We’re happy to share a highlight from our summer 2022 Costa Rica program, which works with the Sea Turtle Conservancy for a portion of the itinerary.
This post features writing and photography by students Berkeley and Will.
Today we started our morning at 6am by going on our morning turtle patrol. Our group found many turtle nests, many of which had been poached! This was so sad because we had watched some of these turtles while they laid their eggs the night before. After the walk we ate breakfast and went to the beach until lunchtime. After lunch, we went to a presentation about jaguars and learned that in Tortuguero, some of them will actually prey on the nesting turtles! We did learn that we should avoid any dead turtles because a jaguar could still be in the area. After that informative presentation we decided to explore the nearby town where we got ice cream! Then we had a delicious dinner of fries and celebrated Luca’s birthday. After dinner some of us went on a night hike to look at the wildlife around the research center. We saw many different aspects of wildlife during the walk. Then some people went out for the night patrol, and after such a long day we crashed hard and got a good night’s sleep so we could do it again tomorrow.
Searching for sea turtle tracks/nest from the previous night.
Boating through Tortuguero’s maze of rivers and mangroves.
We may have discovered a new species of sea turtle.
Exploring town and sampling the local food!