On Tuesday, the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores released three young green sea turtles back into the wild at the beach at Fort Macon. A crowd of nearly 2,000 gathered to cheer, snap photos and give the turtles a proper send-off as they ventured into the waves.
One of the turtles was brought to the aquarium as a hatchling in August 2011, saved from a local nest. The other two, estimated to be 3-years-old, were rescued off of Cape Lookout in April suffering from cold-stunning, a condition similar to hypothermia in humans. All three were nursed back to health at the aquarium and would likely have not survived without human help.
All photos by Free Press Photographer Zach Frailey.