my volunteer & adventure trip to Costa Rica, day 3, Playa San Miguel

This is the third in a series of posts, one for each day, of an incredible 2-week volunteer & adventure trip to Costa Rica I took in December 2022. I wasn’t sure this trip would happen, but luckily it did.

Here is my volunteer & adventure trip to Costa Rica, day 3, Playa San Miguel. After a hearty breakfast at the station house, we loaded into the van and headed to Turtle Trax. We went to the site after a quick orientation by Edgar on the volunteer project we worked on that morning. It was a hot & humid day. With plenty of water & sunscreen on hand, we began to weed & clean up a large garden space. It was used to transfer seedlings started elsewhere to be planted in this space. We were also instructed to patch netting over a frame to keep debris from falling on the plants & to keep the critters from disturbing them.

volunteer time

We got into a rhythm, and many hands made the work go by quickly. Since it was so warm, we took lots of water breaks. After the work was done, we went to lunch and brought a change of clothes to head to a different beach, Playa Coyote. It was another of the four nesting beaches where the turtle nest conservation takes place. We were really looking forward to jumping in the water! We were warned this beach had a stronger current & undertow compared to Playa San Miguel & to be careful.

beach time

After relaxing in the water & on the beach, we returned to the station house for dinner. We cleaned up, watched one more spectacular sunset & had another delicious dinner. I could get used to this!

turtle patrol

After dinner, we got ready for turtle patrol. As instructed, we dressed in dark clothes, wore covered shoes, and had our red lights ready. Together in a group, we headed north, looking for turtle tracks. Pablo & Ann were in the lead while the rest of us followed, hopeful that we would see a turtle. It was a beautiful warm evening. Waves were crashing, and the endless sky was sparkling with stars. We saw multiple shooting stars as well. I have never seen so many stars in my life! It was truly breathtaking.

Then Pablo & Ann alerted us that they saw a turtle! We followed them to get close to the turtle, but it was a false alarm. Sadly the turtle bumped into something, perhaps a log, was disoriented, then turned around and went back into the water. While it was slightly disappointing, seeing a Green turtle that big up close was extraordinary. Pablo & Ann took notes documenting what had happened. We resumed walking down the beach, continuing the search for a couple more uneventful hours. At least we had an exciting, although brief, encounter!

I hope you enjoyed my volunteer & adventure trip to Costa Rica, day 3, Playa San Miguel. If you missed day 2, click here. If you want to start at the beginning of this trip, click here. Again a special thanks to my travel mates for letting me use some of their photos to supplement mine.

Pura Vida ❤️

Until the next adventure, my friend!