Happy Trails, Number 69

Today I got on a boat with Scarlet Colley, Mary Laddis, Rozzi the dolphin dog, some island visitors and a whole bunch of formerly cold-stunned green sea turtles -- each of which sported two new finrings and a unique number scrawled in white out.

These were the survivors and our mission was to return more that 60 of them to the wild as Texas Parks and Wildlife had deemed the water warm enough. We chugged across the bay from PI, picked up the turtles at the Sea Ranch and then headed north.

We (gently) tossed turtles in spurts, carefully observing to make sure that each one grabbed a big lungful of air or two and then dove down deep. "Bubble butts" - distressed turtles that float on the top of the water - are cause for concern and must be retrieved with nets and brought back to land for tests and medicine at Sea Turtle Inc.

We had to bring three "BB's" back to the Sea Ranch. Wishing numbers 1, 10 and 29 a speedy recovery -- and a ride on the next boat out.