Guanacaste Beach Adventure

Guanacaste region is on the northern Nicoya penninsula, west coast of Costa Rica. Over the last few years we have gone out there, but never to this region. It is incredible. We started in Playa Junquillal which is known for its tranquil beaches and turtle nesting beaches. We stayed at Hotel Balu (see Ayden's post:) and adventured to playa Junquilla the first day we woke up in the area. The ride out to the beach was so remote, there were so few people around anywhere, no big towns on the beach. Only small houses here and there. Now, it was the rainy season, so maybe that was it. But I've heard from friends who grew up here that it's been that way, more untouched by tourism because it's more remote to get to. Pretty awesome. We had the beaches pretty much to ourselves, with the few people we met being locals living nearby. 

We spent the day playing at the beach and then ended back at the school bus were were staying on for the evening to make some easy dinner and crash early. 

The next day we visited Playa Conchel. It was a recommendation from a woman that works at our local tienda. She was telling us that locals drive all the way over to the coast to go to this beach just for the day. That's 4 hours one way. We figured it must be something special. It did not disappoint. The beach was covered in millions of white shells. All on the north side of the beach. The waves were mellow and the water was clear. It was incredible. 

We stayed out there for sunset to play in the waves. The sunset was like fire in the sky. We hiked back but  stopped on the beach to watch the remaining sunset and build sandcastles.

One of the most amazing experiences we had while out there was to go on a night hike out onto the beach during an arribada of Olive Ridley Turtles. Arribadas are synchronized turtle nesting events on a mass scale! Where tens of THOUSANDS of turtles come to specific beaches to lay MILLIONS of eggs, simultaneously!! The Arribada lasts 5-6 days. Literally up to 20,000 turtles can come and lay their eggs on a specific beach in one night. What?? 

We were lucky enough to figure out that one of these was happening while we were in the area! We went to the most notorious beach in the Nicoya Peninsula for this which is Ostional Beach. Second only to one beach in India, it is the 2nd largest Olive Riddley nesting site in the world. The arribadas happen numbers of time during the rainy season, usually 10 days before a new moon. There are literally so many turtle mommas laying eggs that there is not enough space. Turtle nests are dug up by other moms soon after. For this reason, locals are allowed to take and sell a certain number of turtle eggs that belong to the first wave of an arribada, eggs that have the highest chance of being destroyed. They allow the locals to make a living and the locals then keep a vigil over the subsequent waves, helping keep poachers, stray dogs, crocs, vultures and other birds at bay, giving the hatchlings a chance to make it to the water! 

We were able to take a night hike on night 5 of the arribada with a guide and a group of about 10 people. It was an amazing experience. There were still dozens of turtles coming up to lay their eggs. We were able to watch a mom lay her eggs, cover the next and make it back to the water. Wow.  The whole hike is done with red lights, as the white lights or other lights from phones, flashlights, streetlamps is disorienting to the turtles. Momma turtles go into a deep trance when laying eggs, the guides dug a hole so we could watch her lay. 

This video below shows the momma after she has laid her eggs, doing her amazing dance to tamp down the sand so that the eggs are tucked in tight. WOW. What an incredible thing to watch.  

Guanacaste is beautiful, the whole family can’t wait to return!