Turtle Arribada

Hey guys, it’s Hannah! I’m so excited to share about the Turtle Arribada our family got to experience on September 17th!!

A Turtle Arribada in Costa Rica is this spectacular mass nesting event where thousands of female Olive Ridley sea turtles come ashore at once to lay their eggs. The most famous spot to see it is Playa Ostional, and it only happens a few nights around the new moon from July through November.

Sámara, where we’re staying, is about an hour from Playa Ostional, and we just happened to find out about a tour on one of the very last days of this year’s Arribada. That evening we all piled into a van and headed out. Once we arrived, our tour guide grabbed red-light flashlights (since bright white lights disturb the turtles) and stepped onto the sand… Instantly we saw hundreds of turtles on the beach, in the water, everywhere! It was absolutely incredible!! 

We carefully made our way through the crowd of turtles and got to witness a mama laying her eggs right into her nest. We saw others rushing up and down the beach (turns out turtles can actually move pretty fast!), and the sweetest part was spotting a few babies that had just hatched. Our guides helped gather them and move them closer to the water so they wouldn’t get trampled by the mama turtles. As we kept walking, it felt like the beach stretched endlessly with turtles, as far as we could see the sand was FULL of them.

We drove home that night completely in awe of God’s creation and so grateful for the magical adventure we got to experience as a family.

Until next time, love you all!

~Hannah