World Class Travel & Tours

Costa Rica Caribbean Region

Tortuguero

Rain forests, beaches, rivers, canals, & boats.

Turtles, monkeys, birds, iguanas, toucans, frogs, & bats.

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Tortuguero and the Caribbean Coast

Tortuguero is located on the Caribbean coast in the eastern part of Costa Rica.  You cannot drive there.  To get there you have to go either by plane or boat.  From San Jose we started out by a small van and stopped along the way to tour a banana plantation, where lots of bananas are grown and prepared for export. For the last part of our journey we transferred to a boat for a trip of several hours through rivers and canals. This was most enjoyable, and offers a chance to see wildlife.

Once you get to the Caribbean Coast you discover that it is much different from the rugged and majestic Pacific Coast. Nevertheless, it is beautiful in its own way. Swimming is not recommended on the beaches at Tortuguero due to sharks.  Also, swimmers should be on guard for rip currents.  If caught in one do not try to swim toward the beach, as a strong current will wear you out.  Instead, swim parallel to the beach, and in a short distance you should come out of the current.  In this part of Costa Rica there is a lot of rain, more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) per year.

Wildlife

The wildlife at Tortuguero includes anteaters, frogs, jaguars, monkeys, ocelots, tapirs, and turtles.  There are many tropical birds including toucans and the green macaw.  Manatees are also found at Tortuguero.  Many rivers and canals go through the rainforest in the Tortuguero National Park.  As a result, the best way to see wildlife is by boat.  In fact, Tortuguero offers some of the best boat tours in Costa Rica.  We took several boat tours through parts of the Tortuguero National Park.  We saw lots of wildlife including tropical birds, monkeys, toucans, iguanas, and bats. Bless the bats. Because of predators, mostly bats, mosquitoes are not a nuisance in much of Costa Rica. In this country there are more bats than any other animal. We also went trekking through the jungle. It was raining, so the lodge provided us with rain gear. We had lots of fun.

Nesting green turtles

Large turtles nest on the Tortuguero beaches between June and October.  Of the turtles the green turtles are the most abundant.  A high point of our visit to Tortuguero was the opportunity to see a nesting green turtle. It was September, and at this time of the year these turtles come from great distances through the ocean to lay their eggs on the beach. We were hoping to see this, and our guide took us out to the beach.  At times it was pouring down rain, so we wore rain gear. It was so dark we had to hold on to the person in front to keep from being separated from the group. We kept very quiet and did not use flash lights so as to not scare the turtles. Without a guide you are not allowed on the beach after dark. They protect the turtles. So where was mama turtle? Finally, our guide found one. She was digging a big hole where she would lay about one hundred eggs. Of those, only about one would reach adulthood. But suddenly the turtle was spooked and she started back to the water.  She may have been scared by the lightning. It was a struggle for her to drag herself across the sand. Her shell was more than three feet long. She would return later to lay her eggs.

To leave Tortuguero we were taken by boat to an airstrip in the jungle where a small two motored plane landed to pick us up and take us to San Jose. The trip by air took less than an hour.

Photos by Sunny Breeding. We sell prints and images.

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