Tortuguero Trip - Green Sea Turtle

This past weekend I took a 2 day/1 night trip to Tortuguero National Park with a tour company and a friend I made in language class. It's on the northern Caribbean coast of the country and the only way to get there is by air or water. We took a bus to the farthest point where there was a road and the proceeded on small boats. Basically the touristy part of the park is based around the village of Tortuguero, and hotels that have their own docks along the channels. The main draw to the park is the egg-laying habits of the Green Sea Turtle, which come to the shores of Tortuguero Beach July-Oct to make nests and lay eggs at night. We had a night tour, which was awesome. For the first time I saw the stars from Costa Rica, and was once again disoriented geographically while trying to find familiar constellations. The weather was completely different than the San Jose area, it was HOT and dry, with no rain the whole time. Along the horizon in all 360 degrees however, I could see tons of lightning.

The night tour was pretty well organized, in order to ensure that we do not interfere or bother the turtles in any way. We wait a few 100 meters away from the shore, Turtle watchers keep an eye on the shore for turtles coming up to shore. These things are huge! about 4 feet long and 2-3 feet wide. Once they started building the nest and laying eggs (about 100-120 eggs ine one night), we are told to go to the beach and we can actually watch this happening. I was 2 feet away and could literally see the eggs dropping from the turtle into the nest she made (our guide used a red flashlight). No cameras were allowed, and apparently we can get close to the turtles while they are laying eggs and covering the nest b/c they are in a "trance" and our presence does not bother them at that point. We then saw a turtle leaving her nest and going back into the ocean. That's it. Her parenting job is done! The baby turtles emerge in 45-60 days and aim to get back into the ocean, but most get eaten by predators. The ones that make it to maturity will eventually come back to the same beach that they were born on to lay their own eggs. Historically (according to the guide), these turtles were almost extinct b/c of the demand for turtle soup in England. But the national park was created just for the turtles.

Now on to a more philosophical point, I'm not sure that I enjoyed watching the turtle laying eggs. It felt a bit intrusive and kind of gross. I wouldn't say it was "amazing" or "spiritual" in any sort of way, but it was . . . interesting. Felt like I was spying on her. I thought we would just see turtles coming onto shore and then leaving, from far away. I can appreciate wildlife and like knowing its out there living its life w/o my interference. I'm not sure that I want to interact with it though, (ie swimming with dolphins, touching fish/sea creatures, snorkeling/scuba, horse back riding) b/c it means introducing this wild animal into a "human" way of life, like I'm intruding on their world for my entertainment. I can appreciate the need for zoos, that's the only way the average person would see certain animals and in turn gain an appreciation for animals and the need for conservation etc.

Obviously, when horses or bulls or mules are used for necessary work, there's a specific purpose beyond entertainment, and I can understand that. But somewhere there's a gray area where I'm just not sure I want to use the animal for my entertainment. But this hasn't led me to commit to being vegan just yet . .