Four Martin County Boaters Pull 324-Pound Sea Turtle From Jupiter Sound — She Didn't Make It

Will Savery didn't think twice. The moment he saw the massive green sea turtle struggling in Jupiter Sound — her head drooping, her shell carved with deep cuts — he went in after her.

"You know when you see a beautiful animal like that struggling it's just — you can't just turn your eye away from it," Savery said. "So I jumped in the water right away."

The 324-pound adult female would be named Zoey. She would not survive the day.

Savery and three friends — Chris DeSousa, Michael Pickett and Tony Anthony — were boating in the intracoastal waterway near Jupiter last week when they spotted the turtle in distress, bearing what rescuers later confirmed were the unmistakable wounds of a boat strike. Roping a nearly one-third-of-a-ton sea turtle and guiding her to shore is not a gentle task.

"It took a big effort from each of us to pull this thing up," Savery recalled.

Working together, the four men tied a rope around Zoey's shell and slowly guided her toward Blowing Rocks Marina, where the Loggerhead Marinelife Center — the Juno Beach-based sea turtle hospital — dispatched a team to meet them. Staff confirmed Zoey had suffered severe injuries consistent with a vessel strike and transported her for emergency care. Hours later, she was gone.

The loss stung, but the four men said they had no regrets.

"I think sea turtles are a staple of our waters," Savery said. "When there's an accident that happens with one, we got to do what we can to save them."

Tony Anthony, who watched Zoey lifted from the water at the marina, said the turtle's condition told its own story. "You could tell she'd probably been fighting for hours out there," he said.

Florida waters are critical nesting habitat for green sea turtles, a federally protected threatened species. Boat strikes are among the leading causes of sea turtle injury and death in the state, public wildlife records show. Martin and St. Lucie counties see some of the highest sea turtle nesting activity in the world during peak season, which runs through October.

Boaters who spot an injured or entangled sea turtle in Treasure Coast waters can reach the Loggerhead Marinelife Center's 24-hour rescue line at 561-627-8280.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.