Tybee Island Marine Science Center
37 Meddin Drive
Tybee Island, Georgia 31328
912-786-5917
DIRECTIONS:
Located at the end of the graveled North Beach Parking Lot, beachside of Fort Screven.
Come check out our new facility and what the future will bring, while connecting with our educators as they build the exhibits.
We are open Wednesday – Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. So you have a bit time to spend with us, admissions end at 4:15 p.m.
Admission is $12 per person, 4 and under are free.
Girl Scouts, School and Family programs can be booked seven days a week.
Masks are NOT required.
Visiting both Tybee’s Lighthouse and Science Center? Due to limited parking at the lighthouse, please park in the North Beach parking lot when visiting the science center.
May 1st is the start of sea turtle nesting season on the Georgia coast. Our Tybee Island Sea Turtle Project volunteers walk the beach every morning looking for turtle tracks. Once tracks are found, the nest is located and marked.
50 days after the nest is found, volunteers begin “nest sitting” at night, awaiting the 100 or so babies that will emerge. When the nest hatches, or “boils” (so many small bodies moving makes the sand look like it’s boiling), volunteers supervise and protect babies as they make their way to the ocean. Following the boil, volunteers wait an additional five days before performing an excavation to allow any late hatchlings to emerge.
An excavation or nest inventory is performed, where volunteers carefully dig into the nest and extract all hatched and unhatched eggs, as well as, any turtles left in the nest. At that time, any live stragglers are released. If we are due for a new hatchling, we raise one straggler to be our Marine Debris Ambassador for three years, like Ike—who hatched on September 2, 2020.
You can meet Ike and Westie, at the science center.
Schools
Boy Scouts
Girl Scouts
Families