Bubble Butt

Sad that it was our final day in the Keys today.

After a lazy morning in the heat we headed down to Marathon to see the turtle hospital. Perfect choice of indoor entertainment as it turned out - the wind and rain started almost the moment we arrived.

Fascinating to get up close to the turtles and to see how they are treated and 'helped' by some additions to their shells; many of them are victims of propellor injuries, which has the dual problem of often severing their spine, leaving them with paralysed rear flippers, and of causing the shell to grow back with an air space - so called Bubble Butt Syndrome. This affects the turtle's buoyancy making it difficult to swim and dive for food.

The simple solution to this is one or more weights epoxied onto the shell to counteract the extra buoyancy, giving the turtle some semblance of normality, as they are still strong swimmers using only their front flippers.