Turtles

The other night we took an excursion to watch the Green Sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches of Costa Rica—what an adventure it was.

We arrived at the tour office at about 6:00 pm and met Pat and Penny who were going with us.  They are from Ottawa which they quickly informed us is the capital of Canada.  They made sure we understood that Toronto is only the capital of Ontario not the capital of the entire country as some people from Toronto believe.

Our tour guide, Ivan, ushered us into a rather old van and we headed north out of Tamarindo.  After ten minutes or so we stopped and picked up another couple, Carl and Laura, although they followed us in their own car.  Eventually we turned west and started to head for the coast.  After about thirty or forty minutes we turned onto a dirt road.  I am not sure you could call this a road and, the further we went, the worse it got.  There were rocks the size of bowling balls sticking up everywhere and there were huge valleys in the road going in every direction that had been created during the rainy season.  We were not able to go over a mile or two per hour.   I think it was like a video game for Ivan trying to maneuver through the maze. 

Finally, we came to the roads end and saw three other cars and a motorcycle parked amongst the trees.  Although it was pitch black, we also saw in the distance a campsite where people had built a campfire.  (The day had been cloudy and there were still a lot of clouds.  You could not see the moon and only a few stars peaked through.)

Ivan gathered us together on the sandy beach and told us that we were called “Ivan’s Tour” and it was important that we always stayed together.    We started walking down the beach in the dark.  It was close to high tide so the beach was small, the sand was very soft and hard to walk in, and the brush was very close to us on the one side.  All of this was important because the turtles would only have to travel a short distance to lay their eggs in the brush. 

After traveling a relatively short distance, Ivan told to stay where we were and he would go on ahead and see if he could find a turtle.  He had an infra red flashlight with him that he would flash when he found a turtle.  We were to then walk to the red light. 

After he left, the six of us stood there in the dark and commented on how utterly trusting we were.  We could see almost nothing, had no idea where in the world we were, and sincerely hoped Ivan would come back.

After a time that seemed much longer than it actually was, we saw the red light flashing in the darkness.    As we arrived at the light, Ivan was standing by a large path in the sand that was obviously made by a turtle going from the water, up the sand, and into the brush.  Ivan told us the turtle had come out of the water and was looking for a place to lay her eggs.  If this place did not suit her, she would return to the water and try another spot on the beach.   She only had twenty four hours to lay the eggs once they were fertilized or she would have to just discharge them into the sea.  He said we had to be very quiet so she would not hear us, walk gently so she would not feel our vibrations in the sand and, above all, we could not use a flashlight or take flash pictures.  The light would completely disorient the turtle and she could be affected for a long time.

As we followed Ivan up the sand towards the brush, believe it or not, it began to rain.  Although it was more like a heavy mist, it is still extremely rare in Costa Rica in January. 

Ivan told us to follow him single file until we reached a place that was about fifteen feet away from this turtle.  All I could see was a large dark spot in the sand.  Ivan said she was checking to see if this spot suited her to dig a hole into which she would lay her eggs.  Evidently she did not like it because she moved to another spot and then to a third.  We crept along behind her in the darkness.  Finally she began digging in the sand using her back flippers as shovels.  The first couple spots evidently had stumps that would have been in her way when digging her nest. 

As she was digging we saw another red light coming down the shore.   We could hear another tour group heading our way.  Ivan went to meet them.  He brought them back to us and they crouched in the darkness but were chatting loudly—even their tour guide did not whisper as Ivan had instructed us to do.  In just a minute or two the turtle stopped digging and started heading back to the water.  I am not certain but I think the other group bothered her to the point that she left.   We followed closely behind her as she made her way back to the sea.  She was approximately three feet long, two feet wide and weighed over two hundred pounds (Ivan’s estimate).

After this, the other tour group headed on down the beach but we turned back toward the car.  We continued on past where we had parked and headed toward what turned out to be a HUGE mountain (my estimate).   When we got to the base of the mountain, Ivan handed each of us an LED flashlight.  We were to use these as we trekked along the mountain path but could not use them on the beach. 

Up we went.  And then, we went up some more.  Gail had on crocks and I was wearing sandals.  The trail was steep, only wide enough for one person, and dropped off sharply on one side.  Finally, we started heading down which turned out to be just as tricky in the darkness.  (Thank goodness, while we were still back on the beach, Ivan had called another tour guide on the other side of the mountain to make sure there was activity and that our journey was going to be worthwhile.)

When we reached the beach on the other side of the mountain, the first thing we had to do was turn off our flashlights.   We could see several infrared lights down the beach.  We trudged through the thick sand toward the lights.  As we approached another group that was coming toward us, Ivan spoke to the guide and then told us to hurry because there was a turtle up ahead laying her eggs.  Trying to run through the sand in the dark and not being able to see the contour of the sand is very difficult.  You would step into holes, trip on stones, and throw sand in the air with your sandals.  But run we did.

When we got to the nest we saw an amazing sight.  There were several people surrounding the nest but a man was head first in the hole with the turtle while a woman was holding a plastic bag full of eggs.  As the turtle would lay an egg, the man would reach under her, an entire arms length, and he would take the egg and put it into the sack.   

 

There were probably fifty or sixty large ping pong ball sized eggs in the sack.

 These people were conservationists who were harvesting the eggs to move them to another spot where they would watch over them and they would have a better chance of hatching and surviving.   Only about one in one thousand babies survive so these people were trying to improve those odds.   After the turtle was finished laying all of her eggs, she was measured and tagged. 

 She covered the hole and headed back to the water.

Here is a link to a sight that gives much more detail.

http://www.seeturtles.org/baby-turtles/

After watching this, Ivan told us there was another nest down the way where babies were actually hatching.  Off we went running in the dark again.  But what a sight we saw.  Dozens of these little guys were coming up through the sand and heading to the sea at breakneck speed.  They can smell the water and feel the vibrations of the waves—and they could move!  

 

After this it was time to head back over the mountain to the car. 

It was about 9:30 but the time had gone by so fast.  We had seen a turtle digging her nest, eggs being laid and harvested, and babies being hatched and returning to the sea.  What an experience.  We would recommend this to everyone.