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Published: December 12th 2009
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We left Liberia to get to Playa Tamarindo early on Friday Oct. 30. We arrived by bus and settled in at La Bottella de Leche (The Milk Bottle) Hostel, a cow-themed establishment. Friendly and chaotic it was packed to the brim that weekend for reasons that had nothing to do with the wildlife or surf. More on that later.
Our guidebooks warned us that Playa Tamarindo was overdeveloped and commericalized. Well, it was a bit odd in that none of the roads were paved, but there were several tall, luxury hotels, bars, and pricey restaurants. Still, the beach was very beautiful. It was great to get a view of the Pacific, as we hadn´t seen it since leaving Washington state.
Our main interest in coming to Playa Tamarindo was to view the leatherback turtles nesting in the Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas refuge. We tracked down the refuge office as soon as we could. Here´s the deal: it was $25 dollars a person to wait on the beach at night for a turtle to show up. If it shows up, you pay $10 more. If it doesn´t show, it doesn´t show. So it´s a bit of a gamble whether
or not you would actually see one. We weren´t too sure if we wanted to spend the money on not seeing anything, but for $15 more, we could get a packaged deal with a tour of the estuary down the river, during which we were sure to at least see birds. So we decided to go for it and do the river/estuary tour the next morning, followed by leatherback waiting that night. We figured that maybe we might be lucky with both and see crocodiles as well as a leatherback.
We were picked up at 8 am the next morning for the River tour through the estuary in Playa Grande. We immediately sighted several shore birds including snowy egrets, little green herons, and black-crowned night herons among others (which I can´t seem to remember right now - but there were lots of different kinds including a kingfisher). The shore of the estuary is composed of 3 different species of mangroves (red, white, and black?) and is protected by the government. The herons like to perch on the roots to fish. We did get lucky and spotted not only one, but 4 crocodiles! Most of them were juvenile and we
could only see a partial head in the water before they went under, but the last one was spotted on the shore. He went into the water just as we were approaching. We also docked the boat for awhile during the tour and came ashore to look for monkeys. After some hooting from our guide, the howlers responded and we were able to spot a small group of them in the trees above. Of course, we didn´t want to get too close or under them as we learned from the sign in Tikal - they´ve been known to defecate on people. So overall, our morning river tour was very successful and we enjoyed going through the estuary and seeing the birds.
For the leatherback tour at night, we were picked up from the cow hostel at 9 pm and whisked away to the wildlife station across from Playa Grande. We met up with our guide and two other American couples, both on their honeymoons as we found out later, and got into the boat to take us across the river to Playa Grande. No cameras or flashlights were allowed. The way it worked was that a team of rangers,
biologists, and volunteers for Earthwatch would stroll along a 6 km stretch of beach every night and monitor for any turtle sightings. Communication was with walkie-talkies and cell phones. There was a nice hotel within a few meters of the ranger station on Playa Grande where we sat and waited... and waited... and waited... for the notification of a turtle sighting.
It was near midnight by the time our guide got the notice that a leatherback was sighted coming out of the water. We paid our $10 to the ranger and rushed out onto the beach. Unfortunately it was about 2-3 km away from where we were, so we were practically running through the sand to get there. By the time we were near the area, we got another call saying that the turtle ran into vegetation and decided to turn back to the ocean. DRATS!!! We were quite disappointed. It was possible that this turtle might surface again, so we plopped ourselves on the beach and watched the moon. It was a clear night with a near full moon, so the reflection off the ocean was gorgeous! We waited for another 2 hours. By the time we were
about to give up, another call came in to tell us that a leatherback was close to the original ranger station and has started to dig her hole. We were so excited!!!
We raced back along the beach, running on adrenalin now that we had been up for 18 hours. We made out a dim light in the distance. Our guide and the person holding that light (a red flashlight) started signaling each other. We broke into a run.
We ran into a group of six wildlife professionals/volunteers standing around on the beach. Then we finally saw what we here for. Halfway up the beach was a female leatherback, as large as a dining room table with a shell about 5 feet long, already busy digging her nest.
Our guide positioned us in front of the business end of the turtle. We got to lie in the sand, mere inches away from the turtle´s back flippers. We got to watch the turtle finish digging its nest, alternating between her two back flippers. For a large, supposedly dumb animal, the turtle was amazingly delicate and methodical, and reminded one of a master craftsman. It would shift its weight
inside its shell, curl a large, meaty back flipper into the nest hole, and gently scrape a small bit of sand out of the nest with the flipper. Then it would shift its weight and put the other back flipper into the nest whole, remove some sand with this flipper, and repeat the process. Left flipper, right flipper, left flipper, right flipper, the turtle never lost its rhythm. She moved slowly, and was clearly feeling the hole shape with her flippers as she dug her perfectly round hole.
Sometime during this process, another group of turtle-seeking tourists arrived. This group had about 15 people! Our group of 6 moved back to let them have a view. While we were positioned close enough to touch the turtles tail, I really wanted to go up front, look the turtle in the eyes, and say hello. I was not allowed. None of us were allowed anywhere near the head, and it seemed that the viewing was designed to keep the turtle from ever knowing we where there. Imagine, 20 plus people watching you give birth and you don´t have a clue. I am sure this was less stressful for the turtle, but
somehow it still felt wrong.
Eventually the leatherback was satisfied with her digging. She gave the hole a firm whack with her right flipper, then another firm whack with the left, compressing the sand in the bottom of the hole. Time to lay the eggs. If the voyeurism seemed a little deceptive, it was nothing compared to what happened next. A tall, blonde 20-something female wearing an EarthWatch T-shirt placed a plastic bag into the hole. The turtle, innocent of this knowledge, laid its cue ball-sized eggs directly into the plastic bag. The EarthWatcher removed the bag, and the turtle proceeded to fill in and cover the empty hole with sand. This deception seemed rotten, but there was a good explanation. The turtle had made its nest below the high tide mark. Left alone, it is likely that all the eggs would have drowned. And these things are endangered, you say? The EarthWatch biologists were there to both monitor the leatherback mothers and to also move the eggs to a safer place above high tide to let the future little turtles a chance to hatch properly and return to the sea.
Coming home around 3 am, we ran
into some more wildlife - young Americans in scary, sexy, or outlandish costume returning from Halloween revelry. Much to the dismay of most locals (except the bar owners), Playa Tamarindo had recently acquired a reputation as a Halloween hotspot, even though the holiday is completely foreign.
We slept in on Sunday, Nov. 1st. After the afternoon showers let up, we went out to the beach for walking, swimming, and body surfing. We made plans for traveling the next morning, and turned in early for some much needed sleep.
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