.By Robin Tierney
Spend vacation at a hospital? Some Washington, D.C., spring-breakers called it a highlight of their recent trip to Marathon, Fla.
Sidwell Friends students hovered around surgical rooms and pools of recovering patients as Tara Vickrey led a 90-minute tour of the Turtle Hospital, the world’s first state-certified sea turtle facility.
The tour has become a popular eco-encounter in Marathon, a haven in the middle of the Keys island chain where people enjoy nature, boating and diving along Sombrero Reef.
“I take groups here to see how turtles can be healed and released back into their environment, and to make the connection how people can help protect them,” said Aaron Marine, a former Rockville, Md., resident who leads Marine Expeditions educational trips in Florida.
The Turtle Hospital occupies the former site of Fanny’s Bar and Hidden Harbor Motel, donated in 1986 by its owner. Patients, including one with a prosthetic flipper, swim in the canopied saltwater pool. Victims of boat strikes, fibropapilloma (viral tumors), and cold-stunning caused by this winter’s frigid temperatures stay isolated in tubs.
Vickrey showed photos of turtles with flippers injured and amputated after discarded fishing line twisted around them, and patients who ingested hooks and plastic debris. Protecting marine animals, said the rehab specialist, involves simple actions such as disposing of fishing lines, trap ropes, hooks, bags, balloons and trash in containers. Boaters can be mindful of speed and propellers.
The 52 current patients include Snoop, Whit’s End and Rebel. Staff and volunteers also revive injured hatchlings each summer. The hospital has treated and released more than 1,000 green sea turtles, loggerheads, hawksbills and other species.
Injured and orphaned green herons, pelicans, ospreys and sooty terns recuperate at the well-designed Marathon Wild Bird Center at Crane Point, a tropical hardwood preserve founded in 1978 by local citizens.
These facilities participate in Marathon’s annual Florida Keys Birding and Wildlife Festival. Running Sept. 22 to 26, the event will feature talks, bike tours, guided snorkeling and other activities.
Among boating celebrations is the annual Battle in the Bay Dragon Boat Festival and Race on May 8. “Godzilla,” “Blazing Paddles” and other teams will paddle beachside in 40-foot-long decorated canoes resembling ancient Chinese boats.
Marathon’s love of nature extends to its lodging, from quaint bay-view cottages to Coral Lagoon’s canal-front condos. But Marathon’s no place to rest indoors — there’s always a sanctuary or festival worth visiting.
Reach Robin Tierney at [email protected].
