Honoring the Ancient Guardians of the Sea

Sea turtles have been gliding through Earth’s oceans for more than 100 million years — long before humans, long before the continents looked the way they do today. These ancient mariners include seven species: green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and the Olive ridley. The mighty leatherback holds the title of the largest of them all.

Sadly, nearly every species now faces danger. Hawksbills and Kemp’s ridleys sit at the edge of extinction as marine debris, habitat destruction, and poaching continue to threaten their survival.

The Honu, Sacred Turtles of Hawaii

snuba at Turtletown 2020

In Hawaii, people honor sea turtles as sacred beings. Five species live in Hawaiian waters: the green sea turtle (honu), the hawksbill (Honuʻea or ʻea) , the leatherback, the loggerhead, and the Olive Ridley.

Sea turtles are gentle giants, drifting with the currents and living quietly for 50–100 years — unless humans interfere. Their favorite meal is jellyfish, but our plastic addiction has turned the ocean into a minefield. Floating plastic bags look like jellyfish, and when a turtle swallows one, it fills their stomach and blocks real food. The result is slow, heartbreaking starvation.

On World Sea Turtle Day, let’s honor these ancient travelers by protecting the oceans they call home. Reduce plastic use, keep beaches clean, and give sea turtles the space and respect they deserve. The seas belong to them too — and they’ve been here far longer than we have.

Theater Of The Sea

Theater of the Sea is located on Islamorada in the Florida Keys. It’s a Marine Mammal Park. I read the web site but I was still a bit overwhelmed with the choices. You have general admission, swim with Dolphins, wade with dolphins, and meet the dolphin. If dolphins aren’t your preferred mammal then you can swim with a sea lion. Are reptiles more your speed? Then you can sign up to feed and interact with a sea turtle. So many choices, so little time. Plus your choices can really eat into your budget. Each interaction will add on $65.00 – $200.00. I just couldn’t decide.

General Admission

I was excited to be going to Theater of the Sea. I’d been thinking about swimming with Dolphins since I missed out when I went to Nassau many trips ago. But how to choose between Swimming, wading or meeting the dolphins? I decided to test the waters by sticking to a general admission ticket. A general admission ticket was only $40.00 ($39.95) and offers dolphin, sea lion, and parrot shows, a bottomless boat ride, a lagoon-side beach, as well as a fish and reptile tour with tropical fish, sharks, sea turtles, stingrays, alligators, and crocodiles. It sounded like I’d cover all of the options.

Arrive Early

The Box office opens at 9:30 am and I was there on the dot. There were only a few cars in the lot when I arrived. You enter through the gift shop. The clerk gave me a friendly greeting and took my money for the general admission. She told me the shows are continuous so I could join in or drop out at any time. I could rejoin any that I missed.

Theater of the Sea

I caught up with the fish and reptile tour first. Alligators and crocodiles, loads of sea turtles, the tour was fun and informative. At each enclosure the guide stopped to spend time with the animal. The animals all recognized what was coming- food! They were all hand fed by the guide.

Theater of the sea