For a 75-pound Loggerhead turtle named Taco, Friday was the beginning of a second chance at life as she was released back to the ocean after rehabilitation.
A good Samaritan spotted her in bad shape in May and called the Coast Guard.
Sara Mayhr was there for the rescue.
"They called in that they saw a turtle with his fin out of the water floating. Going down the creek with the current," she said.
They named her Taco because she was rescued on Cinco de Mayo. She taken to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon and they immediately began working.
"When the turtle came in, she was covered with a garden she had been floating for so long ... and if she would have stayed outside floating like that, unfortunately she would have been hit by a boat." said Richard Moretti with the hospital.
Doctors think Taco ate a lobster or crab that punctured her lung, but after four months of antibiotics, love and squid, she was released into the ocean.
"Being here today is a really awesome experience.The turtle is able to go back out in the wild. If we hadn't been there that day to help it.. It could have died." says Mayhr.
The hospital has rescued and released more than 1,400 turtles, giving threatened species like this Loggerhead a fighting chance.
"every one counts and when we turn a turtle like this, It makes a difference whether someone's grandchild gets to see a turtle or not." Moretti said.
"it was a really cool experience because I didn't know what it would be like.I've never seen a turtle in person," said 10-year-old Zoe Medorah, who was on vacation from the northeast.
"It was really astonishing,To see what turtle went through and to see it feeling so happy and going into the water.. It was really cool to see." said Olivia Orlans.
So Taco is now finding his place again in the Atlantic, where she will hopefully stay happy and healthy.
"It never changes. It's excitement.You take them back and put them in mother nature's arms and let her do her job. We did ours." Moretti said.
A chip was implanted in Taco, similar to the ones you may have in your pet.. So if Taco is ever found again, she can be able to be traced back to the hospital.