When Pres. Obama was appointing all the Czars, one of Mike Reynold's team leaders piped up at a meeting, saying, “With all the czars around, I guess you are going to be the Turtle Czar?”  Everyone thought it was funny at the time, but the title stuck, and he is now known throughout the Island as the “Turtle Czar”.

Mike was born in Mobile on Dec. 10, 1954. He was the oldest of seven children. His parents, Jan and Albert, met in the Mardi Gras Court in Mobile. His dad was his mom’s knight on the Court, and as it turned out, in real life also. They lived in West Mobile in Jackson Heights. Mike attended Catholic Schools at Corpus Christi school, and then went to McGill. His family was close, due partly to the fact that they also were big into hunting and fishing, and did things together. It seemed they were always on, or near, the water -- such as in a duck blind, on a boat or near the water up in a deer stand.

Mike's family still owns a little strip of land on the west side of Grand Bay up in the Delta. They had a hunting camp there that was full of memories.  As a family, they spent many a weekend there up until Hurricane Camille came thru in 1969 and completely blew it away. 

He also spent many summers at Point Clear. At ten years old he was driving a boat. At age twelve he took their boat, powered by a 20 hp Merc outboard, along with some of his brothers and sisters, and they often went out to Middle Bay Lighthouse. The stilted structure had a ladder to get up in the lighthouse. They’d climb up on it, then jump off into the water. 

Being fearless as children, he still remembers catching fish, dangling them in the water off the back of the boat, and when the bull sharks came to get their free lunch, Mike and his brothers would jump into the water from the lighthouse deck on top of the sharks which would totally scare them and they’d scatter. He remembers how they dared each other to “bomb the sharks”.  

Summers with family was fishing together, and Fall and Winter they bonded while hunting dove and deer.  It was a wonderful time in his life growing up with close family ties.

Mike was also into scouting. He earned his Eagle Scout recognition, and later in life when his sons were scouting age, he became Scout Master of the same troop that had molded his ideals, and he helped guide his children to the beliefs of the Scouts.

Mike met his wife Prissy while they were in high school. At the time they met she was dating a friend of his and he was dating a friend of hers.  They became good friends. As their other relationships to others ended, the relationship of Mike and Prissy grew. They just sort of hung out together and next thing they knew, they were dating. 

After graduation, Mike went to work for GM&O railroad (stayed with them for 10 years) up in Jackson, Tennessee, and Prissy stayed in Mobile and worked for Sears. Driving down to Mobile every weekend to see her got old. 

One warm afternoon in May 1974, while enjoying the beach in a then nearly deserted Gulf Shores while sitting on a dune, Mike just said to Prissy, “Why don’t we get married?”  To which she said, “Why not?” 

Mike always had an interest in mechanics and had many family ties to the railroad. (His mother’s father had worked for the railroad, and his wife’s father worked for railroad). Working for GM&O seemed like the natural thing to do.

Mike and Prissy now have three grown children that they are very proud of. One son, Michael, is in Orlando and is the IT manager for Rosen Resorts; their daughter, Jennifer, is working in Mobile for CPSI; and their youngest son, Matt, is recently married to Lauren, and they both work at Lulu’s.

In the 70s, Mike and Prissy moved back to Mobile. 

They bought a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Parlor, and before opening it up, went to Ice Cream school in Glendale, California. They ran an Ice cream store together in Mobile. He still was putting in 40 hours a week at the railroad, and 40 hours in their store. While owning the ice cream shop, Prissy was pregnant with their daughter. He still remembers her loving Chocolate Brownie ice cream, and Colonial Dixie hamburgers.  

He finally realized he just had taken on too much. They sold the ice cream store, and moved from Chickasaw to be closer to Mobile. Finally, he quit the railroad and went to college (in 1984) at South Alabama. He stayed three years doing really well, but needed to work so he quit school. He worked selling software and sold yellow page advertising before buying a printing company in Mobile. He also worked for Auto Zone. His managerial and mechanical experience made him an asset wherever he went.  

Finally, he started a little company called Southern American, doing marketing and advertising. (He also got into Real Estate with Reality South). One of his clients was an auctioneering company. The man that owned the company owned the house Mike now lives in on West Beach. He decided to sell it 13 years ago, and Mike bought it. So he now lives a few blocks from where he proposed to his wife 40+ years ago.

Before moving to this area he learned the skills of auctioneering, and the intricacies of real estate selling. He got his Real Estate brokerage license to sell in both Alabama and Florida. In 2001 he got his pilot license and still loves to fly. He involved himself with the Civil Air Patrol and speaks very highly of the organization.

The first summer after moving to Gulf Shores he happened upon a turtle nest while walking on the beach. It was roped off but there was a sign with a phone number on it. He called it and talked to a lady in Bon Secour. He wanted to help and volunteered. At that time only the interns from the Wildlife Center were allowed to deal specifically with the turtles. The program was awkward and inefficient. 

At that time there were a few volunteers walking the beach now and then, but if they found a nest they had to call Bon Secour and the Intern would have to drive down, when they had time, try to find it and mark it.

Mike decided there was a better way. He applied for a Federal permit and got it. I asked him why, and he explained that ever since he was little, he had a desire to be a Marine Biologist. This fit. This felt good. He was involved with the turtles and could make a difference. 

The turtle nesting season is from May 1st to October 31st. Mike spends at least 20 to 30 hours a week involved with the sea turtles. He says he has some “great team leaders” and some wonderful dedicated volunteers.  When the oil spill came along, by then they knew what to do and what needed to be done. They were skilled at finding the nests, and knew what had to be done to move the nests to get them out of harm’s way. They were organized, and accomplished.

Each nest of eggs found (about 15 days before they hatched), was dug up, marked as to the depth of the eggs, where the top of the egg was, and marked for its compass orientation. They were then loaded on a temperature controlled Fedex truck and taken directly to a new location near Cape Canaveral. This was overseen by US Fisheries and Wildlife (oversight of the nests on the beach), and NOAA (oversight of the turtles in the water).

The turtles born would normally swim out to the floating seaweed where they find protection and nutrition. Unfortunately, at that time, the seaweed also acted like giant sponges for the oil. The turtles had to be moved from local beaches to keep them from the oil, which would have killed them.  I asked how they learned to move the eggs. He told me that about 45 years ago a species of turtle was being destroyed along the coast of Mexico by animal and human predators. To prevent extinction, the Americans went after the nests, relocated them to the Texas coast, and saved the species. 

"Checking the documentation of what took place moving them from Mexico to Texas, we learned how to move them from here to Florida," said Mike. 

Mike, who was selling beach real estate at the time, was basically out of business at the time. Who wanted to buy an oily beach front property?  With nothing to do, and no money coming in, he dove into the turtle project, and devoted most all his time to the rescue of the giant sea turtle eggs. The project became SHARE THE BEACH and it presently has 450 volunteers actively involved with Mike as the organization's leader.

The Alabama beach is divided up into 8 sections with 8 team leaders. The team leaders are trained on making up walking schedules (searching for nests each morning), how to mark the nests and the proper protocol for dealing with the turtles.  Mike says he’s proud of his little army of dedicated workers. A labor of love.

Mike figures at least 15,000 man hours a season are donated to SHARE THE BEACH.  It’s a 25-year project (we’re half way through) to where it takes 25 years for the baby turtle to mature to where it will return to the same beach where it was born and will lay her own eggs. 

The cycle of the turtles is they leave here and follow the Gulf Steam, then to the North Atlantic current to the Sargasso Sea. It takes the turtles about 2 years to get there. That’s where they grow up. It’s bounded by currents with giant beds of seaweed. They then ride the currents back to the Gulf and eventually to our beaches to lay more eggs and continue the life cycle

Mike’s attitude is that he sees what needs to get done and does his best to get them done. He’s not political and gets frustrated by a project held up due to people with their own political agendas. Mike is a motivational speaker and also gives lectures on the turtles and SHARE THE BEACH. He talks to the school children, the snowbird groups, civic organizations, The Sea Lab and anywhere that will help to possibly impact environmental conservation. He talks on volunteerism and how to lead. 

Mike says as a child he was shy, had stage fright and stuttered. Now he’s a great speaker who will definitely hold one’s attention. 

He says “Life is what it is, and here I am.”  Mike did say that you can request a “turtle license plate” from the DMV , and part of the money goes toward the SHARE THE BEACH project. 

We ON THE ISLAND are truly blessed to have a family like Mike and Prissy living here. He’s taken on a massive project and has motivated the entire community to want to be involved. We surely live where there is a SMALL TOWN WITH A BIG BEAC, and Mike helps to make it an even better place to live. I’m glad to be able to say he’s a friend.