“I like to watch them swim away. I’ve seen two get loosed [released]. They swim fast in the water, but on the land they are slow. Sometimes Dr. Terry [Norton, of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center] has to give them a push to get them going, and then they have to dive. But some turtles, like Shawny, can’t dive down. We call him ‘bubble butt’ because his bottom stays up in the air . . . They are endangered species and I just really love them and want to save them.” —Gracie Weber As told to Jennifer Senator
Photograph by Brian Austin Lee Gracie Weber, age seven, has visited Jekyll Island since she was three years old, and in 2018 she attended Sea Turtle camp at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Gracie raised nearly $300 for the center by holding a fundraiser in her hometown of Sugar Grove, Ohio, where she rescues stray box turtles.
