A real crowd-pleaser: Go, Bubba, go! Photo of the Week, July 7-13, 2024

It isn't every day that a massive turtle causes a traffic jam on A1A.

But then, how often does one get to witness a 375-pound-plus loggerhead sea turtle, one estimated to be between 60 and 75 years old, making its way back into the ocean?

On April 10, an ailing Bubba was found by biologists with Inwater Research in St. Lucie County. A breeding male, he was treated for injuries to his front flippers and anemia at the Brevard Zoo Sea Turtle Healing Center. The folks at the zoo, who say Bubba is likely a great-grandfather, added that he was the healing center's first adult male loggerhead patient.

On July 10, with an appreciative crowd of at least 500 there to cheer him on, Bubba was released back into the water at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach.

"It's just amazing, how many people will come out to see a turtle release," said Malcolm Denemark, FLORIDA TODAY senior photographer.

"And this one wasn't a juvenile, one you could pick up and show off. It took six people to lift him."

Go, Bubba, go! As one child who came to watch him take off put it on a sign she carried: "Bubba, You Can Do It."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Turtle tale: Bubba, you can do it! Photo of the Week, July 7-13, 2024