San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge has a residential group of approximately 60 protected Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtles. No one knows how they got here, but it is assumed they were caught many decades ago in Mexico, brought to the bay alive, and escaped from fishing pens, prior to being slaughtered. They settled successfully in the bay due to waters that are artificially warmed by nearby industry.
This is the only area on the west coast of the US where green sea turtles are known to congregate and thrive.
These turtles are an endangered species due to habitat destruction, illegal poaching, inadvertent fish netting, boat strikes, and plastic ingestion.
San Diego Bay Wildlife Refuge is one of the few safe sanctuaries for these peaceful and VERY large turtles. The largest turtle ever measured here weighed 530 lbs, which is the largest known green turtle in the Eastern Pacific.
There is a rehab, rescue and education center in the refuge, where injured and rescued native wildlife are cared for, including a small number of green sea turtles. The center provides education on the pressing need for conservation of native species and is open to visitors.
I was amazed at how friendly the turtles are!
They swim to the sides of their plexiglass tank to interact and seem genuinely happy to goof around with you!
Cheers to you from the magnificent, goofy & gregarious, seriously endangered Pacific Green Sea Turtles.
Do you want to imagine the world without them? Do you want the Trump administration to repeal existing environmental and vulnerable species protections?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
For more info: https://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx?Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=212&id=4378
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What beauties…
On behalf of the 🐢🐢🐢, I thank you!!!
Beautiful series of photos
love it very much !
The 🐢🐢🐢 and I are so glad you do!
Teenage mutant ninja turtle ha
Exactly! These 🐢🐢 grow big near industrial outflow! Great comparison. Thanks!
“Got any lettuce?” 🙂 EVERYONE must email, call, write as often as they can to protest any change to environmental protections! All Our Relations are counting on us!!!
I agree and hope that we can do even more, but don’t what that will look like now. I am signing petitions continuously. We do need to stand up to Putin’s President and we need to do it effectively.
Wonderful! 🙂 Fascinating photos.
The 🐢🐢🐢 and I thank you!
😉
Another endangered gorgeous creature. When will we learn to learn to respect every life form?
Probably right after it is irretrievably too late! 🐢
I fear so too.
These are such beautiful pictures – I wonder if they would make great swimming buddies?
My kids and I have swum with them in the wild. They are awesome to swim with! We have watched them on coral reefs get cleaned by tropical fish and have seen them eating jelly fish and diving mid-ocean. I love them! 🐢🐢
I am glad they found a place in US west cost to live. I like their eyes. They are big and round. That make them look so cute.
I had no idea they were so sociable and interactive. Animals are so much more intelligent than we like to admit! 🐢
Such beautiful, graceful and majestic creatures.
Thank you for seeing them as I do! 🐢🐢 <3
Your photos of these magnificent turtles are very beautiful, Cindy! It is fortunate that they colonized the abnormally warm waters due to human activity, giving them a refuge.
It is fascinating how nature finds a way around obstacles isn’t it. Scientists estimate the first green sea turtle may have been released in San Diego Bay in 1850! 🐢
Brava! Had to share…thank you for this.
Ahhhh, the 🐢🐢🐢 and I are grateful Laura! <3
We definitely need magical animals like this in our world. Thanks for sharing the photographs.
Thank you for knowing and caring! 🐢🐢 <3 <3
Beautiful.
Merci beaucoup mon ami!
Truly wonderful! And I never knew they got that big.
They are really big and the photos can’t really communicate the size!
Pretty creatures, Cindy. It’s hard to get an idea of how huge they are. I’ve scuba dived with sea turtles, smaller ones, and it’s amazing how graceful they are. You’re right about their natural playfulness and curiosity. I hope their numbers increase.
They are amazingly beautiful to swim with aren’t they and so BIG that when you first see them you are scared until you see how peaceful they are. They don’t breed in the bay and the status of all ocean swimming big turtles is precarious, They keep getting caught in nets and suffocating on plastic.
So sad. 🙁
Yes.
Gorgeous creatures!
Thank you! I love think so too. 🐢🐢
Beautiful turtles… These together with others like the leatherbacks and hawksbills come to nest on our islands every year…
So incredible! I would love to see the hatching which I never have. I have seen the nests, but never the hatching. The size of the leatherbacks is just remarkable. They are like massive living dinosaurs. How wonderful to have them around you! 🐢🐢
Yes it’s marvelous I once saw a leatherback about the size of a car, that was amazing… Thanks for sharing the pics 🙂
Lovely photos Cindy.
Leslie
The 🐢🐢🐢 and I thank you!
😉
Cindy, thanks for using your vast network of followers to highlight an environmental issue.
Thank you more for noticing and caring! 🐢 <3
Thank you for bringing this into our radar Cindy! Also great pics as usual – until you mentioned the tank, I thought you were swimming right there with them!
I wish! I have never seen them when swimming in San Diego waters, however I have in tropical seas. I would be thrilled out of my gourd to swim with them in San Diego! 🐢🐢
omgoddess…i’m in love with these turtles!!! such pristine pics!!!
Aren’t they just awesome creatures! I could not get over how much they wanted to play, goof around, and interact! This really surprised me, although it shouldn’t anymore, animals are so much more sentient than we are comfortable admitting. So happy you love them too! Thank you~ 🐢🐢
i loved swimming with them in Hawaii and Maui…just awesome buddies!! they r the navigators according to Polynesian legends…
Let’s hope that dismantling environmental laws will be lower on the list so that sufficient people can be rallied.
I suppose bad things can yield positive outcomes if people get mobilized and concerned enough. It is our only world after all and they turtles are ancient creatures. 🐢🐢
and they deserve so much more…
<3 🐢
It’s too bad these turtles are endangered species. 🙂
Sad. We need to do a much better job caring for this planet and all the people and creatures on it. <3
As a native San Diegan, I had no idea this refuge existed! Thanks for the tip… I’ll go check it out. I too am wary of the incoming administration and its short-sighted, ill-conceived goals.
I first went here in 1989 with my son in a stroller! I am a native La Jollan and I remember as a kid restaurants had live turtles on their backs waiting for slaughter because turtle meat apparently only tasted good fresh. It bothered me so much to see these up-ended turtles waving their legs unable to turn over. Thinking of it still bugs me. It is worth a visit to the refuge because it is a unique ecosystem right in the midst of all the industrial blight and don’t feel bad about not knowing of it, it’s small and not a well known place.
Reblogged this on Random Ramblings; Myriad Musings and commented:
Conservation of the environment and wildlife has always been important to me. With the new administration coming in and set to repeal necessary protections, it is more important than ever. I’d hate to see a world without these magnificent turtles, among other species!
Thank you for knowing, caring and sharing my friend. <3 These are such ancient creatures that swim up to 1500 miles a year. I want them to stay and thrive on this planet, not be annihilated by human ignorance. 🐢🐢
Agreed – they are fascinating, wonderful, beautiful creatures! It’s frustrating that human ignorance still contributes to the endangerment of these, and other, fantastic critters.
We are in complete accord. 🐢 <3
Beautiful pictures of these stunning creatures that we have to preserve whatever it costs.
Thank you! Yes!! We do! <3 <3 🐢🐢
They are so majestic and peaceful, can’t understand why anyone would ever harm them. Beautiful shots 🙂
Gentle, playful, ancient deep sea giants. I so agree with you. Thank you! 🐢🐢 <3 <3
Thank you so much for sharing your photos of these beautiful beings with us! In my past, when I lived closer to the ocean, had the opportunity to spend time with beings like this and it is very humbling. They are very wise.
Wonderful that you can know this and I agree with you. Their navigational abilities alone are beyond remarkable. They travel thousands of miles and return to the same nesting spot year after year if they are able to survive. Remarkable creatures. 🐢🐢
Impressive and beautiful creatures Cindy. How long are they, maybe a meter / 3 feet perhaps?
I would guess bigger than that, 4.5 feet maybe? They are not full grown, but their size is still impressive! 🐢🐢
I love these! We must not allow Wall Street greed and an ignorant president to care she these beauties to die out. Vigilance is the key word.
Thank you for saying just what I feel. Putin’s president should not be allowed to wreck our country or the world! 🐢🐢
What a beauty, I love your photos.
Visa versa 2UX2! I love all your birds and your photos my friend~
Ah, lovely!
I love purple who think 🐢🐢 are lovely! <3
Great post, Cindy. Green sea turtles are so wonderful but also vulnerable, it’s great to hear about the SD Bay refuge. Your photos reflect the beauty and wisdom of this remarkable creature, and your words are appreciated for emphasizing the importance of their survival. Thanks so much.
Aww, thank you my friend for being a friend of this planet and all the people and creatures on it! 🐢🐢🌎🌎 <3 <3
I was going to make a disparaging remark about the soon to be Trump administration but thought better of it. But since you asked, we have no idea how many years of progress we will be set back by him and his cohorts who don’t believe in public education, the right to choose, endangered species, climate change, preservation of natural resources and on and on. Nothing will be safe except for the worst of capitalism. Obviously I’m anti-Trump. But I’m pro-turtle!
And the 🐢🐢 the🌎 and I love you for it! Thank you my friend. These are dangerous times~ <3
I feel like any day there could be a knock on my door….
I hear you and I think you have good reason to feel this way~
Cindy: I just listed a rehab for turtles in Boca Raton-Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. We actually witnessed medic taking a fishing hook out of the mouth of one. It was sad and yet hopeful that these creatures are being found, rescued and cared for. The photos are stunning!
Yes, hope floats! Thank you for sharing the info on Boca Raton’s 🐢rescue. The people, creatures, and 🌎, need our help, our concern and our active love. <3
meant visited not listed
Just remember I am the queen of the typos and I have never met a typo I don’t respect! <3
Schildkröten sind sooooo interessante Tiere und deine Fotos wie immer ganz große Klasse !!!
Ihre Freundlichkeit und Ausgeglichenheit wird sehr geschatzt! Vielen Dank! 🐢
🐢
🙂 Die zwei sind auch nett 🙂
<3 <3
The turtles are very cute. I wanted you to know that I’ve featured you in my latest post. I would appreciate it if you checked it out!
https://memyselfandthecamera.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/10-amazing-photography-bloggers-you-have-to-see/
So massive and so pretty!
Melanie
http://www.adventure57.com
Wonderful to see them in water and swimming! Cool captures.
Thank you for the post, Cindy. 🙂
Thank you for appreciating the 🐢🐢 Amy & cheers to you!
Great photos of beautiful creatures. We keep trying to educate but it seems to be going out one ear into someones pocket. Don’t even get me started on that sociopath. I’m trying to feel better since the election and am needing to keep the TV off to keep my blood pressure down. We have lost so much to greed that it’s heart wrenching.
A psychiatrist I respect wrote a piece recommending watching the news once a week to prevent the depression, anger and anxiety befalling his patients post the Trumpest. Stella Resnick, a sex therapist in LA has published on “The Trump Effect,” which is a decline in sexual desire among her married female patient’s since the Trumpest’s election. They are feeling rather put off men I guess. So you are not alone by a long shot. I just think of Trump as Putin’s president and we are all going to get a taste of soviet life, God help us!
I see a Hitler reincarnate. You have no idea how frightened I was. I’m trying to focus on the good in the world. I tape the news and watch fast forward with no sound. I see what I need to and let the rest vanish. A lot of good people voted for him thinking he would make it better. Oh, well. Glad I’m old and have no grandchildren. 🙁
I hear you and I know that there are so many of us fighting despondency over how far backwards we are sliding. Hugs to you and it is not over yet! Not by a long shot! <3 <3
How wonderful to see these beautiful turtles. I’m so excited about it. Thank you so much. And I think we should put trump in polluted water for about, um 80 years and let the turtles stay safe. He’s pretty much uneducated and insane.
“put trump in polluted water for about, um 80 years and let the turtles stay safe.”
This of course, is why the 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢, and I, and all thinking, feeling people, on this planet love you! <3 <3
Superb photos Cindy.
Sad to hear that these great turtles are endangered, but like many other creatures of the wild, unless dedicated people make the effort to protect them, we’ll probably end up with another extinct species.
Pathetic isn’t it. I wonder what the results would be if an effort were made to measure the human species cumulative impact on this planet, both good and bad. I suspect I may know the direction the results would lead and they are not complementary to our species.
Beautiful turtle, fabulous captures!
I don’t want that man to do anything. I want to wake up in an alternate reality. Thank you for asking 😉
You and me both. Westworld would be better than this reality!
I haven’t watched it, but I’ll take your word.
<3
And they never worry about losing weight as a New Years resolution!! Such beautiful creatures! We live within miracles.
Unlike yours truly who is still trying to lose my gift of the Christmas 3, bah Humbug!!! 😉
Hugs!! Heading out for my walk. The scale is being its usual contrary self.
*#+&% scale!!!! 😉
I’d love to see these beautiful creatures continue to be protected, for sure. I had the distinct and amazing pleasure of swimming with sea turtles in Hawaii in several places where we snorkeled. They were unperturbed by our presence and just swam alongside us.
Yes, it is amazing isn’t it. Gentle, calm, curious, giants. To swim with them is to love them! 🐢
Love!
Alison
<3
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I have two (much smaller) turtles of my own and they are such colourful characters and follow us around like Puppies, they are cheeky, playful and so much fun. I can only imagine them as giant sea turtles lol. Amazing pics Cindy
I had a desert tortoise as a kid. They are almost extinct now where they used to thrive. They are such fun!
a desert tortoise? wow I didn’t realise there was even such a thing? How do they cope, aren’t they amphibian?
Tortoises and turtles are both reptiles. Tortoises like the giant Galapagos tortoise, and a variety of other tortoises are land dwellers, turtles are aquatic or semi aquatic. They are the same family, but one lives on land, the other mostly in water.
mmmmm yes you are quite right, my turtles mostly spend all their time in the water, I have never really known a tortoise
These could be some of the best close-ups of sea turtles I’ve ever seen. thanks for moving in and getting the best shots!
Ah thank you! It truly was a huge challenge. The tanks were extremely scratched and not at all clear, so your comments mean a lot to me. Thank you!
Beautiful!
Thank you! All creatures great & small are such~
You’re welcome. I agree. Blessings and peace!😊💖✌
<3