Saving the Turtles of Piro Beach…One at a Time
A Volunteer’s Journey Begins at 3:30 a.m.
We were lucky to volunteer one December morning during our family trip to Costa Rica at the Osa Conservation near Matapalo, Costa Rica, an area that attracts nesting sea turtles—as well as passionate volunteers who travel from around the world to protect them.
We were to drive and meet our guide by 5:30 a.m., which meant leaving our hotel in Puerto Jiménez at 3:30 a.m. The directions were seemingly simple, follow a dirt road into the forest, cross three rivers, then look for the Osa Conservatory entrance on the right. Doing all of that in the pitch dark added a sense of adventure—and a bit of intensity.
We drove in silence, waiting forever for the first river. We paused when we finally came upon it, unsure of its depth. Locals had described the rivers casually like mile markers, without any concern. So, we decided to go ahead and drive through. It wasn’t very deep, and the next two turned out to be easy to drive through as well. But having to navigate numerous unexpected potholes in the dark kept our concentration on the road.
A Tapir Roadblock
Then, something unexpected: a set of glowing eyes appeared in our headlights. As we approached, a massive animal stood in our path—a wild tapir.
It looked like a cross between a cow and a very large pig. He refused to move and was in an apparent standoff with our car.
We slowly crept forward, hoping he’d wander off. Instead he started running down the road playing a game—every time we tried to pass him, he darted in front of the car and stopped abruptly staring us down. After about 30 long minutes of this, he finally got bored with his game and disappeared into the jungle—leaving us behind on time.
Welcome to the Hatchery
We eventually arrived at the Osa Conservation site and explained our delay to our guide—who was a multilingual volunteer from France wrapping up six months of sea turtle conservation work. She was thrilled we’d seen a tapir—and considered it good luck!
We began to make our way to the beach with a muddy hike through the jungle, we liste to the guide explain the turtles’ importance to the ocean ecosystem—sea turtles are the only know predators to jelly fish. Soon the trees opened to reveal a pristine beach with loud crashing waves. Nestled in the tree line was a hatchery—handmade by the volunteers with wooden posts and mesh walls protecting relocated turtle nests from predators and rising tides.
We were instructed on how to inspect the nests surrounded by mesh that prevent the hatchlings from climbing out. When we spotted movement, we could gently open the mesh and pick up the hatchlings wearing rubber gloves. Then carefully transfer them into buckets. We were amazed—nearly 200 sea turtle hatchlings that morning.
The March to the Sea
We carried our buckets with our miniature marvels out to the beach and gently but the bucket on its side to let them crawl out and instinctively make their way toward the ocean. We stood back but kept a close watch in the sky for hawks as they crawled franticly climbed over one another, determined to reach the waves.
A Starfish Moment
Warned by our guide of the challenges they would face as we watched hundreds of them heading towards the ocean that morning, we learned that only one in one thousand would survive adulthood—I thought of the of the old fable of the boy on the beach surrounded by thousands of washed-up starfish.
An old man sees him throwing the starfish back into the ocean and says there are thousands of starfish on this beach, unfortunately you won’t make much of a difference. The boy then threw another starfish and said—I made a difference to that one.
Standing with my family on the beach that morning looking toward the ocean filled with the new baby hatchlings—I couldn’t help but feel the same way.
How You Can Help
Sea turtles face countless threats, but volunteering with Osa Conservation is a small and powerful way to help. Whether you donate or sign up for a volunteer experience, every effort matters.
Where Stories Like This Begin
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