Ben A.
Yelp
During our summer vacation, we visited Jekyll Island for two reasons: first, my wife is a huge Walking Dead fan, so we had to see the beach where Oceanside was staged; and two, the kids were really looking forward to visiting the Georgia sea turtle rescue center.
After purchasing tickets, online, we arrived right about the same time as a huge thunderstorm. Being from Southern California, where we don't get lightning, but once or twice a year, we actually enjoyed nature's light show. As we ran from our rental car to the front door.
Once inside, we noted that the majority of square footage seems to be dedicated to their retail operation, with all sorts of turtle gifts, T-shirts, stuffed animals, and other assorted stuff that you wouldn't probably by unless you were on vacation.
Passing through the gift shop, we entered the museum and display portion of the program. Several educational displays are placed around a room about the size of a Denny's restaurant. There was one tank with a small sea turtle in it, a couple of video game screens that simulated a turtle trying to cross the road... Think Frogger. A few model turtles hanging from the ceiling, and various displays that assigned different levels of responsibility for turtle mortality, to fisherman, litter bugs, urban sprawl, and coastal development. Thank God, my home state of California has banned drinking straws.
Outside, there is the "hospital" portion of the tour -- a large covered area, features several tanks with assorted injured and recovering sea turtles floating around in them. One docent was making a brief presentation about the different C turtles in the facility, and a few others were busy in themselves with addressing the needs of the other resident Tortugas.
A couple of enclosures outside for gopher, tortoises, and box turtles did not show any actual animals, but presumably, they were hiding out as turtles tend to do.
Honestly, this place was just OK for me. They're doing good work, and they truly are putting their heart and soul into helping these beautiful creatures, but as marine, aquariums or museums, go, I put this place down the list from any number of aquariums, at least, from the standpoint of a kid coming in to see critters.
Not a bad stop on our trip, but did not live up to our expectations. Still, this facility seems to be doing extraordinary work of preserving and restoring habitat, as well as rehabilitate in wildlife, and returning it to the sea. Far superior to a lot of pinniped rescue operations in California.