The lecture will also be livestreamed at http://www.learnitlive.com/
The Caretta Research Project is a hands-on research, conservation and education program that has been protecting the nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) on Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge since 1973. Each year, for 16 weeks during the summer, groups of volunteers travel to the beaches of Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge to help monitor egg-laying and hatching activity and to collect data on the loggerhead turtles.
During her lecture, Williams will discuss the four types of turtles that can be found in and around Georgia, why their populations are dwindling, and what she and her team are doing to help.
About the Coastal Ecology Dinner Lecture Series
Created by Ocean Plaza Beach Resort Innkeeper Harry Spirides, the Coastal Ecology Dinner Lecture Series is held at the resort’s Dolphin Reef Oceanfront Restaurant on the third Thursday of every month and is open to the public. The multimedia lectures, which feature topics pertaining to coastal ecology, are presented by distinguished experts in the field but given in terminology everyone can understand.
Spirides created the lecture series after noticing that many of the hotel’s customers, who come from distant inland areas such as North Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and beyond, have expressed an interest to not only explore Tybee Island and to see, touch, hear, and smell the natural habitat and see native wildlife, but also to be educated and learn all about the area’s living species and ecosystems. To meet that need, Spirides asked relevant organizations in the area such as the Skidaway Island Institute of Oceanography and Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary if they would be interested in presenting monthly lectures on topics related to coastal ecology. They gladly accepted his invitation.
Spirides is a former U.S. Coast Guard officer who patrolled Georgia’s coastline and waterways for several years while on duty. He says it was during those many excursions that he developed a deep appreciation and fondness for the Georgia coast’s vast expanses of undeveloped, pristine natural habitats and the species that live there.
“Our Coastal Ecology Dinner Lectures embrace Tybee Island’s surrounding natural geography and ecology and offer a unique educational experience to our community and its visitors while engaging and spotlighting various organizations that are out there every day doing a lot of hard work for the preservation of our ecosystems and yet receive very little attention and diminishing funding,” Spirides said.
The first lecture was held this past November and was presented by Dr. Marc Frischer of the Skidaway Island Institute of Oceanography.
About the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort
Whether it’s for weddings, business and association meetings, or family vacations, the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort is the perfect venue and offers a variety of packages and specials to choose from. Ocean Plaza’s award-winning restaurant, the Dolphin Reef Oceanfront Restaurant, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
There has been a resort hotel continuously operating on the Ocean Plaza Resort property for more than 120 years. The property is located on Tybee Island at 15th Street and oceanfront, about 20 minutes east of historic downtown Savannah. For more information on the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort, call 912-786-7777, email info@oceanplaza.com or visit www.oceanplaza.com.
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