Costa Rica Turtle Tours

Want to see something cool during your upcoming Costa Rica rental car vacation? Well, grab some friends and get ready for an adventure with turtle tours. Guided turtle tours are a fun and environmentally-friendly way to see these gentle giants in their natural habitat. You don't have to be a turtle expert to appreciate the unique nesting habits of these impressive creatures – all you need is a love of nature and a taste for adventure!

What the tours are all about

Costa Rica turtle tours are designed to show Costa Rica rental car tourists the unique mating and nesting patterns of some of the nation's largest turtles. The tours usually focus on one of five specific species, depending on the coast you're currently visiting. Park rangers and turtle conservation organizers provide tour participants with detailed information on the creatures, as well as tips for protecting their nature habitats.

Prominent nesting areas worth visiting

There are a number of beaches in Costa Rica that are protected specifically for turtle nesting needs. Avanti Costa Rica Rental Car highly recommends checking out one or more of these environmentally fragile areas: The beaches of Tortuguero: Located along the northern Caribbean coast, Tortugero is home to the largest nesting sites for green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in all of the Western Hemisphere.
The Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge: The shores of this protected area host four species of turtles including the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green, hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea).
The coast of Guanacaste: Costa Rica rental car travelers will find significant nesting sites for the Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) along the North Pacific coast of this prominent city.
The Ostional National Wildlife Refuge: Tens of thousands of Olive Ridley turtles can be found returning to the beaches of this protected area to lay their eggs.

Things to remember when participating in a tour

If you've never had the opportunity to participate in a Costa Rica turtle tour, this is one opportunity you won't want to miss! Just remember there are a few important rules to keep in mind. First: never ever take a picture of the baby turtles at night. Cameras, video, and flash photography are strictly prohibited as the newborn turtles are very sensitive to light. Evening turtle tours must be arrange with a licensed guide or park ranger; please do not try and view this creatures alone as you may impact their nesting ritual in unnecessary and harmful ways. Finally, remember to bring appropriate footwear on your tour.

The giant green turtles of Costa Rica

While all of Costa Rica's turtle tours are worth checking out, there's one that's notably more popular tat the others. The green sea turtle nesting and hatching period has been chronicled by countless documentaries and experienced by Costa Rica rental car travelers the world over. The green sea turtle nesting starts in July and lasts until the end of October. During this period, the beaches of the Tortuguero National Park is home to thousands of tiny baby turtles. Costa Rica rental car travelers will watch as the female turtles lay their eggs early in the season. Each turtle will lay between 100-125 eggs in each nest, and each turtle will often have four to seven nests. Unfortunately, very few of these eggs will produce turtles that survive to be grown adults. The most exciting part of the green turtle season has to be watching the baby turtles hatch and instinctively march towards the surf. Targeted by beach predators, both animal and human, these tough little turtles have quite the difficult journey ahead of them. But, thanks to worldwide conservation numbers, these endangered animals are finally beginning to recover and population numbers are once again on the rise.