Lucie & Rhys´s Honeymoon Adventure: Week 36 - Pacuare Nature Reserve, Tortuguero, San Jose (Costa Rica)

We started the week at the north station of the Pacuare Nature Reserve, having written a lot of detail on the reserve last week I’ll concentrate on the highlights (and lowlights) in this week’s blog.

Alongside the activities I talked about last week, we also had the option of going out at 5am on the census, a walk of the beach in day light to make sure nothing was missed on night patrols, to count trails where hatchlings had hatched in the night and to check for any other activity. We went on one census in the north station and came across 4 hatched nests. A quick check of the top sand of the hatched nests (nests are about 50 – 70cm deep) for trapped hatchlings and we came across one who hadn’t made it out. He was so cute, a little dazed at first but he soon found his feet (flippers) and headed off to the sea, we named him Billy.

After 4 nights at the north station we packed our bags to head to the south station where we were due to stay for the remainder of our visit. After lunch we headed to the beach for a couple of hours to clear vines without any of the assistants bothering to join us. At 5pm we stopped work and headed to the hatchery – an area where some nests have been relocated for research purposes based on the temperature of the nests which determines the sex of the turtles. The nests were hatching and we were lucky enough to be there for the release of 13 hatchlings. They handed tiny hatchlings to us over the fence and pointed us to an area of shade where we could release them, for something so small they’re flippers were already pretty powerful and it was hard not trying not to drop them as they wiggled about. We let them go and watched as they made their way to the sea. You can’t help but laugh and smile as you see them go and getting wiped out with the first waves.

That night we’d asked to go on the 8pm patrol as all the turtles we’d seen so far had been out before midnight and the midnight shift is horrible messing with your sleep patterns. As soon as we started we noticed that the patrol was different with the assistant making constant contact with security with her torch and freaking when she saw a white light on the beach (assistants use red, poachers use white), it wasn’t until we reached the 3.5km mark where we met the patrol from the north station that we found out why. On a turtle project 30-40km along the coast an assistant had been shot by poachers while out on patrol with 4 foreigners. The assistants were shocked that we’d been kept in the dark and not having all the facts at our disposal we were angry and nervous about being on the beach. Fleur asked to be taken back to the station having had a bad experience in Colombia and we started back. Just when you least want it, we stumbled across a turtle and all agreed to stay with her until she was back in the sea. For an hour we all forgot about the shooting and were mesmerised by the turtle.

On the way back we bumped into Alvaro who was doing the midnight shift alone, closely followed by a security guard (where was our security guard?) and asked him why we weren’t told, he said we’d talk tomorrow and off we went to sleep on it.

The next morning we had a meeting with Alvaro and Isabel after breakfast. We’d made up our minds that we wanted to leave, more because we didn’t want to create an awkward atmosphere than because we felt unsafe. Once we had all the facts I think me and Rhys would have gone on patrol anyway, the guy was singled out because he was petitioning for more police presence on his beach to stop poaching, it wasn’t a random shooting. The press release talks about drugs traffickers being unhappy that usually deserted beaches were being patrolled by environmentalists and that suggests that our beach could also have been at risk of attack. We were shocked that the team at the reserve had made the decision not to tell us, giving the reason that they wanted to keep things as normal as possible having spoken to the coast guard and the police and deemed there to be no risk – that doesn’t explain the increased security presence on the patrols that night, the reduced number of patrols (3 instead of 5) and the decision not to let anyone patrol alone! I am sure the Pacuare Reserve is a safe place for volunteers, it doesn’t border a town and access is difficult because the waves crash at the shore. There is a constant security guard presence watching the sea for boats and the poachers know this and no poachers have been seen on the beach at all this season – before the reserve was established, 98% of eggs were poached, now only 2% are poached. Poachers are far more likely to go to the beaches that can be accessed easily and where the patrls are understaffed. Our decision to leave the reserve was more based upon the way we’d been treated and not wanting to ruin such an amazing week by spending 2 days being awkward.

We caught a boat just before lunch for the 2 hour journey along the canal to Tortuguero. The boat trip was beautiful, winding through the waterways (which are more like murky rivers than British canals) surrounded by rainforest, spotting monkeys and birds along the way. The majority of the journey was actually through the Parque Nacional Tortuguero, an area which protects not only the canal and the surrounding forest but the stretch of beach that runs parallel and which is an important green turtle nesting site (Tortuguero translated means “Turtle Place”). The village itself was incredibly peaceful and despite it’s isolation with no road access (and so no cars) on a spit of land between the sea and the canal, it’s one of Costa Rica’s most popular spots, mainly because of the spectacular biodiversity. We were glad to be there before the green turtle season kicked in which meant the visitor numbers weren’t so high and it was quite peaceful.

After settling in to a hostel on the sea front with a great communal veranda (Fleur is amazing at bargaining the price down!) we headed for a beer by the canal before drinks at the hostel.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to meet our guide, Castor, for a 3 hour canoe tour of the canals. There were 8 of us in the boat and only 4 oars so we had to take it in turns rowing while Castor steered us around the canals pointing out monkeys, Jesus Christ Lizards (they can actually walk on water!), caiman and lots and lots of birds. Back on dry land we had a nap before heading back into the National Park to walk the land trail along the coast. It wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as Cahuita but was full of lizards of all different shapes and sizes - you’d be upset if you paid your $10 entrance and only did the walk but it was worth it with the canoe trip in the morning.

As we got back to the hostel we found Fleur in a bad way, something had gone in her eye and scratched her cornea and James ended up calling 911 and rushing her back to the mainland to meet an ambulance to get her to a clinic - she’s on the mend now.

We’d intended to leave the next day but decided to have a chill day, Rhys stayed at the hostel and I only ventured out to buy cake and browse the souvenir shops (not that we’re actually buying any souvenirs, souvenirs = more weight). James and Fleur got back early evening as we were enjoying a glass of wine on the veranda and joined us for cards and take out dinner. After spending the last month traveling on and off together and having shared the once in a lifetime turtle reserve experience it was sad to be saying bye to Fleur and James, although we hope that they’ll get bored with Costa Rica and head up to Nicaragua sooner than planned to catch us up.

We ended the week in San Jose having left Tortuguero on a boat to La Pavona docks an hour away and catching a bus to Cariari and another bus in to San Jose. Arriving late afternoon we jumped in a cab to the hostel I stayed at last time I was here with Mum - we stayed in the room next door, happy memories! (Miss you mum). Since San Jose doesn’t have much to offer and a storm was just starting we decided to make for KFC and then chill watching a movie in the hostel.