Headed back home!

Costa Rica has been an incredible experience. This country is very different than the United States. It truly makes you appreciate what you have.

In total, we caught 8 turtles on our trip, 7 greens and 1 hawksbill.  All 8 turtles were female. On our last night, Alice put together a report for us, discussing the turtles that we had worked with. Because they are all tagged, the researchers are able to track their movements, capture dates and growth. Some of the turtles that we caught have been coming back to these beaches for 10 years! It just goes to show you how important it is to make sure that we are caring for our environment. This is a location that these turtles love to come to, and we need to make sure that we are keeping it that way.

We packed our things and boarded our bus to head back to San Jose. This trip we were able to see so much more because it was light out. I am still in awe of Costa Rica’s beauty.

Once we arrived in San Jose, we got to our hotel, which was absolutely amazing. We put everything in our rooms, and walked around the city, until we arrived at a restaurant for dinner. It was nice to have everyone together for one last dinner.

The next morning, we walked to town and did a little shopping before heading back to the airport. It was a great way to get the last few souvenirs we wanted before heading home. Then, we got on the bus and headed to the San Jose airport. We did not spend much time here upon our arrival, so we were happy to find air conditioning, and American food! We all pigged out on KFC and Cinnabon!

Once we arrived in Miami, we had to go through incoming customs. This was quite an experience. 1,000 people, all trying to get through 6 guards to have their passports stamped! It took over an hour! Once we were finally done, and our bags were dropped back off again, we all ran to Friday’s for the cheeseburgers we had been dreaming about all week!

Our flight into Tampa landed at almost midnight. I was very happy to see my husband when I got off the tram! It was an amazing trip, but nothing beats coming home!

I am thankful that I got to have this experience. I have meet a group of amazing girls, and made memories that will last a life time.

We started our days getting up about 5:30 am. We had no idea when we got up that it was so early, because the sun was already up! Plus, we were still on Clearwater time, and it was 7:30 back home!  A few of us got dressed and went on a walk to explore. The beach is right down the road from us, so we walked to see what everything looked like. It  was so beautiful. We even saw a few macaws as the flew over us!

Back at the camp, we had our first breakfast—rice and beans, avocado and bread.  We had an orientation with our biologist, Alice. She told us about the research that they are doing here in Osa, and what we are going to be doing. After we talked, we all picked up supplies and boarded two boats.

I was on the boat with the nets, so I got to see how the nets were placed in the water. They were not in the water 5 minutes before we caught our first turtle! We pulled her in the boat, and got our snorkel gear on to dive in the water to check the nets. We had to make sure that they were not tangled under the water. Once they were all in place, we got back on the boats and headed to “Spiky Grass Beach”. They name was perfect, as the grass was so spiky, we had to sit on bags and towels.

In total, we caught 4 green sea turtles. We got biometrics, tissue samples and tagged each turtle. Back at camp, we showered and relaxed as we waited for dinner.

Day 1:

Our day started EARLY as we all met in the Tampa Airport. Even though we were tired,
everyone was very excited to finally get our trip started.

We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at about 1:00pm. This was my first experience with customs. We were all given customs forms on the plane to fill out. It asked basic information (name, date of birth, etc), but it also asked about our luggage, previous travel and passport information. Once we got off the plane, we had to go through the customs department. They took our forms and checked our passports against them. They then stamped our passport and we were off to baggage claim. Once we got our bags, we walked out to find out bus, which was waiting right out front for us.

The bus ride was very long, almost 8 hours. We arrived after dark. The drive to Playa Blanca was beautiful. We drove through rainforest, and right along the coast line. Our camp was in rural Costa Rica, far from everything. Our cabins were nice, but there was no a/c and no hot water. We all set up our mosquito nets, changed and went to sleep.Tomorrow our adventure begins anew!