Our last couple days in Costa Rica were nothing short of amazing. We spent Thursday the 15th hiking down into the forest to spend the morning at a waterfall that was amazingly cool. It had 3 different tiers, all with a shallow pool for swimming / wading. It was tucked away under a canopy of lush trees, with beautiful butterflies floating around overhead. We then, of course, had to hike back up the mountain we came down, which sounds much easier than it turned out to be.

The following morning on the 16th, we packed up and had to say goodbye to our host family and researchers as we made our way back to San Jose. It was a bittersweet ending to a trip we had been planning for over 6 months. We ate in this neat little restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. There were many options to choose from; however, I surprisingly chose chicken and rice. Guess Costa Rica got to my taste buds. 😉

May 17th marked the day for us to make our journey back to the states, but not before we explored the city shopping a little bit before heading to the airport. While I was extremely excited to get home to my own bed, I was a little disappointed it was over so soon. The previous 10 days flew by. I cannot tell you how much more I appreciate everything I have to come home to every day. The experience was truly unforgettable. The entire experience was made even more by sharing it with a wonderful group of people; some I knew beforehand, some I had the pleasure to meet on the trip. I cannot wait to broaden my horizons and travel more in the future!

May 9 and 10, 2014

These two days were so very exciting! We got off to a great start, netting a turtle as soon as we cast it out. It was a female Green Sea Turtle (scientific name: Chelonia mydas), and while I thought she looked rather large, she was relatively small as far as turtles go according to our research leaders. She was approximately 60cm across, and roughly 70cm long. She was beautiful!

When turtles were caught, we would bring them to shore, measure their carapace (top of shell) across and length, as well as their plasteron (underneath part of shell). We then would record their ID tags on their front flippers (or tag them if they hadn’t been or had lost their previous tags), determine their sex, and take tissue samples.

Throughout the two days, we caught a total of 8 turtles. We caught 7 Green Sea Turtles and a Hawksbill Sea Turtle (scientific name: Eretmochelys imbricata), who came back to the hospital with us for the night. We removed parasites from her before releasing her the following afternoon. It was two days full of awesome experiences!