Under the full moon

There aren't many things I'd stay up to 2am to see, but a nesting Leatherback turtle is one of them. It was simply amazing! I took a guided tour to Playa Grande, just north of Tamarindo, where the endangered Leatherback turtle is studied and protected. That night at least three female turtles came to shore between 10pm and 3am, and our group was allowed to observe one of them. The turtle we followed slowly worked her way up from the water and dug her nest in the soft sand well above the high-tide line. Our group of 12 followed along.

The lead biologist confirmed that she was already microchipped, took measurements (she was 1.75 meters long, 1 meter wide), and counted the eggs as she laid them (62 in total, about 2 inches wide each). She worked hard with her flippers to carefully back-fill the nest, disguising it from predators with a scattering of sand. We were able to get right up next to her. Our lighting was that of a full moon and a single infrared headlight.

Her eggs will hatch in about sixty to seventy days. About 85% of these will be viable, but sadly only 1% of the hatchlings will survive to adulthood. I am told that the ambient temperature of the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings...how crazy is that? This female turtle is likely to return to shore 3-6 more times over the next month to lay additional eggs. If only I could be there to see the eggs hatch and the babies trek down to the water.