And the Adventure Begins Again...

My mom and I at the TG hotel.

Now that I have finally made it to Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica, I can catch everyone up on past week. First off I want to thank everyone who read the article written about me in the North County Times and came to check out my blog. If you have any question please don't hesitate to email me!

Wow it sure was an adventure getting to Playa San Miguel!!! After closed freeways, cancelled and delayed flights, my mom , her friend Susie, and I finally made it to Costa Rica, only 8 hours later than expected. Since we arrived so late we didn't have time to drive all the way out to the Nicoya Peninsula until Wednesday morning. So we found a boutique hotel Terrazas de Golf for the night. The owners had converted their house on a golf course into a bed and breakfast and had the most hospitable service!

That night after running a few errands, we got back at the hotel and where greeted with fresh kas juice and an eggplant h'orderves. We played a couple games of Bananagrams on the balcony before calling it a night.

The next morning we were treated with a stunning view of the golf course and an amazing breakfast with fresh fruit, eggs, and gallo pinto. After breakfast we hit the road and drove towards Sarchi. Sarchi is the wood working capitol of Costa Rica and where my parents bought our  dinning room table at 15 years ago. The craftsmanship was a beautiful as ever, but the prices sure increased due to it now being a major tour bus stop. Nonetheless we picked up some fun little trinkets for family and friends before heading 2 hours southwest to the Puntarenas ferry port.

Tin Church outside of Sarchi.

After missing the ferry, driving around the gulf and crossing Amistad bridge, we continued our journey on dirt, winding road in the dark. Which I am sure my mom would not recommend! It took a lot longer than I expected to get to be beach and at one point I thought I had lead us in the completely wrong direction. 

Luckily we when arrived at my friend's (Drew) new hotel, Laguna Mar, he was waiting for us with umbrella drinks. After we enjoyed the drinks went up to bed and had a fantastic nights sleep. The next day, I showed my mom and Susie all of my favorite places around the beach and they even got to patrol with me that night. Unfortunately, we didn't have a turtle, but they found the patrol very relaxing.

Laguna Mar Pool

Friday morning we woke up early and had another fantastic breakfast at Laguna Mar before I had to start my real work.  My mom and Susie brought me to the station house and they were off to travel Costa Rica.

When I got to the house Lotti and Sandra, the Co- directors of the turtle projects, came to update me on the changes from last year and made sure I was ready to begin the new season.

Saturday night Maddie (my co- coordinator) and I did our first official patrol with our new research assistant, 3 volunteers and Wilson, our local.

About an hour into our patrol we came across and Olive Ridley just beginning to dig her nest. We all gathered around to teach the specifics of a nesting turtle and what data we take from each nesting encounter.

After about 30 minutes our turtle had been measured, tagged and all 72 of her eggs were collected. We returned to the hatchery to place the nest into the first spot and in about 45 days we should be seeing our first hatchlings!!!