The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center listed five turtles in its care when it updated its patient page on October 5, 2026. Four were in rehabilitation and one is a permanent resident. By early January 2026, the previous winter, the same hospital had 81 turtles in its care. Most of that difference comes from cold water.
The center says 57% of the sea turtles it admits are cold-stunned. In North Carolina, the risk season for cold-stunning runs from November through March, according to WNCT. The nesting season, with dune markers and morning walks, is over for the year. Volunteers recorded 152 nests across Topsail Island in 2026: 96 in North Topsail Beach, 34 in Topsail Beach, and 22 in Surf City. The hospital's busiest stretch, though, starts about now, as the visitors leave and the water off the sound-side docks cools.
Where the cold catches them
The center describes cold-stunning as a severe form of hypothermia in sea turtles. WNCT has reported that as coastal water cools, a turtle's body slows down, and it can become lethargic, unable to swim, or paralyzed. According to the same report, juvenile green sea turtles, loggerheads and Kemp's ridleys feed in shallow sounds through summer and fall. When those shallow waters cool quickly, some turtles get caught before they move out to warmer water.
Radish, last winter's best-known cold-stun case close to home, was found in the sound rather than on the ocean beach. The young turtle the hospital named Radish was found floating, helpless, in the Intracoastal Waterway on a night when temperatures dropped below freezing, as the center wrote in December 2025.
The center also takes turtles from well outside Surf City. Mesquite, its last admission of 2025, stranded at Cape Lookout on December 18. She reached the Surf City hospital the next day.
Why a cold turtle can't simply be warmed up
The steps of Radish's care explain why the hospital asks the public not to help on their own. When she arrived, the team took her core temperature and found it was 53 degrees Fahrenheit. The hospital itself is kept at 75 degrees. Moving her straight into that warmth would have been too dangerous, so here is what came next:
- The team put on hats and sweatshirts and did her admission exam outdoors. They weighed and measured her and checked her eyes, nostrils, shell and flippers.
- A blood sample guided the veterinarian's order for fluids with electrolytes and extra vitamins, given under the skin.
- The Isolation Ward can be chilled to 61 degrees, but that was still too warm for her. She spent several hours in a protected, unheated storage room before moving to a shallow tub in Isolation.
- Over the next several days her temperature came up slowly. By the following Monday she had reached 75 degrees and moved to Sick Bay for ongoing care.
- She was released offshore on January 13, 2026.
Some turtles stay much longer. Kolache, a cold-stun case, stranded on December 13, 2025 and was admitted January 23, 2026. Kolache was still listed among the hospital's patients in its October 2026 update.
The staff plans around this rhythm too. In a February 2026 update, the center said it schedules interns so it has fewer when things are slow and more during the busy cold-stun period. On October 28, 2026, it welcomed ten UNCW interns for the coming season.
If you find one on the sound side this winter
The hospital's instructions are short. WWAY repeated them in January 2026:
- Don't put the turtle back in the water.
- Don't try to warm it up yourself.
- In the Topsail and Surf City area, call the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center at 910-329-0222, option 3.
- Anywhere else in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission sea turtle hotline at 252-241-7367.
Save the number in your phone before a cold snap, especially if you have a dock, kayak in the sound, or walk the waterfront in the early morning.
How the center raises money for winter
In December 2025 it started raising money for a specialized veterinary intensive care unit that can hold the low temperatures cold-stunned turtles arrive at, so they can be warmed gradually. A custom surfboard raffle in March 2026 also went toward that ICU.
This fall, the money-raising started on two wheels. The 6th Annual Haunted Hundred ride on Sunday, November 1, was hosted by the Salty Turtle Cycling Club, with all proceeds going to the center. It had a new start and after-party spot at Salty's Surf Shack, Salty Turtle Beer Company's beachfront location at 102 N. Shore Drive. The local sponsor list showed how much of Surf City got involved, including The Daily Grind, Burrito Shak, Salt Marsh Market, Topsail Surf & Cycle, Cowfin Bar and Grill, Marina Joes and NorthShore Golf Course.
Tonight, Thursday, November 12, the center holds its Great Gatsby Party at North Shore Golf Club from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person, and Roaring Twenties costumes are suggested. Ticket and silent auction proceeds go toward the upcoming cold-stun season. RSVP details are on the center's events page.
The hospital also opens for guided tours on a short winter schedule. Reservations are required, and tours are the only way to visit. Two of the tour dates fall on the town's biggest holiday weekends:
- Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, December 12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The gift shop is open during tour hours and doesn't require a ticket. All proceeds go to the turtles.
Soundside Park hosts the season on the same water
While the hospital's winter patient load builds, the town's holiday calendar takes place right on its edge. Soundside Park, at 517 Roland Avenue, hosts almost every major gathering between now and mid-December.
Friday, November 20. Movie in the Park shows Elf at Soundside Park, starting at sundown.
Saturday, November 21. The town's Sounds of the Season Holiday Market runs from 9 a.m. to noon, billed as a holiday market by the sound with local vendors. The Tree Lighting follows at Soundside Park from 4 to 7 p.m.
Thanksgiving weekend. The turtle hospital's first block of tours runs Friday through Sunday.
Saturday, December 5. This is the busiest day of the season. The Christmas Bike Ride with Santa starts the morning from 10 a.m. to noon at the Earl G. & Inez Batts Recreation Complex. The turtle hospital gives tours from 11 to 2. At Soundside Park, the Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism holds its annual Topsail Christmas Market from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with music and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. At about 6 p.m., weather permitting, the Topsail Christmas Flotilla parades past the park, and prizes go to the top three boats, according to the Chamber.
Saturday, December 12. The hospital's last listed tour date of the year runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The flotilla will pass by on the same Intracoastal Waterway where Radish was found floating last winter. The center's Topsail-area number for a cold-stunned turtle is 910-329-0222, option 3.
At Tory Kuehner Group, we pay attention to how Surf City's sound side changes through the year, from the summer dock lights to the winter flotilla. If you own on the water here and want to know where your home stands this season, start with our Get Your Instant Home Valuation tool.