Jekyll's Thanksgiving-Weekend Plunge Pays for Turtles Still on Their Way South

A sea turtle was found cold-stunned on a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts. It went first to the New England Aquarium, and in November 2025 it was flown to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. The care team named it Earl Grey. Every cold-stunned turtle admitted during the 2025 season got a tea-themed name. Six months later it went back into the Atlantic, and by then it was among the most-watched patients the hospital has ever treated.

Earl Grey reached Jekyll in the same month the island holds its Cold-Stunned Plunge. That is how the calendar is built. This year the plunge is on the morning of November 28, 2026, the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and the money it raises goes to cold-stun rehabilitation at the Center. Many people who live here think of Holly Jolly Jekyll as lights, the trolley and Santa at the Skeet House. The plunge is the part of the season tied to an actual hospital intake.

The Turtle Behind the Tea Names

Earl Grey would be a good story even without the holiday calendar. Early in rehab, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center team saw features of two species in the same animal. It had raised ridges along the shell, a slight hook at the tip of the beak, and a rounder shell shape. Genetic testing done with the University of Georgia confirmed a first-generation hybrid with a loggerhead father and a Kemp's ridley mother. According to WTOC, it was the first hybrid sea turtle the Center had treated. The Center's video announcing the genetics drew more than 28.1 million views.

Earl Grey was released privately on Thursday, May 28, 2026, together with Jasmine, another turtle from the 2025 cold-stun group. Both now carry satellite tags. The tags are part of a research project funded through the Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program, run with the University of Central Florida Marine Turtle Research Group. WTOC puts the rehabilitation at six months, from a November transfer to a late-May release. That span shows how long a single cold-stun admission stays in Jekyll's care.

What Fifty Degrees Does to a Turtle

Rachel Overmeyer, the Center's rehabilitation program manager, explained the condition in an October 2025 piece for the Jekyll Island Foundation. She describes cold-stunning as the reptile version of hypothermia. It sets in when water drops below 50°F. Turtles can't regulate their own body heat, so they slow down, float to the surface and eventually strand. She also writes that colder weather often brings the hospital more patients, and that most cold-stunned arrivals are juveniles.

Treatment is slow by design. As Overmeyer lays it out:

1. Careful exams and blood work on arrival.
2. Fluid therapy.
3. Gradual warming that raises body temperature only 5°F per day.
4. Food and medication once the turtle reaches 75°F.
5. Release back to the wild once ocean water warms up again.

At 5°F a day, rewarming alone can take days before a turtle can start eating. Release has to wait for warm water, which is why Earl Grey and Jasmine left in late May. Each winter admission takes up tank space, staff time and medical supplies for most of the cold months.

Why the Swim Falls on Thanksgiving Weekend

The plunge dates to 2021. The Brunswick News reported that the first event drew 250 participants and that more than a dozen cold-stunned patients came in soon afterward. The Jekyll Island Foundation's own account of that winter counts ten turtles flown south from the New England Aquarium: eight Kemp's ridleys, one green and one loggerhead. The two sources give different numbers. Both describe the same pattern: patients start arriving at about the same time swimmers leave the water.

The money moves through the Jekyll Island Foundation to the Center and supports cold-stun rehabilitation and recovery. The Jekyll Island Authority's event page credits the Beach Village Merchants as presenters. That means the merchants at the plunge site help put on the fundraiser for the Center.

Plunge Morning, Hour by Hour

Here is the schedule from the official Cold-Stunned Plunge page:

• 7:30 a.m. Registration opens in Beach Village.
• 8:45 a.m. Plungers should be on the beach and ready.
• 9:00 a.m. The plunge.

The race listing on RunSignup gives the address as 110 Ocean Way, the Beach Village beach. EMS and public safety staff will be on site. All ages can take part, and children 12 and under need an adult with them on the beach.

The pricing has several tiers:

The virtual deadline comes first. It closes on October 16, six weeks before anyone goes in the water. Anyone who wants to support the Center but won't be in town Thanksgiving weekend has about a week left to sign up. For in-person registration, the $35 rate holds through November 19. The official page and RunSignup differ by about a day on when the increase takes effect, so registering a few days before the 19th avoids the question.

The Rest of Holly Jolly Jekyll, Mostly Free

Holly Jolly Jekyll runs from November 27, 2026, to January 3, 2027. The Jekyll Island Authority bills it as more than a million lights, with trolley light tours on select nights. As of this writing, the 2026 trolley schedule and ticket prices have not been posted. The Holly Jolly page has a sign-up for updates and early access to programs.

The plunge is one of the few dated events that charges admission. Most of the other big dates are free and take place on the same stretch around Beach Village, the Village Green and Great Dunes Beach Park:

Families who come for the plunge on November 28 will be back at the same beach for Merry Fishmas two weeks later. The Kids Can Fish Foundation hosts a meet-and-greet with Santa there.

Several smaller pieces run all season with no single date:

• Peppermint Land, mini golf among life-size gumdrops, peppermint sticks and gingerbread characters, open all season.
• Pictures with Santa at the Skeet House on Pier Road, on select dates.
• Holly Jolly Scavenger Hunt, a self-guided route through the Historic District that starts at Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.
• Holidays in History Tour, on select dates, built around how members of the Jekyll Island Club spent the holidays.
• Poinsettia Sale at the Jekyll Island Greenhouse, on select dates.
• North Pole South, open year-round for Holly Jolly gifts.
• Self-Guided Light Tour, using the Authority's map of lights and attractions.

The Jekyll Island Club Resort runs its own holiday calendar alongside the island's. It includes Thanksgiving dinners in the Grand Dining Room and at 80 Ocean on November 26, an Oyster Roast on the River on November 27, and family events on December 19 such as Lunch with Santa and Polar Express Family Night. The Oyster Roast is the day before the plunge.

The Center's turtle schedule doesn't follow the holiday calendar. Earl Grey arrived in November and didn't go back into the Atlantic until late May, months after the holiday season ended. The tea-named 2025 group finished that cycle in May with Earl Grey and Jasmine. Whatever names the Center picks for 2026, the plunge money will be in use the whole time those turtles are in its tanks.

For seven generations, my family has spent St. Simons winters with Jekyll's holiday season just across the water, and the island's traditions are part of how I talk with clients about life in the Golden Isles. If you're thinking about Jekyll as a winter home, or just want to know how the island's seasons play out for owners, Page Aiken is glad to start the conversation.