We Released Baby Turtles into the Ocean! What an Experience!

23 January, 2023 travelingourpurdyworld 0 Comments 1 category

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Retirement – A GREAT Reason to Celebrate!

What a great accomplishment that many of us look forward to! In the summer of 2022 my Aunt Debbie was finally able to put RETIRED on her resume. A well-deserved accomplishment that should be celebrated.. AND WE DID! My Aunt Debbie, my amazing cousin Sami (her daughter), and I (Megan) celebrated by taking a girls trip to Juno, Florida to participate in an once-in-a-lifetime experience – releasing baby turtles into the ocean!

Below is how we ate, drank, and bonded during our weekend trip to Juno, Florida!

Hampton Inn Jupiter/Juno Beach

Although on a highway; this hotel was in a great location – easy to get to from the airport (West Palm Beach), easily walkable (sidewalks, restaurants, convenience stores, beach, and Loggerhead Marinelife Center within walking distance), and a plethora of shopping within a few miles.

The hotel had everything we needed to include a swimming pool (with a few lounge chairs), complimentary hot breakfast, and nice new rooms. Just a note, I would not recommend reserving a room with a balcony as the balcony was very small and overlooked the parking lot (not what you are hoping for when visiting Florida).

We definitely put in our steps at this hotel as it was very walkable.

Need souvenirs or toiletries? – There is a CVS within a block
Need dinner? – There are several restaurants/bars within a block
Going to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center? – It is a few blocks away but definitely walkable
Want to go to the beach? – It is only about 5 minutes away. Please note, when we visited the beach, it was not what we would consider a very beautiful beach. There was a lot of seaweed and the beach sand had a black-ish tint to it, not the usual tan color.
Want to take a walk and see scenery? – If you walk about a mile to the left, you will walk to the town center (nothing there) but if you walk a little past it, there is a very scenic park with a pond equipped with picnic benches, water fountains, and a gazebo. Definitely worth the walk if you can muster the walk (and the heat).

Harbourside Place

With our short time in Juno/Jupiter, we wanted to experience everything we could; so we took a quick UBER ride to a quaint shopping center, Harbourside Place in Jupiter. This shopping center is located on the water surrounded by huge yachts and the potential to see marine life (signs for manatees). Now, it is important to note that Jupiter is a very wealthy city, so the shopping and restaurants included Tommy Bahama, fine art shops, and Tiger Woods’ restaurant to name a few.

After walking around Harbourside Place, we were feeling warm, parched and nearly not as tipsy as we would have liked, so we decided to prance our glowing selves into Tiger Woods’ restaurant called ‘The Woods’ to grab an adult beverage. All 3 of us beauties sat at the bar and ordered drinks. The drinks came out fast and my, oh, my were they delicious! We enjoyed the bar vibe, the great bartender, and the amazing drinks, that we may or may not have ordered a few more drinks and lunch. The lunch came out hot and was delicious! We would definitely recommend this restaurant as a stop on your Juno/Jupiter experience!

Jetty’s Waterfront Restaurant

Another restaurant we tried was Jetty’s Waterfront Restaurant. As the restaurant title alludes to; this restaurant is on the water and provides great views of the water, lighthouse, working drawbridge, and people watching. The restaurant did get busy very fast. I would recommend arriving as soon as the restaurant opens for diner because the waitlist grew fast and the bar got very busy very fast.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center

Now, to what we came for…. releasing the baby turtles! The Loggerhead Marinelife Center is an absolutely beautiful facility and will get even better thanks to the many donors!

The facility has a few areas for children, an education room, aquariums with a lot of fish, and a beautiful museum store. Then in the evenings, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center offers turtle releases for a small fee. Be sure to reserve your dates in advance because the releases can sell out fast.

We arrived in the evening, were given about a hour-long presentation about the history of sea turtles in the education room, and then were given about half-hour presentation on what we were going to encounter that evening. When it was time to release the turtles, we were all guided outside onto the beach, told to stand in a semi-circle around the ocean, and use night-vision binoculars to watch the tiny sea turtles scoot their way to the ocean. On this very day, there were about 50 sea turtles to be released. Of the 50 sea turtles, about 15-20 did not have enough strength to get to the ocean, so the team carefully scooped them up and were going to try to release them the next day. This was such a fun experience that I would definitely do again!