Trip to Tortuguero - Part I

Last weekend the fambly headed up to Tortuguero (extreme North-East of CR - see map) with the Rich and Gina show. The great thing about that is that Max and Kade are great buds from school and Payton and Tyler are also close in age so they could play together (although Tyler does prefer the boys). The whole event started at the Hotel Real Intercontinental near our house at 5:45am on Sat morning. The amazing part about this is that we ran into about 5 other families we knew while we were waiting for the bus. Apparently lots of people hang out with their families at 6am in Costa Rica...go figure.

Se we started up for Tortuguero which apparently is a world-wide destination for getting to see giant sea-turtles (both Green Turtles and Leatherback Turtles) lay their eggs up on the beach. Since this is something that you don't get to do everyday...Jen and I were pretty excited. First we started with a 3 hour bus ride through the mountains which were absolutely beautiful. Along the way we passed a really cool sight...there is a place where two rivers come together, one blue (from the mountains) and one brown (from a volcanic region I think). It is the picture on the top right.

Then we took a 90 min boat ride up the river to the Laguna Lodge (Yes,the only way in and out is by boat). Once we arrived it was already time for a late lunch and then it was straight off to the pool since it was hotter then hell. The boys watched the kiddos at the pool while the ladies went into town to see what they could see. All the boys were mystified by this since pretty much every town in Costa Rica is the same...a few markets...a few sodas...a few shops. Well, when they finally returned they gave us the status report....yup...a typical CR town indeed. At least they had the good sense to pick up some Rum and Coke along the way! A quick stroll along the beach before dinner and then time to get the kiddos down. At 10pm the boys went out to see the turtles. Luck was on our side and we got to see a turtle laying eggs, covering up her nest and then heading back into the sea. Since no cameras are allowed I don't have any pictures to share but I can say that the pics over HERE pretty much cover it all. A few interesting facts: It takes the whole process about 2 hrs start to finish, the incubation time is about 2 months and they are called green turtles because that is the color of their INSIDES...not their outsides. It was very cool indeed to see it all. When they conceal their nests they sometimes kick out some of the eggs. The tour guide said that those never survive so I picked one up and checked it out. It felt just like a really big ping-pong ball to me...firm but would dimple with enough pressure. FYI - the turtle nests are huge. You can see that from the picture at the right. Those craters are their nests!

The next day was another early morning with a 6:30am boat our into Tortuguero National Park...well, that is where we were supposed to go. We ended up not going into the park due to strict regulations regarding the number of motorized boats allowed...just 7! So we ended up heading upriver to Tortuguero mountain instead. We saw the typical Howler and Spider Monkeys, a few shore birds, poisonous frogs, Toucans, etc. Then it was breakfast and back to the pool for more fun. After lunch, Kade and I watched DVDs while Jen and Payton napped. Then it was back to the beach to see if we could see any baby turtles hatching. Unfortunately not...but we did get to see a few dead baby turtles that did not make it to the sea. That night the girls went to see the turtles and they were also lucky enough to see the entire process.

Then on Monday we headed back to San Jose.

Overall a really neat (but pretty damned hot) trip.