Olive Ridleys

The Olive Ridley turtle is fascinating and it is believed that the turtles will return to the beach they were born on.
The baby turtles mostly hatch at night time, and we are hoping we will see them. We were told there has been a big one sighted the last few nights but not until around 3 am. We are given red light and it is the only light we can use. It takes over an hour to get to La Flor Beach even though it is only 22 km, it looks like it's beautiful although we can only see a little with the moon. The reserve is committed to protecting the turtles and half of our excursion cost goes to the reserve.
They were 2 nests that had hatched near end of day and the reserve collected them in baskets likely in case there weren't any hatching that night, so we would still be able to see them...they did release them after we found two nests. It is the most incredible thing to see them coming up out of the sand and make their way to the ocean. It was a little scary too since we were afraid to step anywhere in case we stepped on one. OUr little red light was kind of dim, but Andrew named our turtle "YUrtle' and we followed him until he got to the sea. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! Our group found 4 nests altogether but we didn't see the big one. These turtles are on the endangered species list. I don't remember the exact stats, but so few of all these babies ever make it to adulthood.
We made it back to San Juan after 1 am. It was very informative and we had a great time. The cost was $30 per person with half going to the reserve through the Casa Oro...you could pay $12 and hitch a ride out to the reserve yourself. We had wanted to tent there, but with the mosquitos etc, we were glad at that point in the trip to just do the tour.