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March 27 - Thursday.
It is very sunny and hot, but dry, in the high
90's when we arrive at Las
Tortugas on the beautiful Playa Grande. Because it is located in
what is called the tropical dry forest, the weather is sunny almost year
round, There is a mix-up in our room reservation. When Dean checked in he was given the key to Room 7. We find it on the ground floor facing the outside 'soda' just a few steps away. After we have our suitcases in, I remembered that when Dean made the reservation before we left home, he was told the room was the only one with a window toward the ocean because of the nesting Leatherback turtles -- lights bother the nesting mothers and confuse the hatching babies. But this room it is not. When he goes back to inquires, he is told that someone else who came a day before is in the upper room. It's more than a little disappointing as this is the 'splurge' of our trip at $125 per night.
We have a quick lunch in the hotel's open air restaurant. I had another ham and cheese sandwich Costa Rican style, but the French fries were good. The dinner menu looks expensive for our budget, about $25 (each) for a seafood meal. It didn't take Jonathan
and I long to head to the beach while Dean stayed behind to rest.
After an hour in the hot sun and wading in the surf (so therapeutic), we decided to drive into Tamarindo,
twenty minutes away, and maybe get a bite to eat. It was a rushed trip as Dean wanted to be back before dark. We didn't
have a destination or know of a particular place to eat but
found a grocery store and got some bread and cereal and ice cream bars which
had to be eaten in a real hurry.
We decided to have a light dinner in the hotel restaurant, but all I can manage is a little
ice cream. It was just barely frozen. We can see the lights of Tamarindo
from the deck and I'd love to go walking down the beach, not knowing that you
aren't free to do so here. The beach is a protected area because of the
nesting turtles. You are not permitted to walk the beach unescorted at
night and must purchase an entrance ticket ($15 walk-in, $7 advance).
This is heavenly to me. The water is so warm and every sense is alive
to the sights, sounds and smells. By the time we get to the far end
though, Jonathan is complaining of 'heat stroke'. Without much drinking
water, he could be right. So we wrap a wet towel around his head and
he and
After
sufficiently cooling off in the room, Jonathan and I head to the pool and
we're just about the only ones there. I guess the Ticos have already headed back to the city.
Playa Grande is a pre-eminent nesting site for the Leatherback turtles who arrive here from October through April to nest. One turtle can lay up to 85 eggs, and may return to the beach from four to nine times during nesting season. They can weigh as much as a 700 pounds and grow to over five feet in length, making them the largest reptile in the world. The mothers understandably travel very slowly out of water and make their way onshore at night, where they dig a large hole with their front flippers. Then with the back flippers a smaller, deeper pit is hollowed out into which her soft eggs will fall. Then she will backfill the whole pit and flail her flippers in an attempt to disguise the site of her hidden treasure. I understand that when Louis and his brother started coming to this area in the 70's for the surfing, the turtle eggs were being harvested by many poachers. They would wait and watch until the mother turtle left to return to the sea, then dig up her fresh nest and remove the eggs. This practice continues today on other beaches. This continued through the 80's as Louis and Marianel led a 15-year struggle to convince the government to get this area protected. In 1990 the Sanctuary's legal status was finally passed into law and this ecologically unique area became part of the Costa Rica National Park System. As a result, many former egg poachers are now part of the solution. Rangers from the local community now patrol the beach and serve as guides to the small groups who come to watch this incredible event. It is most fortunate that Playa Grande is a protected area as part the Las Baulas National Park which also includes the Tamarindo National Wildlife Refuge and the mangrove estuary behind the southern part of Playa Grande.
But continued development of the area behind the beach and in nearby Tamarindo however further threatens the nesting turtles. The lights of Tamarindo confuse the new hatchlings as they instinctively head toward the light in their run for the sea. I hear that the streets at times are covered with them. And so the struggle continues to change the landscape of this beautiful area...what will it be like in another 5 years??
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However, this is a great place for being what I
consider remote. The room is air-conditioned, comfortably furnished and has two separate sleeping areas.
We don't like that we have to sacrifice daylight for privacy since we can't
pull open the drapes because people are walking right past our windows and
French doors. Such spoiled Americans we are.
did the trick and I finally
quit moaning and groaning and felt
like going outside by 3 pm.
I noticed
the small information booth beside the hotel, but no one was in it and the gate
was open the whole time we were there. I'm not clear as to whether the
admission is required only at night or if the gate was open during the day
because of the holiday weekend. This is definitely something to check out ahead
of time. Coming from Oregon,
where every inch of the coast is public from the tip of Astoria to the
California border, I didn't even think about not being allowed on the
beach or having to pay an entrance fee (thanks to former Gov. Oswald West,
who by executive order in 1913 declared Oregon beaches a public
highway
and set the precedent for the much-litigated but protected right of public
access to the entire state shoreline).
Dean take off back toward the hotel. I linger walking in the water.
When in the water about waist deep, a strong wave swept me completely off my feet and
threw me over backward--I didn't even see it coming. I'm glad
Jonathan wasn't with me as I don't think I could have helped him. As
I’m getting my footing, I see a tiny baby turtle burrowing in the sand.
I yelled for Jonathan and Dean, but they can't hear me, faces set on
getting back to the cool room. 
I love this beach. I'd like to stay here a long while. There is a big house with a red roof
just north of Las Tortugas...I dream of buying it
with my imaginary lottery winnings. I'll make a retreat of it where we will have a guest house and invite
all our friends to stay for a week or two each year and I can have a
vegetable and fruit garden
year round and Dean and Jonathan can catch our main course in the surf…
