(upbeat music) ♪ For somebody who has never been to this aquarium, how would you describe it?

- So many people come here and they will say to us, "We've been to the Baltimore Aquarium "and it's beautiful and we love it, "but we like the intimacy of your aquarium."

- What do you think gives it that intimate design?

I mean, it does feel cozy.

- I think it's because it has a pathway.

You know, so many aquariums or other attractions you go into, you can go anywhere you want.

Here, you've got a route and you kind of follow that route through the aquarium and it's like you feel like you haven't missed anything.

We try to tell the story from inland marshland out to the ocean.

- Starting with the rivers that feed the Albemarle and Roanoke Sounds, the exhibits move through brackish water habitats and coastal wildlife before reaching the open ocean.

The experience also extends beyond the exhibits with a pollinator garden, a sound side pier, and behind the scenes tours that reveal what goes into caring for the animals here.

I headed above the Graveyard of the Atlantic habitat for a behind the scenes shark feeding.

- Got our feeding station.

So we've got our sand tigers right here and our sand bars over there and we do what's called target feeding.

So those colorful symbols, they can actually see color and they are trained to go to that specific target when it's time for feeding.

- These guys are ready for lunch.

- For sure, yes.

Ready?

One, two, three.

(cheering) - And just next door, visitors can see another side of the aquarium's work, caring for the injured and sick sea turtles at the STAR Center.

- The STAR Center is an acronym that stands for Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation.

It's a rare opportunity for the guests to come in and see the important rehabilitation work that our veterinarians and our husbandry team do to in essence triage and release turtles back to the wild.

- When a patient first arrives here, it's just like us going to the doctors to figure out what's wrong with us.

So they come in, we take baseline data and we treat them for whatever they might come in for.

- Why did I say 3.8?

- One of the patients the team cared for was a juvenile green sea turtle brought in at the beginning of June.

On the morning we visited, she was being prepared for release.

- All of our patients have to go through like an exit exam.

What we look for is diving and swimming properly.

We're looking at how well they've been eating and gaining weight.

We check their blood work to make sure that everything still looks good and that it's stable.

We essentially want to release them at their best as we see them coming in at their worst.

And then what we do, especially this time of year, we look at water temperature, we look at salinity to kind of make sure that water parameters are healthy for the turtle and that we're releasing them in an area that we know they will do well and thrive.

- With conditions just right, we headed behind the aquarium to watch this turtle return to the wild.

- Are you ready, friend?

(laughing) - It's like proud mom moments 'cause you are bringing them in, you're caring for them, and then you're releasing them at their best.

We're starting school season, so you're sending them off to school and hoping that they do well.

- The green sea turtle was just one of many patients to make it back into the wild.

Some become familiar to visitors who follow their recovery over many months.

- Star Center has had a lot of patients, but our most memorable and probably our largest sea turtle that we've had in goes by the name of Behemoth.

I think when we released him, he was somewhere between 330 to 350 pounds.

We gave him extra snacks to again boost his nutritional status and get his weight back up to a healthy weight.

We released him at Coquina Beach on the public access.

We had probably thousands of people come.

They had been following his story all year.

I think we very much underestimated the impact that he had on guests reading his story on social media and following his recovery.

That release is very memorable for staff as well as guests.

We still have guests talk about them visiting Star Center or going to the release and being able to see him in person.

Sea turtles are a pivotal ocean species.

They let us know when the oceans are healthy.

They let us know when there's something wrong with their environment.

They are integral to oceanic health.

The green sea turtles like we released today, help keep those seagrass beds at bay so that they don't take over.

When you can really interact with the public and they can see conservation at work in person, I think it really hits home more that people are doing good work and you're not just hearing about it in an article, but you're seeing that work in action.

And I think that that just really drives home every conservation message a little bit more.

- Conservation is also woven into the visitor experience with exhibits that help people of all ages connect with the wildlife around them.

- We developed an exhibit here that is right next to our STAR Center that is called Operation Sea Turtle Rescue.

So our goal with that one was, if they walk out of that exhibit knowing one threat to a sea turtle, we've done our job.

- When you think about the mission of the aquarium, what do you wanna see or hear back that people have taken away with them after a visit?

- Deborah, what I wanna hear is that, first of all, they had a great time, obviously, but more than that, I want to know that they walked away with a fun experience that left them with a goal, something that they're gonna change to help the future of marine life and the future of this planet.

(upbeat music) The North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island is located at 374 Airport Road in Manteo.

It's open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For more information about its offerings, visit ncaquariums.com/roanoke-island.