All were excited to go see the turtles this morning at the
Cayman Turtle Center. We headed out the door around 8:30am and were hoping to
get there before 9:30am. It was located literally at the farthest point of the
island from us. I was thinking we may hit cruise ship traffic or downtown
traffic, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
This place had a tremendous amount of sea turtles. When we
first got into the place they had a massive swimming area for the larger
turtles (averaging 200lb+). A group had just arrived and they were feeding the
turtles. After I figured out where to buy the food, I purchased two bags full
and handed them to the kids. Olivia and LT started throwing what looked to be
dog pellets and the turtles were loving it. Crazy to see these massive turtles
clammering over one another to get one of the pellets.
One of the attendants told me the oldest turtle at the
center is 82 years old, weighs over 600 pounds and has laid more than 25000
eggs at the center.
They had several more stations that had turtles at different
stages of development and ages. The favorite was the smaller turtles that you
could pick up. I was told that if you held them under their bellies, it would
calm them. Although I tried it, it did not seem to work for me. As the little
guys were swimming in the pools, I noticed a turtle that folded its flippers
behind it. At first I thought it was a defect, but quickly saw that some of the
others were doing it as well. It turns out it is how they rest their flippers.
Pretty cool!
We hung in the facility for about 1.5 hours before heading out to
grab some lunch. There was a little place down the road from the facility called the Cracked Conch where we decide to belly to.
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