Do you like sea turtles? If you do, travel to Costa Rica, so we can arrange your trip to see them. And if you want to go further, you can volunteer in one of the many operations that help these beautiful animals.

Sea Turtles lay eggs on both Pacific and Caribbean shores of Costa Rica. When? Every month of the year. Costa Rica has different kinds of sea turtles and they have different nesting times.

Leatherbacks: You will find them on the Caribbean side, they nest from March to July. On the Pacific side, they nest from September to March.

Greens: Nest from June to October along the North Caribbean, especially at Tortuguero.

Olive Ridleys: Along the Pacific, they nest throughout the year, though on many beaches the nesting is concentrated from July to November.

Hawksbills: Nest in Cahuita National Park in September and October and can be found foraging in the Golfo Dulce.

Sea turtles spend months or even years–and for some males their entire life–feeding in the open ocean hundreds or thousands of kilometers from shore.  So, how can you see them? Each female turtle must return to land to dig nests and lay eggs.

In your travel to Costa Rica we can arrange a visit to Ostional and Nancite beaches a few days around the new moon between August and November to see turtles.  One of the most amazing creatures are the Olive Ridleys turtles because they exhibit an incredible nesting behavior referred to in Spanish as arribadas. This arribadas involve as many as 20,000 turtles arriving on the beach to nest in a single night!

Local authorities ask tourists to be respectful with nature. So we ask every visitor not to use lights of any kind, not to approach the turtles and avoid blocking their access to the beach.

Volunteering

There are many NGO’s that work with turtles in Costa Rica:

LAST (Latin American Sea Turtles) Association: To become a volunteer, you simply need to make a reservation. You can do an internship with them and be part of their conservation and research teams.

La Tortuga Feliz: They offer a turtle conservation program whose aim is the protection of sea turtles. Participating volunteers contribute to the improvement of the living conditions and education of the local inhabitants.

See Turtles: Conservation tour that involve volunteering and educational purposes.

Woking Abroad: You will take part in night surveys, monitor nesting sea turtles, relocate eggs to the hatchery and release baby turtles into the ocean.

ASVO: They work in Protected Areas, beaches and rural communities of Costa Rica, promoting an environmental volunteer with a social conscience