Tortuguero National ParkMar 25, 2008
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| The village of Tortuguero adjoins the national park of the same name. It's really cozy because there are no cars or vehicles of any kind on the streets (aside from bikes, maybe). We stayed at a funky hotel called Miss Junie's, where we had a group dinner. Tom and John went off to look for the best local watering hole and Tom played some pool. My roommate Phil and I signed up for a tour to look for sea turtles, despite being told that we weren't likely to see turtles this time of year. I'm glad we did... We met our guide at 9:30 p.m., since the turtles come to the beach only at night, and were joined by two girls from England on a long trip through Latin America. We looked for the red lights worn by volunteers from the Caribbean Conservation Corps and, sure enough, found a group of volunteers surrounding a leatherback turtle! She was an impressive animal, which a shell - well over 6-feet long. She had dug a hole on the beach and laid 79 eggs inside, which we saw (the resarchers had counted the eggs and noted the precise location of the nest). We stood there as the turtle laboriously covered and camoflaged the nest before slowly making her way back to the ocean and swimming off. (Leatherbacks are not good at getting around out of the water; she would crawl a couple of yards, then rest. we could hear her breathing hard!) We were close enough to have sand kicked on us! Really a remarkable, memorable experience, like walking into a TV nature program. |
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