30 Jul Emily Tuohy, Tybee Island Marine Science Center, Week 4

My time on Tybee has come to an end. I spent as much of this past week as I could involving myself. On Monday, I watched a nest excavation. Three days after a turtle nest hatches, the science center, partnered with the Department of Natural Resources, does an inventory of the nest and all of its contents. They dig everything up, counting unhatched eggs, hatched eggs, partially hatched, and deceased hatchlings. As cool and amazing as it is to see the inside of a turtle nest, the best part is when they release the live hatchlings that didn’t make it out of the nest. It is so much more rewarding because you get to watch the active effort that people put in to help these turtles survive. I got to see a few of these excavations, often waking up early and watching the sun rise simultaneously.

Sea Camp was the same as always, but I tried to enjoy it as much as possible for my last week. One of the days, we took the 9- to 11-year-olds to the marsh. Most kids were fascinated and catching fiddler crabs, but others were hot, whiny, and uncomfortable. The other counselors and I were constantly occupied yanking out the campers’ boots from the deep, sloshy mud. The rest of the week was the same as the others, teaching campers about ocean acidification, coral bleaching, water quality, and marine life.

I also asked to do another Diamondback Terrapin feeding, which was my favorite thing I had done during my internship.

At the end of my week, my family came down to finish out my last few days with me. We went to see Grease at Savannah’s Historical Theater, climbed the Tybee Lighthouse, and ate great seafood at the restaurants that I never went to while on my own.

Watching my family experience the same sunrises and the same stretch of coast I’d come to know this past month, I was able to see, from a different perspective, how amazing this opportunity was. I am so lucky to have gone to Tybee and met the people I did.