Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [224]
Many hotels and tourist agencies in Tamarindo can book tours that include transportation to and from Playa Grande, admission to the park and the guided tour. The whole package costs about US$45. If you don’t have your own transportation, this is the best way to go. When making a reservation, passport numbers and full names are required as this prevents big hotels in Tamarindo from reserving blocks for their guests.
The show kicks off anytime from 9pm to as late as 2am, though there is no guarantee that you will see a turtle – this is nature, not the San Diego Zoo. This also means that you might only have to wait for 10 minutes before a turtle shows up, or you could be there for five hours. A small stand at the exhibit sells snacks and sodas, but bring a (thick) book or a deck of cards for entertainment. It could be a very long night – but well worth it.
To minimize the impact of viewing the turtles, guidelines for the tours are very strict; see boxed text, below. Tourists are not allowed on the beach until the turtles have made it to dry sand. Guards with two-way radios are posted on the beach and they will alert your guide when a turtle is ready for its close-up. As a group, you will be accompanied by a guide to a designated viewing area, though photography, filming or lights of any kind are not allowed. Over the span of one to two hours, you can watch as the turtle digs its nest, lays about 150 silver shiny eggs and then buries them in the sand (while grunting and groaning the whole time).
If you’re looking for a worthwhile volunteer project, the park office usually accepts volunteers to help monitor and catalog each nesting.
CAMERA-SHY
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all. Take, for instance, the miracle of birth – who would want to share that with random gawkers and paparazzi? This is not to poke fun at a serious situation. One of the reasons why turtles no longer nest on Playa Tamarindo is that they’re extremely sensitive to ambient light. You can see why a string of beachside bars might deter a turtle from laying her clutch of eggs on that particular beach. So you’ll understand why flash photography is strictly forbidden at the beaches where endangered turtles still do return to nest.
When you take a turtle tour, the rangers will politely ask that you refrain from photographing or filming the turtles, but we’d like to underscore the fact that by experiencing it in the moment and not committing it to film, you are helping to maintain a fragile cycle that has renewed itself continually for millions of years.
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PLAYA TAMARINDO
Well, they don’t call it Tamagringo for nothing. Call it what you will, but Tamarindo’s long status as Costa Rica’s top surf and party destination has made it the first and last stop for many tourists and expats. This is the most developed beach on the peninsula with no shortage of hotels, bars, restaurants, strip malls and pricey condos. After years of unchecked development, the pace is finally slowing down, partly because of the Great Recession and partly thanks to the work of concerned residents (see boxed text). Tamarindo is slowly recapturing its Tico roots.
Despite having a party-town reputation, Tamarindo is more than just drinking and surfing. It forms a part of the Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste. The beach and surf retain their inherent allure for kids and adults alike. Foodies will find some of the best restaurants in the country. Families and students will appreciate that fierce competition has kept prices reasonably low. And Tamarindo’s central location makes it a great base for exploring the rest of the peninsula. So drop your pretensions and come on down, because there’s plenty to see and do