Mission

Sea Turtle Camp was founded to offer youth the opportunity to learn about marine biology through immersive, hands-on, feet-wet experiential education. Our mission is to cultivate a love and respect for the ocean by building confidence and developing character while inspiring coastal conservation through safety, fun, and learning!

Sea turtles are one of the oldest living creatures in the world, but their numbers are being depleted faster than they can reproduce. While we can’t solve all the world’s problems, we know that one person can make a difference, and a camp full of eager knowledge-hungry young people can make a huge difference.

One of our goals is to share our passion for life and teach young adults how to mold that passion into a selfless, hard-working team of individuals that can recognize problems and work towards solving them. Through our grassroots approach, we strive to show campers a wide variety of possibilities at a time in their life when they have many potential roads to follow. In doing so, they will learn the rewards of selflessly giving their time and energy to their communities, encouraging volunteer service, and potentially impacting their career paths.

Ultimately, we want to raise compassionate awareness and pour our support into our life-sustaining oceans. The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is a place where many volunteers share their love and give their time to care for just one aspect of our oceans that many people take for granted.

The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital

We strive to raise compassionate awareness for what’s being done in and for our life-sustaining oceans. The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center was created to provide injured sea turtles with the love and care necessary to rehabilitate and release them back to the ocean. The center seeks to “provide an experiential learning site for students of biology, wildlife conservation, and/or veterinary medicine from around the world.”

As sea turtle numbers keep declining and the obstacles they face continue to grow, the importance of volunteers, such as those at the hospital, becomes even more vital. By aligning with this amazing non-profit organization and igniting the wonder and amazement of the next generation, we hope to not only support the center’s efforts physically and financially, but change the world, and change lives, one rehabilitated sea turtle at a time.

After breaking ground in May 2010, the new Sea Turtle Center facility in Surf City, NC opened its doors on November 7th, 2013.

After years of working in a crowded, cramped 900 square-foot space, caring for up to 40 turtles, the center moved into its new 13,000+ square-foot building. Campers will work inside this amazing hospital/education center, complete with husbandry, surgical and public education rooms.

It takes many people each day to keep the facility running smoothly. It is often difficult and hot work. However, the rewards are priceless and can be found simply by looking into a turtle’s eyes just before their release back to the ocean and witnessing their pure excitement as they return.

Campers in our Marine Biology Adventure and Marine Biology Immersion programs will engage in these daily activities alongside and under the supervision of dedicated Sea Turtle Center volunteers and interns. They will learn what it takes to care for, rehabilitate, and release one of these magnificent creatures back to the sea. Campers will also get to know the turtles by name, learn how they’re named and begin to recognize the many different personalities exhibited by each turtle.