Late last fall, a private jet landed at St. Simons Airport carrying nine banana boxes lined with beach towels. Each box held a sea turtle. Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff took the boxes off the plane, checked each turtle's temperature and loaded all nine into the turtle van for the drive to Jekyll.
In her account for the Jekyll Island Foundation, Jaynie L. Gaskin remembers asking, "Where is the loggerhead? These are all Kemp's Ridleys." The team opened the boxes again and found the missing turtle. It looked so much like the others that it had been counted as one more Kemp's ridley.
That turtle became Earl Grey, and its six months on Jekyll are the clearest picture of what the island's Cold-Stunned Plunge pays for. The plunge is on Saturday, November 28, at 9 a.m. in front of Beach Village. The money goes to the center's winter care for cold-stunned turtles, and for Earl Grey that care started on a Massachusetts beach.
Many of the winter patients come from the north
Cold stunning is hypothermia in a reptile. Rachel Overmeyer, the center's rehabilitation program manager, explains it in a Jekyll Island Foundation piece. It sets in when water drops below 50°F. Sea turtles get their body heat from the water around them, so in a cold snap they slow down, float to the surface and wash up on the beach. She writes that most of the turtles affected are juveniles, and that colder weather often brings the center more patients, not fewer.
Georgia's coast rarely gets that cold. New England's does. Earl Grey was found cold-stunned on a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts, in November 2025, and got its first care at the New England Aquarium in Boston, WTOC reported. The transfer began with a call from NOAA biologists, who asked the center to take eight critically endangered Kemp's ridleys. Then they asked whether it could also take one more turtle that needed long-term care: a juvenile loggerhead only 32 centimeters long, or about 13 inches. The center said yes and set up a ninth tank. Because the loggerhead was a different species, it needed a tank of its own, with the water cooled to match the turtle's body temperature.
The turtles traveled more than 1,000 miles from Boston to Jekyll. A private company donated space on its jet to make the trip possible.
What a winter in the turtle hospital looks like
Overmeyer lays out the treatment. Each turtle gets an exam, bloodwork and fluids, and is then warmed slowly, by just 5°F a day. Once a turtle reaches 75°F, it can start eating and taking medication. If it recovers, it goes back to the ocean when the water warms up in spring.
Rewarming is only the first part of the stay. A turtle that strands in a northern fall is still waiting for warm water in spring, and Earl Grey's case shows how long that wait can be.
In its first days at the center, all nine turtles had full physical exams, bloodwork and X-rays. The center's new PA system let visitors in the Learning Center listen while the hospital team examined Earl Grey. The staff picked the name because the turtle seemed to have features of two species, like the blended tea. The veterinarian pointed out a hooked beak tip, which is normal for a Kemp's ridley and unusual for a loggerhead. He also noted a round shell with ridges more like a Kemp's than the heart-shaped shell loggerheads usually have.
Genetic testing confirmed it. According to WTOC, the center says Earl Grey is a first-generation hybrid with a loggerhead father and a Kemp's ridley mother. The center's announcement video passed 28.1 million views. The center's veterinarians decided a private release would be best for the turtle, and Earl Grey went back into the Atlantic on the morning of Thursday, May 28, 2026, after six months of care.
Earl Grey stranded in November and went back to the ocean at the end of May. That is the kind of care the plunge raises money for.
Where the plunge money goes, and how to join in
The Cold-Stunned Plunge is presented by the Beach Village Merchants. The money goes to the Jekyll Island Authority's Georgia Sea Turtle Center for cold-stun rehabilitation and recovery. Overmeyer's piece also points to the Jekyll Island Foundation, which helps pay for the center's turtle care, education and conservation work.
The details for this year's in-person plunge are on the official event page:
- Register by November 19 to get the $35 rate. The price goes up after that date. Registration is through the event page.
- Check in from 7:30 a.m. on November 28 at the Beach Village registration table.
- Be on the beach by 8:45 a.m. The plunge starts at 9.
- Bring your own towel and dry clothes. The event happens rain or shine, there are no refunds, and it is canceled only for extreme weather. EMS and public safety staff will be on site.
- Bring the kids if you like. All ages can take part, and children 12 and under need an adult with them on the beach.
Some deadlines have already passed. Virtual registration closed October 16, and the guaranteed-shirt deadline was October 26. Plungers who registered later still get a 2026 shirt while sizes last, and anyone with the wrong size can swap it at the registration table after the plunge, if the right size is still available.
Warming up in Beach Village afterward
Since the Beach Village Merchants put on the event, the shops and restaurants a few steps from the sand are the natural place to warm up. The island's official Beach Village map lists these places to eat:
- Sunrise Grille serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, so it's the obvious stop for a hot plate after a 9 a.m. swim.
- Jekyll Market at 11 Main St. is a grocery and deli with Boardwalk Deli, Love Shack BBQ and A Sweet Shop Named Sprinkles under one roof.
- Larry's Giant Subs is at 41 Main St., and Corridor Z Kitchen & Cocktails is in Suite 103 of the same building.
- Eighty Ocean Kitchen and Bar, Salty's Oceanside Bar & Grill, Wee Pub Beach, Willet's Lowcountry, Pour Tabby and The Westin Café round out the list. Fuse Frozen Yogurt is there too, if anyone wants something cold after the ocean.
Holiday-weekend hours change, so call ahead before planning breakfast around one spot. The same map lists Maxwell's General Store, The Salt Table, Whittle Gift Shop, The Collection Boutique, Tonya's Treasures, Splash Resort Wear and Life is Good. Those cover the rest of the morning for anyone who needs a dry sweatshirt fast.
Seeing the patients the plunge pays for
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is a short walk from Beach Village. It is the one place on the island where you can watch the rehabilitation work going on. Listed hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The center is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day and closes early, at 3 p.m., on Christmas Eve. General admission is listed at $12 for ages 13 and up and $10 for ages 4 to 12, plus fees and sales tax. The center notes that prices can change.
Anyone who hasn't been since early 2026 has something new to see. The Native Species Exhibit is finished. It covers the island's maritime forest, freshwater wetlands, salt marsh and dune habitats. The Brunswick News reported that its animal ambassadors include Kenai the diamondback terrapin, Kratos the rattlesnake and Okee the alligator. Kenai first came to the center as a patient. Her jaw injury meant she couldn't survive in the wild, so she stayed on as an ambassador. The plunge pays for the same kind of hospital care that brought her there.
Where the plunge sits in the long weekend
The plunge lands one day into Jekyll's holiday season. Holly Jolly Jekyll runs from November 27, 2026, through January 3, 2027. The Jekyll Island Club Resort says the island will have more than 1.5 million lights, more than 350 displays and a Great Tree with over 45,000 lights. On select nights, trolley light tours run through the Historic District, and Peppermint Land mini golf is open all season.
The night before the plunge, the Club Resort's calendar lists an Oyster Roast on the River on November 27, starting at $40. Put together, Friday has the oyster roast and the first night of lights, Saturday morning has the plunge and breakfast in Beach Village, and the turtle center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that afternoon.
The plunge falls in the same month that Earl Grey was found on the beach in Brewster last year.
If you're thinking about spending more of your winters on the island, Mackay Cate has lived in the Golden Isles all his life and is happy to talk about which parts of Jekyll put you close to Beach Village, the turtle center and the beach on plunge morning. If you already own here, a free home valuation is an easy place to start.
