I'm so excited......

I have seen female green turtles laying their eggs and I've seen baby turtles escaping their nest and making their way to the ocean. More than I hoped to see. It was amazing.

Friday arvo in San Jose I just wandered around the city centre getting my bearings and looking at shops. There was a note from the tour leader of the tour I had booked saying she would be arriving about 6pm and we would hopefully meet for dinner. When she arrived, it turns out there are only actually 2 of us on the tour plus her. We went and had a lovely dinner and arranged to meet at 5.45am in the lobby to get the bus to Limon.

It was a 3hr bus trip where we were then taken by taxi to a boat for our trip to the National Park. Willis, our guide was amazing. He was able to pick out wildlife from such a distance. Just crazy. We were travelling along a river with rainforest on either side. He spotted sloths, monkeys, crocodiles, lots of birds, a Jesus Christ lizard - the one that can walk on water, and even a river otter. Just amazing. We stopped at a lodge on the way for lunch and then kept going. Disaster almost struck when our boat and another collided. We were going around a bend and the other boat was going way fast and was too far on our side and too big to evade. Luckily Willis evaded as much as he could but we still got struck and I honestly thought the boat would tip. Luckily it didn't and we were OK.

Made it to our lodge with no further incidents. Spent the arvo wandering the beach hoping to see baby turtles but no luck. Had dinner at the lodge and then we were taken out at 8pm to the beach (it's all under conservation) and we got to see a female covering her eggs after laying them and then got to see another turtle where they lifted it's flipper so you could actually see the eggs popping out. So amazing. The female would give a breath every now and then. We then got to see a turtle making it's way back to the ocean after she had finished. Just what I hoped to see.

Yesterday, up early to check out the beach again for babies but nothing. We went out on the boat for a couple of hours to see more wildlife. Saw iguanas, monkeys, birds, toucans and also got out of the boat to see the poison arrow dart frogs. Back for brekky and then we were taken to the town centre in the boat where we spent a few hours, chilling out before visiting the Conservation Centre. We then walked back along the beach back to our lodge, of course looking at turtle nests for any activity.

We then saw a guy whistle to some girls so we ran to see aswell and YES, baby turtles. The nest had just erupted. We probably watched them for an hour or so. To see them get out of the nest and rush to the water. Just incredible. You just will them on. Amazing to see how when they hit an obstacle they try to go around, or under or over. If they flip on to their back, they soon right themselves up. Just fantastic - can you tell how happy I was to see them.

We then hurried back to the lodge because you have to be off the beach by 6pm as the females start coming up but we didn't quite make it so we made out way to the lodge next door to ours and they were kind enough to give us a lift in the boat. The river is on one side, the lodges are on land fronting the river but then the beach and ocean is on the other side of the properties. Very beautiful.

So, we went out to dinner to celebrate and have a drink. It was a great 2 days. Someone was watching out for us. This morning we were back in the boat to where we got picked up. The ocean was so calm we were actually able to head down a fair way along the coast before picking up the river and canals again. A bus trip to Cahuita which is where I am now.

Sun is shining and nice and hot. Made for a good boat trip because on the initial trip it was raining and we were huddled under ponchos.

Take care