Costa Rica – The Sea Turtle Initiative

Spend several days in the heart of Costa Rica’s sea turtle conservation program, learning about the threats to their survival and what we can do both in Costa Rica and at home to help with their protection. We’ll witness sea turtles nesting in a natural environment and participate in an optional beach cleanup that reduces the amount of plastic in the ocean. 

Our presence at these unique locations ensures that living sea turtles are much more valuable to the local economy than turtle eggs sold into the Black Market.

Costa Rica is a world leader when it comes to conservation, but sadly its turtle population has declined by 90% since 1980. Your trip will see you volunteering with conservationists to help ensure their survival, and visiting inspirational places and people that rescue animals and protect the rainforest.

Exactly what you’ll do to help depends on when you visit. During peak hatching season (see calendar on page 4), we’ll dig up hatched nests to determine the hatching success rate, clean up the beach, and release baby turtles back into the ocean. We'll also go on night patrol to look for nesting females. During nesting season, the nightly patrols

will be the primary focus where we will look for nesting females and collect the eggs and move them safely into the hatchery. On all trips, we'll be patrolling with international marine biologists and enjoying sustainable community tourism experiences.