Tortuguero

The beach is well known as a site for nesting/egg-laying sea turtles, which in the past were captured and consumed (hence the name). At the right time of year, turtles come ashore in number to lay their eggs. This unsurprisingly is a major visitor attraction for the area. Visitors can hire a local guide to assist them in viewing the turtles, which brings in useful revenue for the local economy. Access to the beach without a guide is not allowed in the egg laying season.

Before arriving in Tortuguero, we might have reasonably expected that a refreshing swim in the Caribbean would be a nice thing to do. In reality, with strong rip tides and big waves being the norm, Tortuguero is not the place to go swimming in the sea.

As it happens, there was a very nice pool in the hotel gardens, which was as welcome as it was convenient.

Being January and therefore not egg-laying season, the likelihood of seeing turtles on the beach was for us quite low. Instead, the main attraction was on the lagoon side of Tortuguero National Park, which is just a stone's throw from the village. This meant daily excursions in motor-boats along various stretches of water amonst the rainforest.

For our visit we were housed in very comfortable cabins at the Lagoon Lodge (shown above in the header) which also had a good restaurant, bar, lecture hall, pool, amazing gardens and outstanding friendly staff.

Even, though nice warm sunshine was the apparent norm, we were frequently reminded by Johnny our guide to carry waterproofs with us at all times just in case; 'Never give up!' became an oft heard phrase.

Unannounced, at 9:00pm on the first evening, the rain started immediately barrelling down out of the night. From zero to torrent mode in what seemed like an instant. It continued hammering away non-stop on the roofs of our lodges until 6:00am the next day, when it stoped as if someone had turned off a big tap in the sky.

What followed was another day of glorious warm sunshine whilst we were out and about in the national park, 'never giving up' with our carried yet seemingly superfluous waterproofs.

9:00pm on the second evening, the rain did the same again. If anything it was heavier still, with lying water in the hotel garden the next morning.