October arribada

A short twenty minute drive from La Paz Community School will land you at the Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste, a protected strip of coastline for the Eastern Pacific leatherback turtle.  

Costa Rica's national park web site describes this area in greater detail on their web site:

"The Las Baulas de Guanacaste National Marine Park is located within the Tamarindo Bay in the canton of Santa Cruz, in the districts of Cabo Velas and Tamarindo. It has an area of ​​175 km2; 7.7 in the terrestrial sector, 171.36 km2, or 12 nautical miles in the marine sector.  Annual rainfall is 1811.2 mm. 95% of the precipitation is concentrated in the months of May to November and 4.2% corresponds to December to April.

 

This wilderness area was created to provide protection to the leatherback turtle populations that nest at Playa Grande, Ventanas and Langosta. This is also a site of global importance for the Tamarindo Estuary and its mangrove forest, as well as other smaller but equally beautiful estuaries such as the San Francisco Estuary and the Ventanas Estuary."

There is another area approximately two hours to the south of La Paz Community School called Ostional Beach, also protected by the Wildlife Refuge. This area enjoys massive arribadas (arrivals) between October and February.  

It's an easy overnight trip and the arribadas are a must see!  Though I missed the October arrival, the librarian at La Paz, Megan, shared this video as she visited the egg laying in the evening and the morning hatchings.