4th August, Transfer to Tortuguero, Turtle Central

 We set off at six 6 our hotel for the transfer to Tortuguero. The boys were pleased to see that the coach was much more luxurious and, because we got on it first, we did not get the seat over the wheel! We stopped for a typical breakfast of tropical fruit, gallo pinto, fried egg and plantain. 

We saw a sloth up a tree behind the restaurant....

..... as well as a very old tree with an enormous trunk. (Thats the bit behind Sue...)

We drove on through banana plantations and cloud forest for the boat trip to Evergreen Lodge, seeing another sloth on the way, along with dragonfly and butterflies.

We were greeted at our destination with fruit cocktails and then went to our individual wooden lodges. Within five minutes of our arrival we had seen a large and a baby iguana, a hummingbird and bright butterfly.

In the afternoon the boys wisely opted for a sleep and Sue an I went for a trip to Tortuguero visit. The village was interesting for about 10 minutes but a sleep probably would have been a better idea. However I did get a good shot of the Caribbean coast , which was not exactly golden sands and palm trees.

We headed off for the Turtle tour, first catching the boat from the hotel. When we arrived, the long wait began! We were given group number six, so several groups headed off before us as the rangers gradually identified the best spots. We had been told to dress in dark clothes, to bring no light, no cameras, and that we would follow the one torchlight of our guide, in groups of ten. Eventually we set off and marched along a smooth landing strip behind the beach, which was relatively easy in the dark! When we veered off towards the beach, we went into single file so that each person could warn the person behind them about dips in the sand, vegetation and various debris such as coconuts or large pieces of driftwood! We managed to navigate our way to the first spot, where we waited at a safe distance as there was one turtle who was at the stage of digging a chamber in the sand above the tide line, in preparation for laying her eggs. The sea was crashing onto the shore and getting quite close to where we stood, but the white foam was easy to spot against the  sand, so we managed to keep dry!

While we were waiting, Ben spotted a turtle emerging from the sea just behind him. Unfortunately, the first turtle got wind of our presence, got nervous, and went back into the ocean. We just saw a blur in the darkness as she swam away! We then changed position moving close to the next turtle whose chamber was at a fairly advanced stage. There we waited patiently and quietly for quite a while until our guide informed us that it would only be about five minutes before she would be ready to lay the eggs. Our hopes were dashed again, however, as the turtle decided at the last moment to change position and start all over again to dig – she was struggling with some roots in the undergrowth which were in the base of the hole that she had dug.

At this stage we were beginning to lose hope of seeing some action, as the guides are restricted to a very strict two hour time limit, so despite the fact that August is the height of the turtle breeding season and we had been given a 95 percent chance of seeing one, time was of the essence! Fortunately for us, it was a beautifully clear night, so at least we were not standing in a downpour being nibbled by mosquitoes, as we had expected. Instead of this, we witnessed the most beautiful night sky imaginable, with fabulous stars and an excellent view of the Milky Way, due not only to the clear night but also to the lack of street lighting and remoteness of the location meaning that there was very little to conflict with the natural light.

We moved to location number three, having to carefully circumnavigate one particular turtle who was at the stage of the process when she could not be disturbed, in order to get close to the next one. A little later, our patience was rewarded as we got an excellent view under red light of this turtle laying her eggs. This was amazing and well worth the wait. She had obligingly come up trumps and laid her eggs just before our appointed time slot expired! Not only this, but we then also got to see another turtle digging to cover over the eggs that she had just laid to protect them from predators.

The guides were fantastic and did their utmost to accommodate everybody. The night before they had had to coordinate 780 visitors along a five mile stretch of beach. The visits are very heavily regulated and, as a result, the turtle population in Tortuguero has been steadily rising. It was certainly a trip with a difference and was very memorable. Back to the lodge for sleep

New Experience of the day: Turtle egg laying and I am not sure I have really seen the Milky Way before.