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Published: September 26th 2007
When we last left our Costa Rican adventure, our goal was to venture to Tortuguero to see a tortuga feliz (happy sea turtle). Instead, we witnessed much more. Parque Nacional Tortuguero protects the nesting beach for green, leatherback and hawksbill turtles. It´s the most important green turtle hatchery in not only the Caribbean, but the entire Western Hemisphere - and and we were just in time for the end of nesting season.
Tortuguero is only accessible by boat so Trev and I left the big city to take two buses and a two-hour boat ride through canals that snake through what they call the ¨mini Amazon¨. It reminded us of a certain theme park jungle cruise (same sweet boat), only through an actual jungle with real crocodiles, flamingos, turtles, blue and yellow butterflies, cows and horses lounging in the murky, chocolate-milk water.
Tourists aren´t allowed on the protected beaches at night when these endangered turtles lay their eggs (the park was established in 1970, but poaching for eggs, shells and turtle soup continues) so we ventured in the dark with a guide. We learned that about 30,000 turtles come ashore every year. A female comes to the same beach
Liz and a little turtle
I think this was Liz´s happiest moment of the whole trip. where she was born thirty years before to lay their own eggs (how she still knows where it is, no one knows). She buries her eggs and returns to the sea, never to see the final product. The unprotected eggs incubate for another two months and because of birds, dogs and poaching people, only one percent of the 100 plus babies survive.
We took turns with four other groups of foreigners to see a female make her way up the beach and find the perfect nesting spot. Then she used her flippers to dig a nest one foot deep, and layed 100-150 eggs (can you imagine that, moms?). It´s not easy for a 350-pound turtle to haul herself through the sand, so we formed two parade lines of people to silently cheer for her return to the sea. Our friendly guide, Emilio, hinted to us that we could see the same miracle, plus NEWBORNS, without all the people in the morning. So the next day, we woke up at 5 a.m. to continue our sea turtle search.
At sunrise, we followed the sign of flying sand and saw another mom burying her eggs after a belated birth. We
Stuck in a hole
Come on little dude...you are almost there! continued our beach patrol for another hour, and just as we were about to give up the search for babies, a native Tico called us over... We saw two tiny hatchlings make a break for the sea! These were the one percent, the precious few, the chosen ones if you will (and I think you will). We decided that seeing the miracle of sea turtle births might be one of the most amazing things we´ve seen in nature.
p.s. Be sure to click the movie links at the top of the page to see video of newborns and a mother sea turtle, and on the map link to see the Latin Adventure route so far.
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This one's for LIZ- in memory of the shoes
He who would travel happily must travel light. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)