Turtle sanctuaries

[asi va]

I`m planning a 10-day trip to the Pacific coast for the end of July and beginning of Aug. and I`m thinking about hitting one or more of the turtle sanctuaries, but I know almost nothing about them. By my understanding, we will be there just at the beginning of the "turtle season". Does this mean that the turtles aren`t there for the rest of the year, or just that their season for laying eggs starts around that time? Is there a way to find out in advance if Mother Nature is on schedule? Any recomendations on specific beaches? We are going to start in Vallarta and likely go North as far as Guayabitos and/or South as far as Manzanillo, but we have very loose plans. Aside from my plane tickets nothing is concrete. My wife is a biologist and nature nut- maybe some one has suggestions apart from turtles as well. Thank you.

[Quién Soy Yo?]

Get to see one, before the local residents raid the nests and cart-off the eggs to sell them, or eat them.

[sparks]

Cuyutlan has a 'real' sanctuary just south of town on the beach. if you understand Spanish they may be able to tell you more of seasons and types of turtles. Here's some fotos



http://sparks-mexico.com/Mex2002/cuyutlan/index1.htm

Just about a week ago while cleaning up our lagoon park the kids found a turtles nest with one baby and very few eggs. I don't like that little guys chances with kids in a plastic cup ... but I had no suggestions.



Last November a friend went on this tour from Melaque up to Majahuas. They camped overnight on the beach taking turns walking the beach with flashlights. So if there is activity now and in November ... I don't have a clue what the season(s) are.

http://www.mex-ecotours.com/index.html

[asi va]

Well, the turtle sanctuary isn`t what I expected, but Cuyutlan looks very nice. Pesonally, I would much rather take a tour of the swamps like you have in the pics than lay around in the sand (I`m not much of a beach lounger). Hopefully we`ll swing by there for a day or two. I`m mixed up about something. The Eco tour link says that it`s based in Costa Alegre and one page has a map, but I don`t see C.A. on there. Is that because it`s the name of the whole region and not a specific town?

[sparks]

It's not like they were laying around on the beach. They located nests during the day ... and then walked the beach at night to keep poachers away.

The Costalegre is the area from Barra de Navidad north to almost Tomatlan. That's about 2/3 of the coast between here and Vallarta. Almost every little town along the coast has a turtle program ... but unless it's a tour or larger sanctuary you're not likely to run into them.

They have mangrove tours at Tenacatita and La Manzanilla but nothing like the large lagoon behind Cuyutlan. Someone reported back that the Cuyutlan tour guy was not there last year ... probably because not that many people visit. You should check in town.

[Rolfster]

This not about the Costa Alegre, but if you're interested in turtles we do have a great resource presented by a group called ASUPMATOMA, which runs a turtle protection camp in Baja, between Cabo and Todos Santos.
http://www.mexonline.com/tortuga.htm

My own experience with turtles was with a female that came up to lay her eggs in broad daylight at our surfcamp up the coast from San Jose del Cabo. Totally oblivious to our presence she came up the sand, dug the hole, laid the eggs, covered them up and then headed back to the water. Awesome experience and one of these days I'll have the photos scanned and put online.

I also saw a really neat facility on Isla Mujeres, see below.



swim little fellas, swim!


The full Isla Mujeres story is available at
http://www.mexonline.com/amigonews/99november.htm

[asi va]

Gee, Rolf- that sure does sound like a special experience. Like you guessed though, the turtles were kind of a secondary idea for something interesting to do while we`re in Nyarit, Jal, Col. I`ll bet my wife would love it anyway- she spent a month as a volunteer at a sanctuary once (I don`t know where) and was obviously moved. I`m sure we`ll check out the one at Cuyutlan since it`s more in our area- hopefully there`ll be some action at that time- then we`ll just do the wandering thing and see what grabs our attention. Thanks for the pics and the advice.