Ocala, Florida, where The Guest House Ocala is located, is just an hour and a half or less from the world famous Daytona Beach. Florida serves as the nesting grounds for the Loggerhead species of turtles. Beaches up and down the east coast of Florida create ordinances for this time of year, asking beachfront neighborhoods to cut their lights and do everything possible to help positively facilitate the turtle nesting. Sea turtles are attracted to lights. If they see too many lights they risk crossing busy streets or pathways which could lead to their injury or death, including all of their unlaid eggs. Nesting season is taken very seriously in Florida, because the Loggerhead species of turtles is endangered. Witnessing the miracle of turtle life is a beloved activity for people living in or visiting Florida for a period of time.
You can contact various turtle conservancy organizations or local groups who set up Turtle Walks to watch the mother turtles swim ashore and nest her eggs. Mother Loggerheads can lay over a hundred eggs per nest and lay anywhere from two to eight nests per season. Though the numbers seem high, the likelihood of those turtles surviving is tragically low. Just a small percentage of those eggs will hatch, a small percentage will make it to the ocean, and an even smaller percentage will grow up successfully in the ocean.
We can learn a lot from turtles. Within the very hours that a turtle is born, they flap their little flippers and head straight for the water. Hardly the size of the palm of a human hand, they brave the open waters and start swimming. Just like that, their life has begun. Turtles don’t take time to think about it, to question it, or to think how they aren’t good enough to go out and live their lives in the big vast ocean. Turtles are brave and do what they know they have to do to survive. Turtles also learn how to swim with the current of the ocean, instead of against it. No matter the tribulations turtles encounter in the ocean, they navigate their way through it and stay calm. Some turtles are capable of spending months underwater at a time, but all turtles know when it is time to come up for air and take a few deep breaths.
The Guest House Ocala offers residential treatment programs for men and women seeking recovery from trauma, addiction, and related mental illnesses. Everyone has a story. Yours changes the minute you come to The Guest House. Call us today for information on our concierge customization of each client’s treatment plans and life on our private estate: 1-855-483-7800