Leatherback Sea Turtle Laying Her Eggs

We are now in Nicaragua at La Isla de Ometepe and there is much to catch up on and much will have to wait.

But, I did want to write about one of the most amazing and magical things that Mike and I have experienced on any of our travels.... while still in Costa Rica we visited Playa Tamarindo expressly with the hope that we would get to see one of the baulas (leatherback sea turtles) climb to shore from sea to lay her eggs. They are severely endangered, primarily due to fishing nets, but also because of other human related causes, like developments on beautiful shorelines, so turtles are no longer able to use them as breeding grounds. Last year the count at Playa Grande (near Playa Tamarindo) was 45 females and this year there have been only 22. Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtle in the world and unlike other reptiles, they have the capacity to keep some of their blood warm, which allows them to live almost all over the world in waters of varying tempuratures.

We were picked up by a national park guide at 1130pm under the silver light of a nearly full moon. I was so hoping we would be able to see a turtle! We were prepared to wait for 4 hours in the middle of the night to wait to see of one arrived. We were very fortunate because almost immediately upon arrival to the national park, a turtle carried her massive body (2ooo pounds) from sea to shore, dug a hole several feet deep with her flippers, and began to lay her eggs. It was very surreal. I was also struck by the musky- animal scent as she layed her eggs. There were several biologists taking measurements and counting eggs and I am pleased to report that they were very strict with us about where we could be relative to the turtle and forbidding the use of cameras. Once she finished, she used her back flippers to cover the hole with sand and pat it firm. And then used her front flippers like shovels to scoop (And hurl) the sand over the hole. We had to get out of the way because of the massive quantities of sand she was scooping. Once she was finished with her actual nest, she made a fake hole next to it to mislead possible predators. And then began her trek back to the sea. Mike and I were totally blown away.... and then...

On our walk back to the boat, talking about what we had just seen, our guide stopped us to walk very carefully around hundreds of tiny baby Ridley sea turtles that had just hatched and were making their arduous and itty bitty ways to the sea!!! It was phenomenal! They were no bigger than silver dollars and everywhere and I cannot put to words their cuteness. Biologists believe no more than 1 in 1000 survives. It was very moving to watch them making their way into the waves of the ocean for the first time. And then....

A few feet down the way, a second glorious baula (leatherback) was climbing to shore from the sea. Again, very surreal to see this water animal bring herself to shore. The guides kept us moving and would not let us watch. I dont know if that was for the benefit of the turtle or because it was 2am and they wanted to go to bed. I am hoping for the former.

It was a magical evening and one of the most phenomenal things we have seen. We were not allowed to take photos, but these photos from national geographic are like what we saw both of the baula and of the baby ridleys