My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 3 the Sea Turtle Hospital

It is now Friday, the fourth day of our journey. We are finally at the beach. The beaches in this area are very very busy but we managed to find a less congested spot. It was Topsail Beach on the southern end of Topsail Island. Topsail Island is a barrier island along the coast and is 26 miles long. We forgot our bikini's (darn) so we settled on rolling up our pants legs and walking along the sand. It was wonderful. It was not too hot and the breeze was wonderful. Of course it was obvious we were northern tourists. We pronounced the name of the island wrong and we had a lot more clothes on than the average person. Topsail is pronounced Tops'l. 

We stayed at the beach for a couple hours and then headed to Surf City. We had an appointment for a tour 
 at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital. Next to the Dambo Trolls, this was my favorite part. The Karen Beasley hospital was set up for the rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing of Sea Turtles. Karen died at age 29, but she wanted her mother Jean to take her insurance money to help the turtles. Jean did just that and established the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in a small 900 square foot building. Since then a 13,000 square foot was donated and it has grown to a hospital that has saved thousands of sea turtles over the years. Jean Beasley died last December but with 9 paid employees and hundreds of volunteers, the hospital will be able to continue its work. They provide medical care for sick or injured turtles and educate the public of the importance of saving this creature.  

The tour lasted about an hour and it was so much fun and very informative. I became interested in Sea Turtles in 2015. I wrote about it at the end of the following blog. Seeing sea turtles hatch is something I won't forget.  https://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/07/our-3150-mile-vacation-in-10-days.html

Soon it was time to leave and make room for the next group. When it was over we had ourselves a little Dunkin Donut and some coffee. This was vacation after all, and I hadn't had a Dunkin Donut in years. Now it was time to head to Carolina Beach. 

 

Carolina Beach is an experience in itself. It had wall to wall people and music and food. That part was not my cup of tea but I'm glad I saw it. We had a beautiful room with an ocean front view. I was able to sit on the balcony and enjoy it without being in the middle of the chaos. We did take a walk and had dinner at a very nice restaurant. Our meals would have fed a family of five, but we didn't go away hungry. 

 

The next morning it was time to head back to Charlotte. We planned on going about half way on Saturday. There was still a few more things to see.