Vindhu

6 July 2025
Vindhu is definitely the most energetic sea turtle in our care and he keeps our team on their toes with his feisty personality! While he’s adapted to life at the centre, he hasn’t lost that wild sea turtle spirit. Vindhu has a suspected lung disease, which we are managing with medical treatment and close supervision. In sea turtles, healthy lungs are crucial not just for breathing, but for controlling how they move up and down in the water. Even though diving is difficult for him, Vindhu keeps trying, showing us his determination and natural instincts. The encouraging news is that he’s excelling at his feeding training and has a great appetite. Good nutrition helps his immune system fight the lung disease, and his energy and enthusiasm tell us he’s heading in the right direction.

10 August 2025
Vindhu has been our star patient, achieving some truly remarkable milestones over the last month. His diving skills in the medium tank improved so dramatically that we made the exciting decision to graduate him to our large tank. The results have been nothing short of amazing. He’s thriving with kinetic buoy feeding therapy, completing full underwater laps and nearly reaching the bottom of the tank. These achievements represent huge strides in his recovery journey!

Given his complex lung injuries, we’re carefully building his stamina and lung capacity for longer dives. Our Targeted External Weight Therapy continues to support his progress, using weights on his carapace to help him dive more effectively. As his strength builds, we’ll gradually reduce these weights until he can dive independently – the goal we’re all working toward together.

7 September 2025
Vindhu has become quite the underwater athlete! His diving has transformed from tentative movements to smooth, swift navigation that sometimes leaves us scrambling to keep up during feeding sessions. This remarkable progress in mobility shows his body is remembering what it means to be a sea turtle. While we celebrate these victories, we’re still fine-tuning his stamina and lung capacity to ensure longer, more natural underwater dives. His Targeted External Weight Therapy continues as we work to resolve the remaining buoyancy issues. The weights will be gradually reduced and then removed altogether as his condition improves. Each regular check-up brings encouraging news about this determined patient’s journey back to the sea.

12 October 2025
Vindhu is doing brilliantly. He’s been making steady progress and has recently started diving for longer periods with much more ease, even when it’s not mealtime. This is exactly what we want to see! We’ve also noticed an exciting milestone: Vindhu can now pick up fish from the bottom of his tank all by himself. To help him build even more strength and practice his natural hunting skills, we’ve started scattering his food throughout the water rather than feeding him in one spot.

Because Vindhu has been doing so consistently well, we’ve moved him to our medium-sized tank. This gives Karaa access to the large tank for his specialized feeding therapy, while still providing Vindhu with plenty of space to continue his recovery. We are still keeping a close eye on him with regular check-ups, making sure he stays healthy and strong as he works toward his eventual release.

9 November 2025
Vindhu is doing really well and continues to make wonderful progress. He’s now able to dive all the way to the bottom of his tank and is eagerly practicing his dives throughout the day, which is such a joy to watch. Right now, he’s on Targeted External Weight Therapy which involves specially designed weights that help him dive more naturally, and which we keep adjusting as he gets stronger and his skills improve. The best news is that Vindhu’s lungs are healing beautifully, which means each dive is becoming easier and more controlled. Our next goal for him is to be able to rest comfortably at the bottom of the tank for longer stretches. With the care he’s receiving and the progress he’s making, we’re optimistic that Vindhu will reach this exciting milestone soon!

7 December 2025
Vindhu is becoming much more comfortable with his diving skills, and we couldn’t be happier! We’ve observed him diving more frequently throughout the day, even outside of meal times, and he’s now able to stay underwater for almost 10 minutes, which is a fantastic milestone in his recovery. He’s still wearing external weights as part of his therapy to help correct his buoyancy issues, but we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to gradually reduce the weight and eventually remove it completely. Our goal is for Vindhu to rest comfortably underwater on his own, just as he would in the ocean. We continue to monitor him regularly to ensure he remains in excellent condition, and all signs point to him being well on his way to recovery.

11 January 2026
Vindhu continues to impress us with his steady progress. We’ve observed him diving and surfacing with good posture and staying underwater for longer periods. As a result, we’ve begun gradually reducing his Targeted External Weight Therapy, and we’re hopeful we can remove it in the near future. Throughout this process, we’ll closely monitor his behaviour and continue regular medical check-ups to ensure he remains in excellent condition.

15 January 2026
We are delighted to report that Vindhu has made excellent progress in his recovery. He adapted very well following the removal of all Targeted External Weight Therapy (TEWT) and has been active in his tank, regularly diving and feeding from the bottom, both encouraging indicators of his improving condition.

Following his most recent medical assessment, we confirmed that Vindhu is ready to return to the ocean. A satellite tag has also been fitted to his carapace, which will allow us to monitor his movements over the coming months in the wild. We will release him from the beach near the house reef at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu. We wish him all the very best as he begins this next chapter in his natural habitat. Thank you to all those who supported Vindhu’s recovery journey!