Ditching Surfers for Sea Turtles in Nicaragua

Two months into backpacking Central America solo, I hit a wall. It’s a wall you never expect to run into and it dawns on you that the honeymoon stage of travel might be over. The impossible has happened – travel feels mundane. I was no longer excited about arriving in a new place to make small talk with twenty other backpackers on a similar adventure.  I didn’t want to have to explain to anyone where I was from, where I had been and where I was heading next.

San Juan del Sur is a popular beach town on the Pacific coast. If surfing, tans and partying is your main jam – it’s the place to be.  It was ironic that I had chosen San Juan as a place to be the anti-social backpacker, but I was determined to use it my full advantage.  I cracked open my laptop, eager to blog like a maniac about climbing volcanoes in Guatemala and learning to dive in Honduras. There was one problem – the wall had also  squashed creative inspiration.

Sunset in San Juan del Sur

Instead I found myself googling “Remote Beach Towns in Nicaragua” and discovered El Ostional –

Population:    700

Number of tourists at visiting the time:    3

Number of Sea Turtles Nesting/Hatching:    TBD. Are you feeling lucky?

Best Known for:    Fishing, kayaking, baseball games, cows, children playing in tires and a quiet beach.

It didn’t take much convincing to jump on the chicken bus and travel a few hours south, 10.5 km from the border of Costa Rica.

In El Ostional, the only internet connection to be found was through an ultra slow Ethernet cable. Circa 2013, Lonely Planet had only written about the town as a brief mention in Central America on a Shoestring. Speaking to locals was the only real source of information. My Spanish hadn’t yet progressed passed Kindergarten small talk. In these isolated towns, where Google translator can’t save you and language barriers are broken by smiling and pointing – you truly become observant. It’s in these small places where authenticity can’t be missed.  A night of sleeping on the beach can lead to moments that will change your life. The most unexpected encounters with wildlife often do…

Featured above, the Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea), returns to the Pacific ocean after nesting 108 eggs on the beach of El Ostional in Nicaragua.

The night I arrived in El Ostional, I slept outside beneath a starry sky on the cool, stiff sand by the sea. Sheltered by the outline of a forest and golden cliffs, the crescent shaped beach is a remote safe haven. Despite the single bed awaiting me at Manta Raya Hospedaje – an affordable family-run guesthouse ($15/night for a basic, private room) – I opted for the luxury of the ground, the itchy feeling of invisible insects invading, the sound of waves crashing against the shore and the small chance I’d witness a sea turtle nesting.

Sunset in El Ostional

Paso Pacífico, is a conservation group who a launched a Coastal Marine Research Project in 2001. The project aims to increase a scientific understanding of sea turtle populations and marine ecology. The organization provides training to locals on how to care for the natural environment and monitor areas where sea turtle nesting occurs.

Splash Pad for Crabs in El Ostional

At 5 a.m. Karen, a local conservationist and Pacifico guide for the night, woke me from restless beach sleep, “Ashley, tortuga.” Throughout the night, team members would briefly turn on their flashlights and scan the shores for signs of a sea turtle. Since sea turtles can become distressed by lights – flashlights were used sparingly. This leads me to imagine these conservationists have developed Predator’s vision to detect both sea turtles and scare off poachers in the dark.

The Olive Ridley turtle digs a body pit in the sand

The Olive Ridley population in Nicaragua is fairly abundant but they are threatened by poachers who harvest the eggs to sell to the market or consume themselves. Turtle eggs are traditionally believed to act as an aphrodisiac and provide rich nutritional benefits. The Olive Ridley can also be found nesting in Asia and Africa, but despite their vast dispersal – the population is declining and in some areas they are endanger of becoming extinct.

A Black Vulture. Birds are predators to baby sea turtles

As the only tourist, I had to patiently wait a few meters away in the dark, squinting to make out the silhouette of the sea turtle’s shell rocking in the sand.  Olive Ridley turtles first create a body pit by using all four flippers to remove the dry sand beneath them. The sea turtle digs a chamber using its rear flippers to scoop out damp sand until it can no longer reach into the depth. After lifting its hind flippers away from the sand, the contractions begin.

Once Karen signaled, I moved closer to the sea turtle, sitting quietly behind her and as she motioned her head slightly upwards – almost like an inhale – before releasing one to four eggs into the chamber, followed by a brief rest. She repeated this motion until the chamber was almost full.

This beautiful Olive Ridley laid 108 eggs that night. As the sun rose over the shore, she buried her nest and slowly pulled herself toward the ocean, periodically stopping to recuperate before reaching the water and allowing the current to carry her away.

My wall came tumbling down in that moment – it sparked a surge of inspiration that I poured into my notebook later that day.

Watching an Olive Ridley sea turtle nest on the unexploited shores of El Ostional has changed my life. The most unexpected encounters with wildlife often do.

Fun fact: Did you know Olive Ridleys are the only sea turtles to nest in mass groups of hundreds to thousands? This behavior is called arribada (the Spanish meaning for “arrival by sea”) and occurs when Olive Ridleys converge together and arrive simultaneously ashore to nest.

Where to watch arribada in Nicaragua: La Flor Beach Natural Reserve is one of the best places to observe the several mass nesting events that take place between July and January. Not all Olive Ridley turtles are known to nest in groups. During my experience in early February, the featured Olive Ridley was the only sea turtle nesting that morning in El Ostional.

Inspired by this story? Want more turtle talk? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment!