Oceania, an Eretmochelys imbricata to be exact, was found in the Paris airport in 1993, having been illegally smuggled some unknown islands. She was a baby, just six centimeters in size.

Her first stop on her long trek was to the Society for the Protection of Animals, on the outskirts of Paris. On Aug. 24, 1993, she was passed on to the Oceanographic Institute of Paris. Remaining there barely a month she was on her way again, this time to the Aquarium of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco where she arrived on Sept. 27, 1993.

Oceania spent the next several years in Monaco, under the tender care of Dr. Nadia Ounais and her team. Oceania lived the high life, thriving on a gourmet diet of mussels, shrimp, squid and clams. Now, five years later, she is 38 cms long and weighs 6.2 Kg. It was time to find a new home.

Like all sea turtle species around the world, the hawksbill, so named for its hawk like head, is on the endangered species list. Known for its beautiful hard amber/brown shell, and head and flippers of gold with dark brown patches, it is widely considered the most beautiful of the turtle species. In the past, hawksbills were intensively hunted to make turtle shell jewelry and artifacts which were particularly popular in Japan. Its eggs were harvested in the nesting areas of many countries.

Although they are found in U.S. waters, they rarely nest in North America. The hawksbill is one of the smaller sea turtles, measuring 30 to 36 inches in length (76-91 cm) and weighing 100 to 150 pounds (40-60 kg). Hawksbill turtles nest at intervals of two, three or more years and lay an average of two to four egg clutches approximately 15 days apart during nesting season. An average of 160 eggs per clutch are laid and they incubate for approximately 60 days. Although hawksbills nest on beaches throughout the Caribbean, they are no longer found anywhere in large numbers. They spend most of their time around tropical coral reefs.

Perhaps in the spirit of the Year of the Ocean, numerous national, non-government organizations and commercial operations pooled their resources, and on Oct. 22, Oceania flew courtesy of Air Portugal -- in the passenger compartment -- to Madeira from Nice, France. She had a passport from the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species and temporary lodging at the Aquarium of Funchal, Madeira.

She spent several days in a tank with two conger eels and two gray triggerfish to get over her jet lag. On Nov. 4, she was returned to the sea on a wooden sailing boat "Buteo", accompanied by divers Dr. Thomas Dellinger of the University of Funchal and the Portuguese Herpetological Society, Carla Freitas of the Madeira Sea Turtle Project, cameraman Rui Martins of Rumavideo and Didier Theron.

She was fitted with University of Florida satellite tags and once she became accustomed to her surroundings in the ocean, she swam below the surface of the water and headed northwest.

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