Sun, Sand and Science

On a remote Costa Rican beach, a geologist continues his quest to unearth the mysteries of sea turtle navigation

I wake in the pre-dawn hours and stumble through the bush to face the pounding waves on the beach, illuminated only by the light of the moon. I look down a 30-kilometre stretch of black sand on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, so remote there are no man-made landmarks for the 25 kilometres—and no return, except along the same stretch of sand.

“Let’s get the field equipment ready and make the lunch,” I say to Nicole, a PhD student in geology from Florida State University who has volunteered to work with me on an unprecedented survey of this out-of-the-way and challenging beach.

“Not until you make me a cup of stiff coffee,” she replies, bleary eyed after our two-day slog from Tallahassee, Fla. “Those sea turtles and the magnetometers can wait a few more minutes. Besides, Jack, after that crazy landing at the airstrip yesterday, I am still trying to get my bearings.”

We had landed on a bumpy asphalt airstrip along the beach at the isolated village of Tortuguero, which lies at the northeastern corner of Tortuguero National Park. Far from the comforts of the capital at San Jose, with its open-air bars and clear blue swimming pools, we had now entered the realm where everything must come in by small plane or by boat along the Tortuguero River. The river comprises part of an inland waterway that parallels the coast for nearly 90 kilometres and forms the backside of the park’s famed barrier islands.

A couple of days later, we found ourselves stranded nearly 20 kilometres away from our base as a huge, lightning-studded thunderstorm headed in over the dark grey, shark-infested waters of the Caribbean. With few options for taking shelter, we had decided to just sit down by a log on the beach and wait out the storm when I noticed a boat heading our way from the north. “By God!” I shouted, “Plan B!!” Jose, his smiling face as welcome as manna from heaven, beached the boat right in front of us in the surf. Flying over the waves and into the river, we felt great about having planned for the unexpected.

Photos by Earthwatch.org and Nicole Tibbetts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Field Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.