POINT PLEASANT BEACH - With three people hoisting on either side, the white wooden box lifted easily off the sand, belying the weight of the reptilian tank contained within.

The couriers shuffled along the beach until they were a few yards from the water's edge, where the sand was smooth and the footprints from a busy Labor Day Weekend had been washed away by the breaking waves.

The box was opened and it took just a moment for Tammie, an eager and now healthy adult loggerhead sea turtle, to hear the ocean beckoning her to come home.

Her flippers clawed at the sand and propelled her 235-pound body toward the surf as several hundred onlookers cheered her on. Barely 90 seconds had passed before Tammie disappeared under the water, back where she belongs.

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Tammie and three juvenile Kemp's Ridley sea turtles, one of the most endangered species of sea turtles, were set free on Wednesday morning by Sea Turtle Recovery, a nonprofit based out of Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County that cares for injured and sick sea turtles until they can be returned back into the wild. You can watch a recap of the event in the video at the top of the page.

In addition to Tammie, we wish good luck and safe travels to:

Glacier, about 5 years old; stranded in December on Sandy Hook with broken bones in the right front flipper and experiencing hypothermia.

Shellbie, about 4; one of more than 400 turtles who washed up ill on Cape Cod in December 2017. She was suffering from fungal pneumonia and hypothermia.

Junior, also 4; was in that same mass stranding. He has since recovered from hypothermia and a respiratory infection.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officers Christopher Taylor and David Snyder were part of the team that carried Tammie to within a short scramble to the waves on Wednesday.

It was a reunion of sorts. If not for their intervention last year, Tammie would have almost surely met her end in the mouth of the Delaware Bay.

On the afternoon of June 12, 2017, Taylor and Snyder were on the first patrol aboard the Coast Guard's newest cutter in Cape May, the Lawrence Lawson, when the ship came upon Tammie floating near the surface.

"Once we got a little bit closer, we determined that Tammie could not dive more than a few feet underwater before she had to surface," Taylor told the Asbury Park Press on Wednesday.

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The cutter's crew took pictures and called around to experts looking for guidance on what to do next. They were advised to try to bring the animal on board.

"Recovering a turtle is not something that we're trained to do ... so we had to come up with a couple innovative ideas to actually get the turtle safely on board without distressing her further," Taylor said.

With Tammie bobbing in the water nearby, the crew decided on a strategy.

They dispatched their smaller, 26-foot rescue boat out and positioned it so that Tammie would be in the middle of the two vessels. A net was strung between the cutter and the rescue boat and Tammie was ensnared. She was then quickly maneuvered to the stern of the cutter and onto a ramp aboard the ship.

Staff from Sea Turtle Recovery came on board that night and assumed custody of the 40-something turtle.

Tammie was diagnosed with an internal infection that arose after she was struck by a propeller six times on her top shell, according to Brandi Biehl, co-executive officer of Sea Turtle Recovery.

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She was underweight and covered in 38 pounds of barnacles, muscles and mud. All of that growth on her carapace is a sign that Tammie wasn't as vibrant as a healthy sea turtle should be.

An adult loggerhead can hold its breath for up to seven hours, Biehl said.

After suffering such severe injuries, Biehl said it's likely that Tammie would rest for hours on the seabed, resurface for air and then return to the ocean floor to sleep some more.

She spent 15 months recuperating under the care of Sea Turtle Recovery. Once so weak and stagnant that mollusks and crustaceans were growing on her shell, now Tammie has her swagger back.

"Tammie does what Tammie wants. She is very strong-willed," Biehl said.

All the turtles released were microchipped. Biehl said it's their hope that researchers discover Tammie and the others nesting and laying eggs on some faraway beach.

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Taylor and Snyder wanted to be there to watch Tammie start that new adventure.

"It's not too often for us that we're able to see the entire 360 degrees," Taylor said. "We were involved in the rescue, I've visited the Turtle Back Zoo a couple of times to actually see the recovery process and now to be here today is a real honor to help release Tammie back into the wild."

Wednesday's releases mark 27 successful reintroductions by Sea Turtle Recovery since the group formed in December 2016. It is the only long-term rehabilitation facility for sea turtles in New Jersey.

In August 2017, staff from the group, joined by "Cake Boss" Buddy Velastro, released Humphrey, an 88-pound loggerhead, at roughly the same spot where Wednesday's turtles were set free. You can watch that event below.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com, @russzimmer