adults – with conditions arising from buoyancy problems, cold stunning, capture in nets and longlines, cranial and other trauma, ingesting foreign bodies such as hooks and plastic debris mistaken for jellyfish, and contamination from oil/tar pollution. 

Sea Turtles at Risk

Turtles will ingest plastic litter and debris or become entangled in debris that causes the death of thousands of sea turtles each year. Turtles become sick or die from eating plastic bags and balloons floating in the water, which sea turtles mistake for one of their main food sources, jellyfish. The capture of sea turtles in the nets of the commercial fishing industry is also an important threat to survival. 

Sea Turtle Nesting Season

Turtles nest along the Florida coast from March to October, swimming as many as 2,000 miles to reach their nesting grounds. The more than 100 eggs deposited in a turtle nest will hatch in about 60 days if undisturbed, and the hatchlings will have to reach the water before the sun and predators take their toll. 

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center rescues stranded turtles, including turtle hatchlings distracted by light, causing them to head away from shore. Juno Beach is one of the most active turtle-nesting beaches in the world. The center also manages the Juno Beach Fishing Pier.

The center offers guided hikes, tours, stargazing, and evening turtle walks. It’s an easy way to watch sea turtles journey out from ocean waves and onto the shore for nesting time, and it’s safe for families as well as the turtles. Reserve a spot early – walks fill up fast.

Ways you can help:

• Throw away trash and debris left behind on the beach
• Fill in holes in the sand which may obstruct a sea turtle’s path to and from the ocean
• Observe a nesting sea turtle from a distance behind
• Look out for disoriented hatchlings on trails and roads near the beach
• Keep your Lights Out near the beach or install sea turtle-friendly lighting
• Bring weak or confused hatchlings to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center

Expansion

The center has added a $14 million dollar expansion that more than doubled the size of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. This includes a bigger hospital and research facilities, more classrooms, an auditorium, a Discovery Zone interactive exhibit hall, and an amphitheater. There is an outdoor cafe and a hall with flexible space for public and private events. 

Gift Shop

Make sure to stop by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center Gift Store on the way out. All the proceeds from your purchases support programs and sea turtle patients. Browse our assorted selection of turtle-related mugs, shirts, and jewelry. It’s like a sea turtle department store.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center is located 200 yards from the Atlantic Ocean in Loggerhead Park at 14200 U.S. Hwy. 1, Juno Beach, Florida. Open daily from 10 – 5 pm. Admission is FREE but they do accept donations. Suggested donations are $5 for adults.

After spending the morning at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, it was time for lunch. You can grab a sandwich, salad, or pizza at the Tortuga Café, Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s campus eatery, or you can head to a nearby eatery.

The town of Juno Beach has many wonderful places to eat. Since we had coastal on our minds, we decided to go for Surf Taco’s Coastal Cuisine. I had the Surf Taco and the Mahi Taco. Both were excellent choices. Surf Taco is in the shopping center across from the Juno Beach Pier. They offer a great variety of tacos as well as burritos, wraps, and salads.

Visiting the turtles at Loggerhead Marinelife Center was a fun way to learn about these amazing sea animals and we highly recommend a trip to their center at Juno Beach.