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Ostional is the name of a community
beach and a national wildlife refuge. The refuge is located 360
km from San Jose (the capital) on the Nicoya Peninsula in Santa
Cruz, Guanacaste. This area was declared a refuge in 1983 in order
to protect the population of turtles that have come to this beach
to nest since 1959. Thanks to Dr. Douglas Robinson Clark, biology
professor of the University of Costa Rica, the scientific community
was made aware of this phenomenon for the first time in 1970, when
he conducted the first research in this area.
Right on the beach, the Ostional community is sprinkled along an
amazing stretch of coast. The area is home to extraordinary natural
beauty and one can easily find various species of migratory and
resident birds, iguanas, lizards, parrots, frogs and of course turtles
and monkeys. Just a few of the many activities available include
hiking in the estuary, birding at nearby wetlands, visiting mangroves,
swinging in a hammock, reading and surfing and nearby snorkeling.
The project site is located in a not highly visited tourist area
and project participants are often the only non-locals in town.
The reason for this is the difficult access to this area. Also,
since this is a refuge, big development and infrastructures have
been discouraged in order to protect the environment. Living conditions
are simple and volunteers should be prepared to live under these
same conditions. Ostional has potable water and electricity, public
phones, limited Internet access, which should be improved in a near
future. There are 4 public telephones less than three blocks away,
2 small cafes, and two restaurants and some of the locals offer
meals to volunteers and tourists. From Ostional, there’s access
to 6 beautiful beaches and shopping within 8 km as well as an airport
and other services like clinics, pharmacies, etc.
Turtle Season
 In Ostional
there are 4 species of turtles that nest: Leather Back (Dermochelys
coriacea), Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hasbith (Eretmochelys
imbricata) and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea). The latest
one is the one that exhibits a phenomenon of the big “arribada”
(or arrival). “Arribada” or “Flota” is a
synchronized mass nesting in which hundreds to thousands of Olive
Ridley Sea Turtles arrive at the beach on the same day. During arribada,
there are so many turtle tracks that it is impossible to distinguish
one set of tracks from the other.
Arribadas occur once a month although they vary in size and always
associated with a certain phase of the moon, and are more predictable
in the wet season (June through January). The majority of the arribadas
occur during the last quarter moon. Sea turtles generally land at
night but during huge arribadas in the wet season, turtles may arrive
from 2 o’clock in the afternoon until 7 in the morning the
next day. Hundreds to thousands of turtles come to one section of
the beach or the whole beach reaching sometimes, up to 1.000.000
turtles in a period of 6 to 9 days. Sea turtles nest along this
7km stretch of beach all year round.
Births occur between June and January. There are approximately
4 million births per period per kilometer for each arribada. Arribadas
happen every month all year round, although during the winter months
(June through January) you might have arribadas every 15 days. Between
February and June, there are no hatchlings due to the high temperatures
and the dryness of the sand, which impede the hatchlings to develop.
Therefore, the best time to visit this project would be between
the months of May and January, although there are turtles on the
beach every night of the year.
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