Ostional Beach...

To begin, I have to let you know that I am leaving a lot of beauty out of this post as far as picture go and I apologize. But I have selected the premium beauty for a taste test, you will have to visit to get the rest.

So, I am posting this now on Sunday night as I prepare to leave Ostional Beach, where I have been since Friday. The internet is good and free here at the Biological Station that we are staying at, and I have been using it probably too much. These last few days have been so refreshing, as I only have class for half the day, while I can hang out the rest. We did have class both Saturday and Sunday though… that didn’t and won’t change.

Ostional is a small beachside town on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. It probably doesn’t have a population of more than 500 residents, but it is very unique.

Alright, here is your animal ecology lesson for the day titled… “what is an arrivada?” You know what a sea turtle is right. You are probably thinking about the green ones. How about a sea turtle know as the Olive Ridley? I had never heard of it but it is very unique. There are only 5 known places in the world where this species of turtle comes ashore about once a month, and lays its eggs in the sand. One of those places is on Ostional Beach along a small 5 kilometer stretch. So what would you say if I told you that at some times during the year, usually during the wet season, there are 120,000+ turtles that land over the course of just a few days? They do this every month as well, but the largest waves are at that time. This massive nesting of Olive Ridley’s is called an “arrivada” which I am thinking translates to “arrived or arrival.” It is a big deal and we have been awaiting the arrivada here for the last 3 nights. No luck though unfortunately, and we are leaving to go north on Monday morning, so unless they come in the early morning hours I will not get to experience this crazy phenomenon.

But don’t you worry… I have been blessed with a heck of a lot here in Ostional, and I will not be disappointed that I did not get to see the arrivada… it just gives me a reason to come back.

First of all, the beach is the nicest beach I have been to, ever. It is black sand, flat, medium waves, and a national refuge of some sorts so there are very few people on it. By “few” I mean just the 16 people of my program. Pretty sweet. We played around quite a bit the first afternoon.

We even got to witness the release of a hatchling leather-back turtle. See the video.

Insert pics of beach…

The first night we also went on a night hike in search of random turtles that are not a part of the massive wave… and we found 5! We lingered at just one for the entire process of digging the nest, dropping the eggs, and covering them back up, along with the exit. It was like something you would see on The Discover or Animal Planet Channel. I even got pictures in the blackness so check them out.

The second day was great too because we went on a bird hike to the estuary close by. I have never bird watched so this was also a new experience and very enjoyable, although difficult since it was for class and we had to identify particular birds.

Then Sunday came around and I took a hike down the beach to Punta India, the furthest reach of the protected beach. There were some massive igneous rock outcroppings and a large wave crashes. I got splashed a few times to tell you the truth, and was nearly swept away in one of the waves while crossing some water, but I am ok, so no worries. It was a great adventure.

We also did community service project Sunday morning that involved picking up all the trash on the beach, which wasn’t much, but still more than I thought would be there. This felt good to be able to get out there and do something productive for a change. It also reminded me of NHS roadside ditch cleaning during high school. Oh the good-ol-days.

So I must also share with you once again the beauty of the Pacific Coast’s sunsets. Out of three, this one was the best, but the others were good too. Maybe I am not really a connoisseur of sunsets but I think they look darn nice.

This blog is brief and maybe you like that more. I am not sure, so let me know what you think. I want to share more, but I need to get moving along so that I can be ready to leave tomorrow. We are going to be entering Nicaragua in 2 days and then come back into Costa Rica on Saturday. I am not going to spoil what Nicaragua will be like though… but instead I will just say that we are going to be near the “fire over the water”. I can’t wait. I’ll let you know how it goes when I return.

Peace and Prayers to all, Cody