The entire Costa Rica program was extremely exciting for me and I had the most incredible time, but one of the highlights for me was getting to help take samples and release this critically endangered species of sea turtle back into the ocean after our research was complete. During our trip we only had two days on the water catching sea turtles and because of the amount of people we had, some people were more involved than others and during those two days we only caught one turtle. I was extremely bummed and was hoping that maybe another opportunity would arise before our trip was over. Luckily it did and I was front and center and ready to help where ever I could! I got to help pump water into the turtle’s digestive system to help better understand what this animal is eating in the wild. I also got to help take in data about the turtle, like measurements and the turtle’s weight. But the best part of all was the release and this was probably the most incredible moment of the trip for me. Getting to release this animal back into the ocean and knowing that this animals short time with us will help its conspecifics and increase the numbers of Hawksbill sea turtles in the wild and helping teach us to better understand this species for years to come.