St. Thomas, USVI 11/29/2009

Sunday 11/29/09 - Turtle Encounter at Coral World, Latitude 18

We got up at around 9 o'clock and had coffee, cereal, and orange juice. We texted back and forth with Marty a few times. He was feeling better today and would be joining us on our visit to Coral World.

We listened to music on the Limin' Cooler and I typed up more notes on the netbook, another relaxing liesurely morning at the homestead. Craig and Steve cooked up some leftover calzone for lunch. Marty came over at around noon, and at 12:30 we packed into the Yaris and headed to Coral World Ocean Park. After 8 years of coming to St. Thomas and looking at the place from next door Coki Point Beach, we were finally going to visit, after having seen their Turtle Encounter on a TV show. We had made reservations over the phone for Craig, Steve, and I to do the Turtle Encounter. Marty had never been to Coral World either, so he decided to go with us and check it out.

We parked in the Coral World lot and then went in to the park. We checked out the outdoor shark tanks where the nurse sharks were all piled up on top of one another in one little corner. The tank is plenty big, but for some reason they insisted on huddling together in a pile. Stingrays would swim up against the glass and we could see their white underbellies and vacuous mouths. An igana walked by the edge of the tank.

We checked in at 1 pm for our 1:30 Turtle Encounter, and we were able to add Marty on to the reservation. We had half an hour to wander around before the Encounter. We went into the dome-shaped observatory and took the stairs down to the undersea portion. It was extremely stuffy and humid, and we could only stay in there so long. But we got a great view of huge, dense schools of small, shimmering, silver fish. against the glass and we could see their white underbellies and vacuous mouths. An igana walked by the edge of the tank.

We went outside and walked across the bridge to two little rocky grottoes with green sea turtles in them, and we watched the turtles for a while, suspecting that this is where our Turtle Encounter would be held.

At 1:30 we met Erica, a marine biologist who spent half an hour teaching us about green sea turtles and explaining the procedure for getting into the pools with them. At 2 o'clock we headed over the the turtles' salt water grotto, which is separated from the wider ocean by a rocky wall. They gave us closed-toed water shoes, and we put them on and climbed into the water. The water was a little higher than our waists. We all stood with our backs against the ocean wall and met the two turtles, Duncan (male) and Chelonia (female). It was Duncan who had been really swimming around a lot while we were watching them from afar, whereas Chelonia had just stayed still under the water.

Erica explained that Duncan is more social, and she wasn't even sure if Chelonia would greet us, but she did. The turtles were swimming counterclockwise around the grotto, and they brushed up against us as they swam by. Erica pulled on them gently so that they didn't crush us against the wall. They are each 12 years old, and they had been rescued and rehabilited by Coral World. We touched their shells and flippers as they swam by. The shells are made of keratin and their flippers are scaly. They have extra skin which bunches up around their necks. Erica told us that they are unable to pull their limbs into their shells. They tried to scoot behind us, between our bodies and the wall. When they got too close Erica gently pulled them away and taught us how to gently push them and they move easily. One of them nipped at my underwater camera once, but otherwise they never tried to bite us or anything.

We were in the water for 25 minutes, and then Erica had to go feed the fish in some of the other tanks. She rushed off as we changed out of our water shoes. We went inside one of the buildings and watched scuba dive to feed the stingrays in the indoor tank. The stingrays do tricks and spin around like pinwheels with their bellies facing the glass.

We went back to the turtle grottoes and saw some employees feeding the turtles heads of lettuce, kale, sliced tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables. They give them squid as well. They told us that turtles don't drink water; they get all of their hydration from food. We then wandered around looking at other exhibits. There were lorikeet birds in a mesh enclosure. There was a tide pool where you could examine and touch starfish, urchins, and sea cucumbers. It was teh kind of thing a little kid would love, and we four adults sure enjoyed it.

Then we went inside a building which had many small aquarium tanks inset into the walls. We saw a really cool organism and we couldn't tell if it was animal or plant. It had tentacles that looked like they were made of bubbles. We saw some small seahorses which are comouflaged so that they look like seaweed. One tank had very tiny turtles which were only a few inches long. They were swimming around. They had been rescued and were being rehabilitated.

Erica appeared and said she wanted to show us something. She went into the back and came out carrying a little baby green sea turtle who was born on Wednesday. She and some other marine biologists had been monitoring the nest, and after all the babies had emerged, this little guy was still in the nest with a broken front fin. He wouldn't have survived, so Erica took him and has been caring for him. He was wrapped in a little piece of white paper to keep his broken fin in place along his carapace (he is in "dry dock", as Erica said). She calls him Burrito because he is all wrapped up. He was in a little tupperware container on a facecloth with a little bit of water. He will probably take 3-4 weeks to heal. He was so cute! Erica said that the Ritz Hotel has a boat that they let the Coral World staff use to get to various turtle nesting sites.

We went into a dark room lit with a black light and saw some coral which reflects infrared light into visible light, making them glow. By now it was 4:30, and the place was shutting down. On our way out, we looked at the stingrays one more time and then headed back to the car. It had been a very interesting visit and we had learned a lot about the marine life of the area.

We stopped at Marina Market and bought zucchini bread and snacks to bring back to the hotel. Back at the room, Craig and Marty split a turkey, cheddar, and bacon sub, while I heated up my leftover calzone. We went outside to watch sunset from the porch. The sliding glass doors acted as perfect mirrors of the sunset. We started to play Pass the Pigs on our porch, but it was too dark, so we headed inside. We played up to 500. Marty kept "pigging out" (losing a turn), Steve got two "oinkers" (lose all points), I got 3 "oinkers", and Marty got one "oinker". Craig (the only one not to get an "oinker" at all) won. Marty was yawning like crazy and decided to head home.

At around 8 o'clock, Craig, Steve, and I headed to Latitude 18 for some dinner and music. There was a sign saying that the road would be closed on an upcoming day so that they could install another section of concrete onto the partially dirt road. It could use it. Every time we drive down there we laugh that it looks like you are in the complete middle of nowhere, and the road looks like it doesn't lead to anywhere civilized.

We sat at a table right on the water and had a great view across the water to Red Hook. People pulled up to the wharf in dinghies, tied up, and came to the restaurant. We ordered two rounds of painkillers and the special: ribeye with carmelized onion sauce, au gratin potatoes, and fresh veggies. It was a huge steak and very delicious. As usual, live music was playing; there was a guitarist and bassist, and we had fun listening to the music and listening to the small waves lap against the dock.

We got home at around 9:45 and watched the Vikings vs Ravens on Sunday Night Football. We fell asleep watching it and eventually went to bed at 11:45. Craig heard a lot of noises from upstairs during the night, but I slept through it.