Costa Rica Day 3, October 22, 2021 - Rancho Burica Hatchery build Day 1
by cateyesrsk
We started the day bright and early with coffee and a walk to the Punta Banco Turtle Hatchery. There were given a short orientation and we then picked our buckets filled with hours old baby olive ridley sea turtles and walked over the beach where we got to release them to get them started on their life journey. It was an absolutely thrilling and awe-inspiring experience watching the tiny turtles fid their way to the ocean. As a group we released 924 baby turtles this morning. After making sure all the turtles safely made it into the ocean we headed back to the lodge for breakfast. As we entered the lodge we were treated with some active squirrel monkeys on the ground of the lodge.
After breakfast we walked/rode to Rancho Burica where we started the arduous task of building a 225 sq. ft. turtle hatchery. A group of is worked on building the foundation and frame for the hatchery while others removed the grass within the enclosure and shoveled new sand into the enclosure. We took several breaks as it was a very hot day. We did this the rest of the day until it was time to finish up and head back to the lodge, Casa Marea Alta.
After the usual freshening up and relaxing we had dinner and then went on a night beach patrol to scout for any mother sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. One mother Olive Ridley turtle did come ashore but returned to the ocean without making a nest or laying eggs. This is called 'false crawl' behavior. Thrilled to actually see one come ashore and disappointed that we didn't get to witness nesting we returned to the lodge and retired for the day.
A very long, tiring but absolutely fulfilling day 1 at Punta Banco
