Spying on a Sea Turtle in Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Having left our glamping site in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, we headed out on a bus toward our next stop, Tortuguero. Unfortunately an accident on a narrow bridge stopped all traffic. After checking out the situation, our tour guide, Danny, told us we were to get out of our bus and start walking. Carrying all our luggage Danny led us across the bridge. There we saw a line of cars, buses, and vans waiting to cross the bridge from the other direction. Danny managed to convince a tour group in a van to switch places with us. The group agreed and got out of the van with all their luggage.

Considering we were a group of 11, there was no way we were going to fit into a minivan. And we didn’t. It was just for the luggage. After putting all the luggage inside, Danny got inside, and we were told to keep walking. We weren’t really sure how far we had to walk, but we didn’t seem to have a choice. After all, we had a boat waiting for us!

We walked on the road for about a half hour until we reached a dead end and the marina. Our luggage was already loaded onto the boat, and the captain was patiently waiting for us. After everyone arrived (we all had a different walking pace), we got onto the boat. The boat was far from the yacht of my dreams. It had a long aisle down the middle with one seat on each side. We all found a seat and then put on our massive life jackets which were slightly uncomfortable. We then started the hour long ride to Tortuguero, which can only be reached by boat or plane. The ride was beautiful. Lush green trees lined the narrow river. 

Upon arriving at our hotel, we had lunch, checked into our rooms (which sadly didn’t have WIFI, sigh) and then prepared to go to town. Our hotel was on the island side of the river. To go anywhere from the hotel, you had to take a boat. We all got back into the boat, life-jackets on, and took the 3 minute ride to the other side of the river. Downtown Tortuguero is very small with a few restaurants, souvenir shops, and a National Park.

We first went to the beach to see the beautiful Caribbean. A few people had never seen the Caribbean before and were expecting beautiful, turquoise water. Well, it looked nice and gray, just like it does on the Pacific Coast. We spent some time picking up trash on the beach at Danny’s request. It is important to care for our earth! I really enjoyed seeing the Macaws (I’m a birder now) that were hanging out in a tree near the beach. They were a beautiful shade of blue and green. Different from the Macaws we saw at Manuel Antonio. 

The highlight of Tortuguero, and the main reason that people visit, is to see the turtles lay eggs. There are two times a night you can go see the turtles, 8 pm and 10 pm. You have to have a guide, and you don’t get to choose your time. Luckily, we received the 8 pm time. So once again we loaded onto a boat, life jackets on, and went down the river in the dark. Our driver held a flood light to use as the only light. Along the river banks there were a few hotels, but other than that, there was no light pollution. It was dark.

It was even darker when we got out of the boat and had to walk along a long and narrow path to the beach. They allowed us to use flashlights to help us see, but we had to turn them off as soon as we got near the sand. The lights are said to disturb the turtles, and naturalists fear they won’t lay eggs if they are disturbed. During our long walk to the beach, we saw a sloth! It wasn’t a sloth ball, but a sloth moving across a vine. Finally!

As soon as we got to the beach, we were told we were in the wrong area. We then had to wait for our guide to figure out where exactly we were supposed to be. We had to walk to a different spot. By this point, we had probably been walking for about 10-15 minutes. By the time we arrived, there were other groups of people already there taking their turns at looking at the turtle.

The giant turtle had dug two holes. She dug a shallow hole for her to go in, and then dug a smaller, deeper hole for her eggs to drop into. Using a red light, our guide shone it on the turtle so we could watch the ping pong ball size eggs drop into the hole. And… that was it. Egg after egg after egg dropped into the hole. When she finished, about a hundred eggs later, she spent a good amount of time covering the eggs to try and protect them from predators. At that point, she uses her front flippers to move and kick the sand. If you’re close to her (like we were), you will most likely get hit with sand.

We were hoping to see her go back down into the water, but unfortunately we didn’t. Viewing the turtles is a highly regulated activity with security guards up and down the beach. We had to leave to allow the next group to have their turn. They do not allow photography. The picture to the right shows turtle tracks on the beach, but not where we were.

As we were walking down the dark path back to the boat, I was hoping to see another sloth. I didn’t. I was also thinking how amazing it would have been to instead see the eggs hatch and the baby turtles making their way to the water instead of just the eggs. Nonetheless, it was a neat experience and hopefully the turtles stay protected so they continue to live, and people can enjoy them for years and years to come. Maybe I’ll go back one day to see the eggs hatch! 

The next day in Tortuguero we went on another boat tour. We had the same guide that we had for our turtle experience. He was an older man who had grown up in Tortuguero. He was very knowledgeable and loved his hometown. I could see why with the lush green trees everywhere and the abundance of wildlife. Costa Rica truly is a beautiful country. We saw sloth balls, monkeys, caiman, birds and spiders.

After the boat tour, we went to the National Park where we were on the lookout for a jaguar. Instead, we saw lizards, ants, a snake, and we ended the tour with another sloth ball. The rest of the day and evening we spent relaxing at the hotel. 

We were nearing the end of our tour of Costa Rica. We had one more town on the coast to check out before heading back to San Jose. Next week I’ll see you from Puerto Viejo. In the meantime comments and questions are always welcome. Just put them in the comment box below.