Searching for Turtles in Parismina (4/27)

One of my goals before I left Costa Rica was to see a sea turtle. After seeing leatherback turtles hatching in Aruba, my turtle curiosity had been sparked and I was determined to see a full-grown leatherback laying its eggs. Some of my friends from the program were going to Tortuguero to try and see turtles, but it seemed like the chances to see one weren't very high. I did some research and found a different option, Parismina, where the chances of seeing a turtle were supposed to be much higher during this time of the year. The only person I could convince to go with me on my adventure was Alex. Parismina is a tiny town, occupied by only about 600 people, with no cars, and no roads, just dirt paths. But it is also home to a turtle-protecting organization, Asociación Salvemos Las Tortugas de Parismina (Association to Save the Turtles of Parismina) or just ASTOP, where volunteers can spend time researching and protecting the turtles that come to shore to lay their eggs. Check out their website! http://www.parisminaturtles.org/
To get to Parismina, we had to take two different busses, the second being mostly on a dirt road through miles and miles of DelMonte banana plantations:

...if you think about the insane number of bananas that the world consumes, plantations like this have reason for existing. I'm not sure how enough bananas are produced, to be honest.  After the second bus dropped us off at a port called Caño Blanco, we took a boat to Parismina. You can only reach the town by boat or plane! 

Boat ride from Caño Blanco to Parismina:

The main port of Parismina:

After we arrived, we walked around the island, looking for lodging and to find ASTOP to ask about going with them out to the beach at night to look for turtles laying eggs. We set up our tour with the organization, and then continued to explore around the island. 

ASTOP's "leatherback shack"

Unfortunately, this was the only leatherback I was going to see the whole trip.

The two things the town is known for  (the two reasons for any sort of tourism) are turtles and great game fishing in the river (giant tarpon and snook).

The place we stayed was the Parismina Gamefish Lodge: 

View from our hotel room:

Our first night there we were pretty tired, so we decided not to go out with ASTOP to look for turtles, so we just hung out, had an amazing dinner of ridiculously fresh fish, and went to bed.

The next day we did more exploring. The whole town was so green and beautiful, with lush foliage and lots of beautiful tropical flowers.  

View of the canal from one point in town

There was talk of a lagoon where people could go swimming, because the ocean in Parismina was so rough, so we set out to find it.

The lagoon was pretty, it was beautiful walk to get there, and we saw lots of cows and monkeys and leaf cutter ants!! 

But the lagoon did not look very swimmable.

Another plus was that Alex and I had the beach all to ourselves! It was a beautiful black-sand beach, but the ocean was extremely harsh.

And we had a great view of the sunset on our way back

Sunset over the Parismina airstrip

After a quick dinner, it was time to meet up with the ASTOP volunteers to do our four hour patrol of the beach- 8pm to midnight. We couldn't use flashlights or anything because they scare away the turtles and then they won't lay their eggs. We walked probably about 4 or 5 miles up and down the beach in absolute darkness looking for the turtles, which was super tiring for my body and my eyes. Alex and I both saw multiple shooting stars, which was amazing! And there was also bioluminescence in the sand, so in some places (usually closer to the water) when you would step down, the sand would essentially light up a little with a bunch of little glowing things, which was very surreal. 

Although I didn't see a turtle, I still discovered an amazing town that I definitely want to visit again someday. I would love to go back and volunteer with ASTOP for a longer period of time!