Let me just state right off the bat that I didn´t travel to Tortuguero on a turtle-spotting mission. My primary intention here was to enjoy some good food and drink with my Costa Rican host, soak up some sea and sun on the Caribbean coast, and basically kick back in a relaxed setting.
Having said that, I believe that if Marco and I had had one more night to stay, we probably would have spent the money for a guide in the hope of seeing some nocturnal tortoise egg-laying. The reasons we didn´t choose to sign up for a tour had more to do with our general unease and skepticism in regard to the many unanswered questions we had about tourism in an economy that´s built almost completely around these endangered creatures.
From the moment we landed in Tortuguero town we were politely but persistently pestered by the locals to sign up for the nightly turtle watch. And though signing up on our first night was a total nonstarter for us, we were cautiously open to the idea of signing up the next night.
But we felt uncomfortable with some of the "guides" (or their agents) and certain inconsistencies we noticed, such as with the fees they were asking for. While it seems most foreigners were being charged $15 a head, we found out that some were paying as much as $20. And while we were prepared to gamble on the possibility of paying our money but not seeing any turtles, we were not willing to shell out money in advance to someone who might possibly not even turn up at the appointed hour. In other words, we felt we should be wary of scammers and unscrupulous activity since we had no way of knowing who was or wasn´t an "offical" guide.
Given that most of the locals we talked to seemed unwilling or unable to answer our basic questions, I also began to have doubts about the ethics of having dozens of foreign and local tourists pouring into town daily, spending money to see turtles, and quite possibly disturbing these animals in their natural habitat. So I wanted to know a lot more before signing up.
As is often the case, we learned more from our fellow visitors than we did from the locals. What follows is a composite picture of the nightly tour, as described to us by visitors and locals:
The beach is divided into zones of a couple hundred yards in length. Our guesthouse is located in Zone 36 and further south are Zones 37, 38, and so on. From 6.00 p.m. until 6.00 a.m. the beaches are closed to all but park rangers and other authorized personnel. Random people on the beach can disturb a landing turtle, which causes that turtle to leave and, so we were told, never come back to that location.
Tour groups are guided by flashlight along a beachside pathway that runs the entire length of the zones. At certain points along the path are "spotters" who watch for the giant turtles landing ashore. When a turtle is spotted in a given zone, the spotter notifies guides in the area by walkie-talkie and/or flashlight signal, and the guides then lead their groups to that location. If all goes well, the groups in the area are able to witness the laying of eggs and/or the exhausted turtles retreating back to the ocean. Two tours are offered nightly, one from 8 til 10 and the other from 10 til midnight.
According to one of our informants, a young Israeli man, the whole experience was "very well organized, almost like a military operation." His group witnessed one turtle laying an egg and two other turtles headed back to sea.
The next morning, official personnel--including volunteers under the supervision of experts--carefully note the locations of the eggs, and presumably steps are then taken to protect the eggs until it comes time for them to hatch.
But Marco, who headed for the beach at sunrise each morning for a swim in the warm sea, told me he saw a couple local women digging on the beach and taking eggs away. He reported what he witnessed to a couple officials who came through the area later.
Under the circumstances, I felt that I knew far too little in order to make an informed decision about signing on for a tour. So basically I decided to "punt" until I could know for sure that I wouldn´t be causing harm by participating in this activity. Although I have nothing against contributing to the local economy and helping to support locals´ livelihoods, I felt uncertain about the guide services since there didn´t seem to be any central organizing agency or principles involved. One "guide" even told us to avoid another "guide" for his supposed character defects or some other stated, but vague, deficiencies.
In a nutshell, we thought we had too many doubts on Sunday evening to proceed confidently. By Monday morning we had more information, but by then we had no choice but to leave for the capital since Marco had to work on Tuesday.
We decided if we go back to Tortuguero during the hatching season probably we can participate in some capacity, whether as fee-paying tourists or as volunteers. But before we do so I intend to do some serious "turtle googling" first.
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