Costa Rica - Sea Turtle Conservation

My most memorable experience was the night patrol watching for nesting turtles. We happened upon a turtle as she was making the nest and laying her eggs. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen! Just to be a part of an amazing team and to be able to take part in such an important mission. The whole experience was life changing. Seeing the garbage on the beaches that the tide brought in has made me want to change my way of living. After my experience in Romelia I intent on living a more intentional and purposeful lifestyle. I want to educate all my students that their choices impact the world, even thousands of miles away.

After dinner I would oftentimes sit with fluent Spanish speakers and we would exchange words in English/Spanish. Not only was this extremely helpful to improve my Spanish, but there were moments I laughed so hard that water came out of my nose. I will cherish every part of this experience, but I might remember the little, seemingly insignificant, moments more than others.

I really enjoyed the turtle project! I felt like my work really had an impact and I was grateful that I could work with the turtles. I also loved the other volunteers and got to interact with the locals who were also super friendly.

The most memorable experience was definitely when our whole group watched the sunset together and went swimming after our afternoon beach clean up. It really connected us all and made us appreciate everything we are able to experience so much. All in all, it was great that our camp was right at the beach.

It's pretty cool to see young adults actually pay money to come out here and work hard for a place they have no connection to. The wildlife shouldn't have to be impacted by the human species, and these volunteers make sure of that.

Helping over 100 baby sea turtles make it safely back into the ocean in a week was amazing. Watching a turtle laying her eggs and helping to bury them in the hatchery to eliminate risk from poachers was incredible. Go Eco was extremely helpful in organising the whole trip end to end and everything ran flawlessly from the airport pick up on the first day all the way through to airport drop off two weeks later. The local team were extremely welcoming and supportive.

I had the time of my life! Such a great experience. The Spanish lessons portion was nice but I wish I could’ve stayed the whole time at the project site in Romelia. It was more beautiful then I could imagine and I really felt engaged with nature!

I really enjoyed volunteering at the turtle project. The work that gets done there is so incredible. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to personally contribute something to saving the sea turtles and releasing them back into the ocean. I got Whatsapp messages from the GoEco coordinator every week to see how I was doing at my project and to get an update. I appreciated how safe I felt with the program.

I had a great time. The beach(es) were lovely and the work wasn't too bad. We had a few jobs in the morning and then downtime for most of the day. One of the coordinators had a scuba set, and I could spend hours in the water. While the work at night could get tedious (7:30pm- 1am more or less) catching the turtle eggs in my hand as they left the mama turtle was a mind-blowing experience. Once a week we had to do "exhumation" in which we would dig up old nests (after a certain amount of time in which the turtles should have definitely gone to sea) to see if there are any turtles who did not fully develop, and at what stage they stopped developing. It was gross, but one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Also during downtime during the day, I spent all of my time on the beach and loved it, it was absolutely breathtaking and practically private.

I enjoyed working with the turtles... collecting the eggs, re-locating them and having the supervisors explain little things that we wouldn't think to ask. I thought the entire thing was perfect and very well put together. I have never done a volunteer project before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. Before departure we were sent a package (which was very helpful), than somebody came and picked me up at the airport. I was thgen brought to my host family house (the family was super great, I am very lucky to have stayed with them), than we went to school for the first week. The school was great, they helped us every step of the way. We went to our first project on the Caribbean coast (Luis was our manager) he was excellent in every regard. We then went to the Pacific Coast (which the school arranged for us). That project was put on by Carol and Jainer (they were EXCELLENT).. The project was AMAZING, and everything was great.. I am very pleased with everything, thank you :)

I loved volunteering. It changed my life and Costa Rica changed my way of thinking. What a beautiful place with such beautiful people. I volunteered with kids for two weeks and that was amazing because I used to not like kids until I volunteered. I also volunteered saving turtles and both programs I was away out of my comfort zone but loved it every second. I did not get enough time in either of the programs. I just wanted to stay there forever! Traveling in between programs was an amazing experience too. All in all I enjoyed every second in Costa Rica and would do it over again any time. EVERYTHING was great! Volunteering with kids, saving turtles, traveling, making friends, seeing Costa Rica. It was hands down the best month of my life and thank you so much for making everything possible and so easy!

I had a great time. The beach(es) were lovely and the work wasn't too bad. We had a few jobs in the morning and then downtime for most of the day. One of the coordinators had a scuba set, and I could spend hours in the water. While the work at night could get tedious (7:30pm- 1am more or less) catching the turtle eggs in my hand as they left the mama turtle was a mind-blowing experience. Once a week we had to do ""exhumation"" in which we would dig up old nests (after a certain amount of time in which the turtles should have definitely gone to sea) to see if there are any turtles who did not fully develop, and at what stage they stopped developing. It was gross, but one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Also during downtime during the day, I spent all of my time on the beach and loved it, it was absolutely breathtaking and practically private.

I enjoyed working with the turtles... collecting the eggs, re-locating them and having the supervisors explain little things that we wouldn't think to ask. I thought the entire thing was perfect and very well put together. I have never done a volunteer project before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. Before departure we were sent a package (which was very helpful), than somebody came and picked me up at the airport. I was then brought to my host family house (the family was super great, I am very lucky to have stayed with them), than we went to school for the first week. The school was great, they helped us every step of the way. We went to our first project on the Caribbean coast (Luis was our manager) he was excellent in every regard. We then went to the Pacific Coast (which the school arranged for us). That project was put on by Carol and Jainer (they were EXCELLENT).. The project was AMAZING, and everything was great.. I am very pleased with everything, thank you :)

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the biologically diverse country of Costa Rica. I spent a total of three weeks there; one week in San Jose and two weeks in Camaronal. The first week in San Jose was spent going to Spanish class a few bus stops away from my host family (which was the nicest and most welcoming family I've stayed with). The first week was beneficial to me in meeting other people coming from across the world. I already was fluent in the Spanish Language but I still chose to spend the initial week in the capital for the purpose of meeting others and getting a better experience of the culture. Overall, the education was very helpful and not overly strict to the students, which I find to be an effective combination. The host family was very knowledgeable and caring; providing all necessary information to be familiar with the city and a better understanding of the Costa Rican culture at the same time. The following two weeks were spent at my project location of "Refugio Camaronal". Massimo was an excellent supervisor of the entire project location. He expressed his passion for the cause he is attending to. It was evident that he knew what he was doing and he enforced necessary rules and guidelines to us. We all did hope for some slightly better housing but that's not why we were there and sometimes you have to get a little dirty. In fact, this location proves to be one of the more tougher areas to volunteer at. There are daily beach cleanings, maintenance work of the location, and numerous sea turtle duties to attend to. I will say, if you are looking for more of a relaxed place to volunteer at, this is not the place to go to. The duties performed here and the odd hours prove to be difficult tasks but it is also a top spot for sea turtle conservation. That saying, all the tough and dirty work done here will make you feel like you are truly making a difference to the cause at hand. At Camaronal, a typical day looks like: Eat breakfast in the morning, work for 90 minutes, rest for 60 min, eat lunch, rest 30-60 min, work another 90 min, eat dinner and then rest until night shift*. *Night Shift consists of patrolling the 3km beach with the Massimo (project coordinator) and Hatchery-watch, both which take approximately 3 hours a piece in the dead middle of the night. This is a grueling task for people who need their beauty sleep (I am a Night-Owl and love staying up late so this was of no difficulty to me). Night shifts are taken in turns and rotated each day, meaning you will never know which time of the night you get until the day of. What I did in my off time here at Camaronal was spend a great amount of time at the beach. Whether it was kicking back, reading a book or taking a walk, the beach was a very peaceful place to be. There are many surfers present at all times of the day seeing as the Camaronal beach brings in some of the most excellent waves in Central America (quoted from Massimo himself). These rich waves are also the reason why the beach gets sea turtles all year round. If you are coming to see sea turtles and help them, this is your beach to go to because not every beach in the country gets sea turtles on a year-round basis. Overall, I greatly appreciated all the work assigned here because that was my reason for coming out to this country. I enjoyed my time and I would be willing to come back at any time. This experience was a valuable staple of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is an experience that has brought me memories and friends that I will have with me for the rest of my life.

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My experience volunteering at a turtle conservation in Costa Rica was absolutely life changing. Immediately after exiting the airport I was overwhelmed with feelings of excitement and adventure. Living within the community and immersed in such an interesting and exciting culture gave such a different and more meaningful experience than just staying in some hotel. Seeing how people in Costa Rica live their day to day lives was such a positive addition to the experience. Going to school in San Jose and learning the language was something I never thought I would be able to do. It was so incredible being able to actually apply my knowledge right away and test out what I had learned on my host family, who would also help me with my Spanish. Having the weekend off was another positive aspect as it allowed for myself and other volunteers to travel to other parts of the country that we would not experience once on our placements. Actually getting to the turtle conservation was a feeling I don't even know how to describe. I was excited, nervous, anxious, inspired, all of these emotions started to overwhelm me and I just couldn't wait to get started. At first I was a little disappointed to find out that it was low-season for the turtles and I wouldn't get to release any babies. But I took a step back and realized that the work that is done during the low-season sets a standard for how the high-season would go, and that without cleaning the beach and collecting the eggs, there would be no safe environment for these baby turtles. Collecting the eggs from my first nest is something I will never forget, I still get chills thinking about it. The staff were so kind and caring and really helped to make sure the volunteers were getting the most out of their time at the conservation. I never thought I'd meet people from Austria or Switzerland and now I have friends from across the world whom I still keep in touch with. Overall this was the most incredible experience of my life and I would recommend it to anyone.

The sea turtle conservation project was my last project after 5 weeks in Costa Rica. When I first arrived here, I was really well welcomed by all the volunteers and the staff. I immediately felt really comfortable in this place and I could already know that I was about to have a great time here. Every day, we knew at what time we were supposed to work in the hatchery for 6 hours and it was located in front of the most beautiful beach ever. I really felt like my presence had a meaning there and that my work was useful. We also had to patrol by night to find new eggs and I felt really sad when I saw that people stole the eggs on the beach. This project really need more volunteers to do a better job because we were not enough! The lifestyle there was really cool, we were free to do whatever we wanted and it was easy to travel because we had buses passing every day. I could go to the park Marino Ballena, to Dominical ... There, "Pura Vida" really had a meaning ! I felt really lucky to work in that project and I learned a lot about other aspect of life since it was so different than my lifestyle in Paris. I met people passionate with the sea turtle conservation, working to save them since 18 years. If I could come back tomorrow I would pack immediately ... I could not ask for more during my 2 weeks there!

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This project was one of the most rewarding projects to date however the very long hours, physically demanding work and the non-understanding nature of the coordinators make this project fall short of being one of the best out there. In one day we released over 650 baby sea turtles back into the wild, it is so hard to explain what an incredible experience this was. Your sea turtle work includes looking out for hatched eggs, collecting and counting the number of babies and then releasing them onto the beach to watch them head into the waters. Other sea turtle work includes night watches to look out for poachers and also searching the beach for mothers laying eggs. Beyond sea turtle work you also are required to construct new hatcheries, plant trees and search the beach for rubbish to clean up. Your work day starts at around 8am and finishes at 4pm with a break in the middle of the day. However, once you have completed your day work you then go on a 3 hour night watch which are broken up between 10-12am, 12-3am or 3-6am. This is on top of your days work and you start back up again at 7am the next day. This can be quite demanding and after 1 week we were physically drained. Like I said, very rewarding but you will be very tired by the end of your stay. Date volunteered: September 2016 Recommended time spent here: 1 week Living conditions: Dormitory style bunk beds, hot showers WiFi: Okay - can go off for days on end with no internet access. Vegetarian friendly: Yes Additional Notes: The co-ordinators refused to allow myself and my partner to do night shifts together (even though 2 should be on at all times, we had to do ours alone). However, after 1 quick email to GoEco this was sorted out with no issue. If you have issues with your co-ordinators please contact your volunteer partner to sort them out. Thank you to Go Eco for allowing us to experience this incredible volunteer project in Costa Rica. Our opinion is, as always, our own.

So the review below is mine but I meant to submit it in a different program..awkward. BUT, volunteering with sea turtles was like a dream come true. At first I was a little thrown off because it was way out of my comfort zone, it's really rustic and don't expect a five star hotel kind of stay because it is not like that. However, in only three days I got used to being there and it was probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me. You meet people from all over the world, you literally get to see turtles every night, collect over 200 turtle eggs every night as well, and I was lucky enough to see three nests hatch! I was in Camaronal Wildlife Refuge and I loved it so much, it made it hard to leave. The only thing was that you can't do much because it's so far away from everything! So if you want to do a volunteering program AND travel around Costa Rica, I recommend staying one week more after you're done with the turtle program, because there are so many things to see in Costa Rica! If you are reading this review and have even the slightest want to go, don't think twice and GO, I promise you won't regret it. It's an amazing experience and so worth it.

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An Amazing Time in Costa Rica By Cassie Roberts My Go Eco really was the trip of a lifetime. Beginning with a week in Spanish school gave me a real feel for how the locals live by staying with a host family. The Fernandez family made my trip truly unique and made me feel very at home. The exceptionally patient teachers at CRLA managed to teach me some of my first ever second language despite my ineptitude. San Jose gave me a taste of how local costa Ricans live but the star of the trip was the turtles. Seeing the turtles in their natural habitat was a truly amazing experience. Watching them crawl up to the same beach they were born on to lay their own nests was awe-inspiring and I really loved collecting data to ensure their continued survival and protection. No experience would be complete without an amazing group of people for which I am very grateful. A group of knowledgeable staff helped me practice my rudimentary Spanish and only laughed at my mistakes when they were especially funny. Best of all was the fantastic group of fellow volunteers that I will never forget.