IVHQ Turtle Conservation Program in San Jose, Costa Rica

This experience was amazing! I helped protect sea turtles, discovered Costa Rican wildlife, met people from all over the world and had lots of fun. I highly recommend volunteering in Ostional to help sea turtles!

I went to Junquillal Beach (Costa Rica) for 3 weeks. I am feeling so lucky to get this amazing experience, which was absolutely one of the most exiting of my life. I made new special friends from all over the world! I had the unique opportunity to see Lora turtles laying eggs and to get in my hand a baby turtle, I have seen them go to the ocean. This is something I can explains with words, it touch your heart. If you are looking for a restful holiday you are in the wrong place: but no work could be too hard if this is the reward. I wiil be back in Junquillal one day, that's for sure!

I was fortunate enough to volunteer in Costa Rica this Spring, and believe that every person with the means to do so should absolutely volunteer abroad! I was placed in Junquillal, CR in a camp that was a short walk from the beach. Every day we woke up and went to the beach before we started a hard day's work. We'd spend a few hours every day working outside either in the camp, on the beach, or doing work for the community. We patrolled the beach on different shifts looking for sea turtle nests, and if you were lucky enough to be on the late night shift, you'd likely walk out to see the milky way reflecting on the waves. Everyone I met during my trip -- the IVHQ team, the local organizations, and other volunteers -- made the adventure so easy and warm. I'm actually already planning on another trip with IVHQ!

I stayed a Junquillial at the Verdiazul turtle conservation project and I had a wonderful time. The conservation work is valuable and rewarding and you learn so much in a hands-on way. The area is remote and beautiful, but there are some restaurants that serve good food and are not over-priced, so you can go out to eat for some of the evenings if you feel like a change. I was there in low season for turtles, but still saw several hatching, did an egg examination, and the most spectacular was I saw a turtle laying her eggs when on night patrol. A surprising feature of this site is that it also seems to be a dog sanctuary. Many of the local dogs have ended up living their because Bertha, the cook, is dog mom and town go-to person when a dog is trouble. It is awesome - if you love dogs. They have their own personalities and are true characters in the project. The final and most important feature was the staff: they are knowledgeable, dedicated, professional and friendly. Just go and check it out :)

I had the most amazing experience with IVHQ and their offered Turtle Conservation Project in Costa Rica. The community in the area I was volunteering in was more than welcoming and the people in charge at the project center were super friendly and inspiring. These people help the world become a better place not just for the turtles but for us as well. After cleaning the beaches and taking in the necessary information to complete the inventory and data needed for the biologists researching these turtle areas, I realize how much of an impact a small collective can have on the larger scheme of things. And of course, learning Spanish all along the way was pretty amazing too! I would highly encourage anyone to take on this challenge because it was the adventure of a lifetime for me. I enjoyed everything about it and I came home being a lot more conscious and informed about little things that I used to take for granted. Finally, I want to say that pushing yourself to the limit is one thing but pushing yourself to try something new is a whole new ball game and I encourage those of you who are a bit more timid to take on an adventure like the one I took on because it is worth your while.

I was stationed in Ostional this past August and I could not have asked for a better placement. All of the staff at the station on-site were super friendly, and it's literally on the beach! I could wake up everyday and get a swim in before and after breakfast because most of the work didn't take place until afternoons and evenings. The beach clean-ups and nest censusing were the most labor intensive, but they were worth it once you got out on the night patrols and actually got to interact with the turtles. I was working during an arribada, or mass nesting event, and even though that meant we didn't get the weekend off, the other volunteers and I got to see thousands and thousands of turtles crawling up the beach at sunset and into the night for 5 whole days. The arribada and the turtle nestings are a huge part of the economy in the Ostional community, its a big eco-tourism town, and it was really cool to be a part of that as well as seeing it in action. Working hands on with the turtles was probably the best part though, and knowing that the more we recorded the better chance their nest would have of surviving and it was just truly amazing to know we were making an impact every day we were there.

It's difficult to put into words just how incredible my time volunteering in Costa Rica was! I was on the Nicoya Peninsula in a small rural town called Ostional and it was absolutely amazing; the locals welcomed us so warmly into their town and into their homes. Working at the station alongside such passionate individuals was absolutely infectious, they wanted to share all the information they could, and we wanted to learn everything we could. I have met such dedicated, passionate and warm hearted individuals along this journey who enhanced the experience tenfold; be it the park rangers, our lovely cooks, our supervisor or the other volunteers, everyone was motivated to make a difference here and it was that attitude and sense of community that truly made this an experience of a lifetime. I loved it so much that after my initial three weeks volunteering and a couple weeks traveling around Costa Rica, I decided to return to Ostional for another week of volunteering -I couldn't get enough. Would absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt recommend this experience to anyone who asked. If you are prepared to work hard and get a little dirty, you'd be amazed at what this place can give you in return.

Hopping on a plane alone headed out of the country to spend two weeks living and volunteering at the Sea Turtle Conservation in the small remote village on the Nicoya Peninsula, called Ostional, was easily the best decision I have made thus far in my life-an absolutely unforgettable and eye opening experience, to put it simply. Not only was I lucky enough to be living/working on a beach legitimately considered a Wildlife Refugee-(a beach without the manmade-sea of towels, coolers, umbrellas, and tourists as well)-but I so luckily arrived just a few days before an Arribada began!! Arribada is spanish for "Arrival', and in Ostional once a month, generally, for 2-7 days hundreds of thousands of nesting Olive Ridley sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs, which is an entirely other incredible experience in itself. I witnessed something that not only most people in the world will never get the opportunity to see-but rather don't even know is a thing at all. I'm in the process of adding all of my photos from my trip to my eportfolio, feel free to get a better glimpse at my trip that way! :)

I spent twenty days in Costa Rica with IVHQ and Maximo Nivel (an official organization in the country). Working with turtles were great, the food was great, the accommodations were great. But what really made this trip unforgettable was the exchange with the community. Costa Rican are sweet and welcoming. The integration in the culture is really what made this trip incredible for me. An adventure I would suggest to anyone who likes experiencing new cultures!

Volunteering in Costa Rica was not only a great way to give back to the community while abroad by working in turtle conservation, but in return, I gained so much more than I ever imagined. The pura vida lifestyle of the locals was a great reminder for me to enjoy each moment, and being a part of the turtle conservation effort opened my eyes up to a whole world of opportunities working in animal rescue and conservation that I hadn't even known existed before. IVHQ did a great job connecting me to the opportunity of a lifetime, and if I could do it all again I wouldn't change a thing!