The last couple of days I have read some blogs about the bus trip I am planning. No one has made all the connections and made it to Tortuguero. They all have to spend a night in Cariari. Add that cost to the bus and it is nearly the same as shuttle. I did the hard yards early, and I'm getting lazy, so I took the easy option and took the shuttle. I am soo glad I did. It was a brand new, top of the line Hyundai and there were only 5 of us in it. It was very civilised. The 140km took 4hr due to winding road, traffic and rough road. Then the boat was an hour.
Around Cariari is the heartland of United Fruit Co, at one time the biggest fruit company in the world when they grew all the bananas for the US down here. They have overhead lines through the fields so they can transport the bananas hanging and some of them cross the road. If they are using it you just have to stop and wait.
Tortuga is turtle so Tortuguero is turtle place. Turtles come here to lay their eggs and that is why all the tourists come, to see them. There are no roads here. Everything comes in by water, either down the river or the ocean.
When I got here I didn't have anything booked, as usual, so I picked up a tout at the dock. He took me to a couple of places but I didn't like them much but eventually I found one I like. It is only $20/night but I might have to move tomorrow so I been looking for something better for tomorrow. I have booked a couple of tours. Turtle watching tonight. I am not allowed on the beach between 6pm and 6am without a guide. The guide will take us to see a turtle laying eggs if one comes in tonight. There are 2 tours 8-10 and 10-12 and the Rangers will tell me at 6 which tour I'm on, hope the early one. Tomorrow I am canoeing the canals and jungle walk in the arvo.
I have just been and got instructions for turtle watching tonight. Dark clothes, covered shoes, no camera or phone, no light of any kind. Be there at 9.15 that is the late time. I dunno how I am going to stay awake that long? I got 10-12 then I am going canoeing tomorrow at 6am? I was going to try to do a video for Noah but I can't take iPad?

Well what can I say. I couldn't do a video. We had to meet at 9.15 and were given instructions and rules in English and Spanish. Most of the rest of the tour was in Spanish for the 2 spanish speakers and us 4 English speakers could make do. We hiked along the beach for what seemed like miles. There is 18 miles of beach here where the turtles nest. Eventually we found a turtle scurrying back into the water. I got up nice and close to it. It seems they dig nests in old holes and this one had disturbed a nest with eggs in it so was going back into the sea. We kept looking and found another one coming out of the water. We are not allowed to go near them when they are coming out, or digging a hole. We have to wait till they start laying eggs. Se we wait, and wait. Eventually we are allowed near it and it is amazing. I was about 3 feet away. It is massive, about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. I was amazed at how deep it was. It must have been 2 feet below ground level and just sat there laying eggs. While we we're there I saw another one coming up the beach about 100mtr away. We watched out turtle lay the eggs, then cover them up then our guide wanted to go but there was another turtle coming up the beach. We had to wait for that one and then go around it. Where we wanted to leave the beach the turtle I had seen earlier was laying eggs and we nearly tripped over it. In all we saw 8 turtles. It was a great night, warm and bright moon with no many clouds. Our guide was ready to come back but I said we could see another one. Our tour was 10-12 and it is now only 11 but he ignored me and we came home. It WAS a great night just a little disappointing we couldn't stay and watch some more. I would have been happy to just sit on the beach and watch the few near us.
It is now 5.30 and I am up for a canoe trip on the canals. It is absolutely ******* down. I will get soaked just getting there, there will be no aminals to see, they will be hiding out of the rain. I hope they postpone for a few hours at least.
The rain stopped just before 6 so we did the tour. There was the usual flotilla of boats, all going the same way, all getting in each other's way and all pushing and shoving for the vantage point. The guide, Elliott, sounded like he was makin stuff up but insisted on telling us about his credentials. The rain held of till light showers on the way back. As for what we saw I took pics of everything in view and I will let the pics tell the story.
This arvo I had a nana nap then went for a walk in the national park. The trail is a joke it follows the southern boundary, you have barbed wire fence on one side, with houses there and jungle on the other side. What it does is get you to the beach north of here. I walked for miles along the beach. There were places where the turtle tracks covered the beach. They must have hundreds of turtles laying here. Because it was getting late I was looking for babies. They hatch after 60days and the turtles lay here nearly every night. That means there are turtles hatching every day. They usually hatch late arvo or early morning. The vultures were looking. Wry hard at a section of beech so I sat for a while but nothing happened. Then a couple of young guys came along and they were looking for baby tortugas. I don't know what they are going to do with them. I followed them down the beach, for what seemed like miles. They found nothing. Looks like I am not much of a turtle hunter?
Tomorrow I am on the boat to Moin, then bus to Limon then Bus to Cahita. I saw the date today, don't remember what it is now, and I am way ahead of myself so I might stay in the area around Cahita for a few days? It was much easier a couple of months ago when I went anywhere at a whim, now I gotta remember when I fly out.
I am NOT going to Parismina. I have had a couple of emails from Vicky and I can get there but might be hard getting away? It is not as good as I was told and a couple of other reasons, one being I don't have the time to volunteer and don't want to pay extra to clean rubbish off the beach.
Last night in the village here they had marching band and the kids all joined in. They played for a couple of hours. I couldn't find out what the occasion was? This morning I went for a walk on the beach but it was too hot for turtles. I can't go on the beach before 6am and by 6 it is hot. You can see all the reused nests with fresh tracks to them, and there was some vultures raiding a nest.