The Turtle Hospital

You must have an appointment, we waited 2 hours. Fortunately, 4 miles down the road is an interactive aquarium.

Loved the Turtle Hospital tour. After seeing the rescued turtles and hearing their story was happy to pay the admission price. Also bought gifts at the gift shop which also goes toward the cause.

I never thought I could learn so much about «bubble butt». Our guide was incredibly informative and entertaining. It’s great to see what efforts are being made to rescue the turtles and see first hand how they are being cared for. It’s inexpensive and very fascinating.
Tips: 1) make sure you’re well hydrated– we went in June and a few people had to leave our tour group because it got too hot by the holding tanks. 2) you will not be allowed to touch live turtles — sorry to burst your bubble, I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.

Is a worthwhile experience when visiting the Keys. It is very educational and interesting. They also have a lovely gift shop.

The experience here was wonderful, very interesting and informative. It’s amazing work they do to protect and educate the public about these magnificent creatures.

Hmmmm where do I begin? I would have to say they should improve on the projector screen much to small for people at the back and volume on microphone only works if you’re close to the tour guide. The work they do i must commend how grateful I am for all their time and strong will. I LOVE TURTLES and seeing A Green sea turtle is the favorite part but to have held one for 5 or 10 bucks to raise more money would really help the volunteer work. Yup you dont get to pet them only the big one with algae whom i felt so sorry for because his pool was so small. Isnt there something else he can be plced in? Idk it maybe for his own good too. IF HUMANS COULD STOP LITTERING THE BEACHES IN WORLD AND PICK UP THEIR SHIT !!! THE TURTLES COULD LIVE a normal life…

Great time for entire family. Very educational and the staff was very helpful and informative.

Pricing is $ 18 for adults and $ 9 for kids. It may seem a bit pricey for a short tour (about an hour) but all proceeds goes to the upkeep and maintenance of the turtle hospital.
It truly is an amazing experience with a very knowledgeable and friendly staff. They go in detail of the care and return of injured sea turtles and you’ll get an opportunity to see them up close and personal. From the old guys to the hatchlings, there’s plenty to see and wonder. At the end of the tour you get an opportunity to feed them as well. Definitely a must try experience!

Good entry prices, knowledgeable staff. The facility is dedicated to rehabilitating turtles and setting them free. There is a lot of education for adults and kids alike. Highly recommended.

Soooo cool! We had a blast and this was so memorable! You must check this out. We loved it so much!

We *LOVE* The Turtle Hospital. Every time we visit the Key we take a trip to the Turtle Hospital. It is so amazing, it never gets old.

What a great facility! We truly loved it and learning about all the turtles. Our guide was fabulous!!! Seriously, she was passionate about her job and loved it. You could just tell. We got to see tons of turtles and we were lucky enough to see hatchlings as well. The only, and I mean the only complaint I would say is the groups need to be a tad smaller. We couldn’t get near where the group was because there were too many folks. Our group probably had 40 and 30 may be a better fit. That may have been a odd size since there was a big student tour group with us as well. But please, don’t let that deter you! It’s a GREAT site to visit!

Any place completely dedicated to saving marine life is okay with me! The turtle hospital is obviously a well kept, well-​run establishment. We need more turtle hospitals, whale hospitals, dolphin hospitals — anything to preserve our precious natural resources. Please stop in, learn and donate!

Amazing place for a great cause. My family and I walked in without reservations, and a little bit after we came in, it started filling up. But it was a nice group and our tour guide gave us a nice introduction, we toured the facility and viewed the turtles. I have a passion for animals, and helping this rescue hospital is such a beautiful thing. The tour is very informative and very educational. My 8 year old son loved it and so did we!

Absolutely loved it!!! They are such a good cause. We got an hour+ tour by Rachel. She was very patient and explained everything so that we could all understand. There was just enough info so that we could understand their job, and passion for helping. We got to see the turtles, learn more about how to help and even got to feed some. She gave us all enough time on each section. We all took lots of pics.
This is a great place to visit when in the Keys. I’d recommend it to anyone. They help sea turtles near and far. They also allow you to «adopt» a turtle, one of the permanent residents for a year and you get updates on how they’re going for a small donation.

If you are visiting the Florida Keys and you come past this place it is a MUST SEE!
You get a personal tour of the facility and learn everything you could ever want to know about sea turtles. Then after the tour you get to go in the back and see all of the sea turtles that they are rehabilitation and helping along.
If you are lucky enough you might just get to go by when one of the turtle is under surgery and having something done to help them back to feeling better again.
This is a great facility! Thank you for an amazing time

Such an interesting afternoon during the 90 minute guided tour of this complex. See the entire operation from the rescue process explanation, the very impressive medical facility, the amazing recovery center and witness the beautiful turtles getting prepared for release back to the wilds. There are dozens to view from hatchlings to 300 pound 80 year old adults.
Enlightening and rewarding to see the passion and dedication to treat the injured patients, cure the needy and provide research to prevent the need for the turtles to return to the facility. Excellent for young and old!

This was a unique experience to visit this hospital. They run a tight and clean ship caring for injured turtles. I learned about the different types of turtles and was even able to apply my knowledge when I saw an actual Loggerhead Turtle in the wild :-)
The location is cool. They took an old 50’s styled hotel and converted it to a hospital using the hotel rooms for the staff and the pools (plus some additional that they built) for the turtles.
They have what appears to be a state of the art surgical area complete with lasers for carving off tumors.
I have gone to places like this in the past and sometimes they are preachy trying to make me feel bad for harming some animal that does not live anywhere near my state. At this site, they focused on the fact that awful things do happen and when they occur, the team at this Hospital come into action. They shared with us that people like us are responsible for saving injured turtles by seeing them and reporting their location. That is positive re-​inforcement.
I learned a lot and appreciate what the team at the turtle hospital do.

When we went to the keys for a weekend and mentioned to our friends that we would be visiting the Turtle Hospital, they found the idea very funny. Do they only admit turtles? There really is a hospital for turtles?
Yup, there really is a Turtle Hospital. And even an ambulance. They have a pretty nice website
with lots of pics about their rescues.
Inside the visitor center, we signed up for the tour. As we waited, we browsed the small exhibition and gift shop. The tour started with a slide show, a 101 intro about us about the different species of sea turtles found in Florida and the perilous life of a sea turtle.
Next we visited the emergency room. Using a stuffed toy our guide shows us the procedures when a turtle is delivered to the emergency room. We learned that turtles are conscious breathers — meaning that when they are under anaesthesia an assistant has to stand by and pump oxygen into the turtle’s lung at regular intervals so it won’t suffocate.
We then visited the patients. First we went to the ICU where each patient has his private room, er, kiddy pool. There were turtles bitten by shark, hit by boat, had tumors or suffered other misfortune. Last, we visited two big pools which used to be swimming pools of a hotel. Here lives the turtles who are soon to be released back to the wild as well as permanent residents.
What an interesting learning experience it was. Even though I’ve visited already, next time I come to the keys, I’d want to drop by to see the new patients and old regulars again!

Too cool. Too cute.
A 90 minute guided tour of the turtle hospital (a transformed motel).
Educational, informative, FUN!
No touching. They are they for the turtles. This isn’t fucking Seaworld. They main purpose is not to entertain us. But your tour dollars do help fund them. And they really do release a lot of turtles back into the wild.
Go CRUSH!
Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming…