Topsail Island, NC April 15, 2013: “Day is Done” Betsy Kautz, longtime hospital and Topsail Turtle Project volunteer who died in 2012 returned home last week to finally be laid to rest. Her family and friends from around the country joined together with her turtle hospital “family” at our new facility, on a very rainy Friday afternoon, to prepare Betsy for her final journey. In a few days she would be reuni ...

Topsail Island, NC March 29, 2013: Spring break? ‘Tis the season, even though you couldn’t tell it by the weather around here, for spring break. While that may mean traveling for some fun in the sun for many students there are others who made very different plans for spending their time off. Luckily for us we had that second group: a dozen students (and their two program advisors) from the Integrated Life S ...

Topsail Island, NC - We had a lot of sticks and stones and other “stuff” on our property after several years of construction activity at our new sea turtle hospital. So while the inside was finally looking good, well, the outside not so much. And to get our certificate of occupancy from the town we needed to have the landscaping in place. We were stuck between a rock and more rocks! Now it didn’t seem right ...

BEAUFORT, NC Jan. 7, 2013 — 2012 was a good year for sea turtle nesting on North Carolina’s coast. From late April until mid-September,sea turtles laid 1,103 nests along North Carolina’s coast — up from 967 in the previous year and 883 in 2010. This nesting season’s numbers were the second highest since biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission began statewide tracking of nests in the mid-90s, ...

Spotlight on Olivia Gaitros Topsail Beach, NC - People tell us all the time that they’ve always loved sea turtles. In the case of summer intern Olivia Gaitros, she put her feet in the sand to prove it when she began working the beach on Figure Eight Island at the tender age of nine. Over the years she was mentored by their sea turtle whisperer, Charlie Baker, and as she matured and gained knowledge she assu ...

RALEIGH — The four state Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor Commission will meet on Friday, Aug. 17, in Wilmington.  The 10 a.m. meeting will convene at the International Longshoreman’s Association 1426 Hall, 1305 South Fifth St.  The publ... ...

“I’m Safe” feature lets people alert their loved ones with a push of a button Eastern NC, August 1, 2012 — The American Red Cross today launched its official Hurricane App, putting lifesaving information right in the hands of people who live in or who visit hurricane prone areas. This free app is the second in a series to be created by the American Red Cross, the nation’s leader in emergency preparedness, f ...

Spotlight on Danielle O’Farrell Even the Golden Gate Bridge can get old after awhile, according to our San Francisco native, Danielle O’Farrell. In her quest to see what life was like on our side of the country. she headed off to Tufts University near Boston last fall where she began her studies in child development. After completing her freshman year, she charted a course south to Hampstead where she’s bee ...

We did it again! Rescue, rehabilitate, release; it’s what we do! And if you’re a sea turtle, the very best part of what we do is release. That’s what happened to fourteen fully rehabilitated patients on June 6th. After spending from several years to just a few short months under our care, six large Loggerheads, two small Greens and six Kemp’s of varying sizes were given a hearty breakfast, a farewell ceremo ...

Hospital opens June 8th! You’ve been calling, e-mailing, tweeting and banging on our doors and windows for months. On Friday, June 8th we’ll be able to do something we haven’t done since last October; open our doors and invite you in! Tours will be held from 2-4 PM daily (EXCEPT Wednesdays and Sundays.) Our gift shop will also be open, and we’ve restocked our inventory with plenty of exclusive turtle hospit ...