Arribada in Playa Ostional

Last week’s visitors to the Pacific coast’s Ostional Wildlife Refuge don’t realize how spoiled they are.

Usually, tourists are lucky if they get to see one sea turtle, in darkness, from ten feet away. But last week, three days before the full moon, hundreds of thousands of turtles hauled themselves onto Playa Ostional to lay their eggs. Called arribadas, these mass egg-layings take place on just a few beaches in the world, and Ostional is has the highest numbers, with more than a million turtles sometimes arriving in one night.

“It is an incredible site every time,” said Warren Chacón, a Tamarindo guide who often brings tourists out to see the arribadas. “I’ve seen hundreds but it never gets old.”

Playa Ostional sees at least one arribada a month, either in the three days before or after the full moon. In turtle season, which is just coming to a close, the beach sometimes gets two arribadas per month.

Read the full story and see more photos by Lindsay Fendt on the Tico Times

Would you like to help protect Sea Turtles in Costa Rica

If you would like to do something good for nature and the environment and have a great holiday, you can do so by volunteering as a PRETOMA volunteer helping to protect Sea Turtles in San Miguel Costa Rica

Every year from July to December, endangered nesting sea turtles return to the beaches of San Miguel. As a volunteer, you can assist scientists with tagging and measuring turtles, transferring newly laid eggs to a protected hatchery, and the best part: releasing babies into the safety of the sea. Everyone wins here: The yearly influx of PRETOMA volunteers is a welcome boost to the local economy, and community support has made the project a success. You do get time off, too. Surf, swim, read in a hammock, or just revel in the beauty surrounding you.

Pretoma is a non-profit organisation established in 1997 to protect the ocean's resources.

Or you can get involved in an Earthwatch expedition tagging, monitoring and measuring leatherback turtles on the Guanacaste coast.

Alternately, you can contribute to the protection of the Costa Rican sea turtles by purchasing from Save the Turtles , a non-profit organisation that that provides financial assistance to Caribbean coastal communities of Costa Rica that protect sea turtles through methods that are sustainable, environmentally responsible and enhance the lives of people who share the habitat.