SAN DIEGO — Two sea turtles flew first class aboard a Coast Guard C-130 airplane, Jan. 28.

Turtles in Need — Two ailing turtles were flown from the Oregon Coast Aquarium to SeaWorld San Diego to receive better care.

The flight was part of a complicated mission to move the ailing animals from an aquarium in Oregon to an advanced care facility at SeaWorld San Diego.

The reptiles were discovered languishing on Pacific Northwest beaches in November. Myrtle, an olive ridley sea turtle, washed up on Agate Beach, Ore. Maude, a Pacific green, beached herself at Long Beach, Wash. Both creatures were trucked to Oregon Coast Aquarium, where they were triaged and stabilized; but it was obvious they needed more care than could be provided at the aquarium.

SeaWorld veterinarians agreed to take the animals, but transportation posed a seemingly insurmountable hurdle: The turtles would likely not survive a 1,000-mile road trip.

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Service contacted the Coast Guard to see if Myrtle and Maude could somehow be flown to San Diego. The agency decided to piggyback the humanitarian mission with a training flight, and a C-130 was dispatched from Sacramento.

“We received the request for assistance earlier (January) but we were unable to support this mission until recently due to other operations,” said Cmdr. Todd Lightle, assistant operations officer at Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento. “But flexibility allowed us to pair this important environmental mission with a more routine training mission. The pilots were exposed to a new airport, and the crew was exposed to the unique challenges of loading marine wildlife.”

Both sea turtles are native to the Eastern Pacific but typically live in warmer waters off the Mexico and Southern California coasts, according to Tim Downing, a SeaWorld marine life specialist who helped transport the reptiles. He suspects the animals were swept north into cold water by currents possibly associated with an El Nino weather pattern.

Downing, the flight crew and Oregon Coast Aquarium president Gary Gamer checked the turtles frequently while the plane was airborne.

“They didn’t really like the flight at all,” Gamer said. “Maude moved around in her crate through the entire flight. But crews from the aquarium and the C-130 made sure they were as comfortable as possible.”

A SeaWorld truck met the aircraft at North Island Naval Air Station and transported the turtles to the advanced care facility. After the animals are nurtured back to health, they will be released into the wild.

All six species of sea turtles found in U.S. waters (green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley) are listed as either endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.