Stephanie Kowacz - Chief Operating Officer

This morning I woke early in San Jose, the capital city, bustling as always and buzzing with the sounds of a weekday morning full of cars on the streets, students walking to school in their tidy uniforms, and pedestrians off to a day at work. The sounds of horns blasting—at times in courtesy—and the fumes of the city wash over me and begin my journey to Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

As the city melts away behind me, I look at the windy road ahead and settle in for the 3.5-hour drive to my destination, the outskirts of the port city Moin. Normally the route is via Barallio Carrillo National Park, a treat of a drive through one of the many beautiful rainforests for which the country is well known for; but not today. As like many days during the rainy season, the road is impassable due to a mudslide that I’m told is over 1 km long.

Today we take the alternate route via Turriabla, or “Turri,” as the locals call it. I’m dressed for the tropics and find morning cool as we make our way through the small towns that dot the drive to Turry, the largest city we’ll encounter en route. Today I’m in the good company of Mario, a seasoned guide who is also our driver for the day. Claudio Quesada, the vice president of a network of NGO’s dedicated to sea turtle conservation, has also joined along in the ride.

We stop en-route for breakfast and enjoy traditional gallo pinto (a.k.a. rice and beans with eggs) and, of course, tortillas and some excellent Costa Rican coffee.

We make our way toward Limon, and turn off just before arriving there to the city of Moin. Moin is as small as port towns go. The cargo ships are lined up and the containers are marked with familiar logos like “Dole” and “Chiquita,” while the ships sport Europeans country names.

It’s hard to imagine this small country producing so much, but then as we listen to story after story of the ill effects of agriculture here, it is not so surprising after all. The lumbering ships docked offshore add further perspective to the picture. It makes me think about how I’m able to enjoy these fruits year round in my hometown in Florida and consider what is being given up for that to happen. But I digress; it’s the plight of the sea turtle that I’m here to learn more about and to see how those at Holbrook can help.

Claudio is a wealth of information and his love for sea turtles is always apparent. During our journey, he has told me a staggering amount of information about sea turtles. I’ve learned that Costa Rica is the nesting site for six species; they are, from largest to smallest: leatherback, loggerhead, green sea turtle, black sea turtle, hawksbill, and Olive Ridley.

The leatherback and hawksbill are both on the international list as critically endangered. To be on this, the species must have lost 90 percent or more of their numbers over the past 20 years and believed to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

The green, black, loggerhead, and Olive Ridley appear on the international list as endangered—meaning these four species are facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, not a much better out look.

How has this happened, you might ask? Human interference is the answer.

The hawksbill turtles were hunted for the jewelry trade for many years for their prized shell or “carapace.” Though this problem has been greatly reduced, tortoise shell jewelry is still found in markets today. All six species have faced serious poaching problems, including killing nesting females for meat and illegal collection of eggs from the nesting sites. Protection of the green and black sea turtles came in mid-1950s, while protection for the leatherbacks came in the 1970s, perhaps too late.

[caption id="attachment_530" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Leatherback Female"][/caption]

I also learned that it takes from 12 years to 50 years for these turtles to become sexually mature—no that is not a typo—some species take 50 years to mature; the same age at which female humans experience hot flashes and losing the ability to reproduce.

Another interesting fact is that though the information I’ve read is correct that sea turtles return to the beaches on which they hatched, their idea of the same beach is much more loosely translated. This means a leatherback turtle that hatched on a beach between on the countries of Colombia and Nicaragua will return to a beach within that same stretch. This is spanning four countries. This illustrates just how much data has already been collected in over 50 years since Dr. Archie Carr called the world to attention on the plight of the sea turtle.

[caption id="attachment_531" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Two-toed Sloth"][/caption]

We arrive to the animal sanctuary along the coast, a rehabilitation center for orphaned and illegally kept animals and also home base for the sea turtle conservation volunteer program. The owner of the sanctuary, Vanessa, a young, energetic Costa Rican who opened the sanctuary approximately two years ago, greets us.

Vanessa tells us the heartfelt story about each animal in her care; and there are many. The sanctuary is home to howler, white-faced and spider monkeys, and also a spectacled owl, as well as two Scarlet Macaws that will be part of a future breeding program. There are also a variety of parrots on site that were confiscated because they were being kept illegally.

Also found here are both two- and three-toed sloths, raccoons, a deer, tortoises, and even a Grison—a weasel-like creature of the river. Each has a story and some will be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. For others, it is not possible. All of these animals have suffered from human intervention. Vanessa provides educational outreach to the local community with these animals in an effort to prevent the mistakes of the past to repeat themselves.

The sanctuary is a perfect compliment to the sea turtle program, which takes place mostly at night. Volunteer opportunities at the sanctuary include feeding adult and baby animals; cleaning enclosures; maintenance in the butterfly garden; exercising the animals and assisting as needed. This is a place where something always needs to be done.

As the sun sets, the howlers become active with their deep, throaty calls and the katydid begin their nightly song. We have just finished our sea turtle training program, which was split into two sessions. First we enjoyed an interactive presentation on the history of the project, and learned additional information about the sea turtles, including how to record data during the nightly walks, how the flippers are tagged, how eggs are collected if necessary, and how blood samples are collected. After the classroom session we walked to the beach and began our field training. During the field session, we built a sandcastle leatherback—it is their nesting season now, which runs from march through early September.

We then learned how to properly measure the carapace, on which side to di this and how we should never walk over the turtle or near its head, always behind it. We also learned that we must take all measurements three times to be accurate.

Then it was on to training on how to build an appropriate chamber for sea turtle eggs. This is done because many nests in Moin are relocated due to the high rate of poaching in the area. Since the project is only two years old, poaching is still a huge problem.

We are told that for leatherbacks we should aim for a depth of 71 centimeters, so we begin by measuring our arm to know how deep we should dig. Then we begin digging in the steel gray-colored sand until we form a hole with the right depth. Next we must hollow a chamber that is approximately 40 centimeters wide. This method is used to dig new holes for the eggs quite often here and it is common for nesting turtle eggs to be dropped directly into a bag for this purpose during nesting. This way eggs can be moved away from the very obvious tracks these big mommas leave behind—a map, if you will, to their eggs. The eggs are relocated to another place on the beach or in to the hatchery.

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Leatherback hatchling"][/caption]

The hatchery consists of a roped-off area where a series of these relocated eggs are monitored closely. They are protected from larva infestation by a special container on top of the sand and temperature measurements are collected every six hours. A few hatchlings from each nest are measured when they emerge as well. The project has immense amounts of data and is always seeking both volunteers to assist with turtle patrols and also work in the hatchery.

After the training a shower is in order, its dinner at the sanctuary, feeding and cleaning time for our furry friends, and then some time to rest before nightly turtle patrols. These are usually done in shifts from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. If there aren’t enough volunteers to run both shifts, then one shift is done from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Turtle patrols involve walking along the beach near the shoreline so that you do not compact the sand over nests away from the waterline and make it difficult for the hatchlings to emerge.

No flashlights, bug spray, or cell phones are permitted. It is very important to avoid stressing the turtles. When a turtle is spotted, measurements are taken and recorded—17 pieces of data in all—and later this information is added to the database. The project manager determines whether or not the eggs should be relocated, and if so, whether they go to the hatchery or to an alternate location.

During our walk we did not encounter any turtles. The local police came along for the brisk walk with us; they are very supportive in the conservation efforts and report nests when they see them.

As the project develops, the community will become more involved and poaching will be reduced. We hope that the time it takes is not too long for these beautiful creatures.

Now it’s off to bed in my dorm room with the cool whir of the fan and the sounds of the forest singing through my windows.