The nests of the turtles we observed and collected data from in March and April have hatched. Our June volunteers came and went. Now the last and longest interphase of the season is drawing to a close. We want to thank those who volunteered their time and energy to assist with the Marine Turtle Monitoring and Conservation Programme on Playa Norte. Without their hard work, we would not have been able to maintain the integrity of the data collection throughout the season. The group that visited in June deserves special recognition as they walked for four hours for 10 nights straight and assisted with morning census and excavations. Mark, Saundra, Sean, Debbie and Courntey - thanks for your dedication and hard work. Thanks again to John, James, Neesha, Marjioline, Josh and Kaytlin for your help in March.

We have a new station manager, Mike Dunn. He arrived at the station late in August and was initiated with the end of a Global Vision International 10 week phase and a long interphase just starting. He just had time to get trained for work with the turtles before having to manage the volunteers and the turtle project with the assistance of Andras and Tom. We wish Mike the best of luck. I'm sure we'll be in touch now and again to see what we can do to assit with any issues that may arise. The image above is a gentle reminder of what Mike will experience in a month or two.

Costa Rica's Killer Snake (4:15 min., 37.2 MB) - Fer-de-lance, or Terciopelo as they are called in Costa Rica, are nervous leathaly venomous snakes. They are regularly seen in and around the station property. Josh takes a moment to give Liam a close-up look at a small (65 cm 2.5 foot) specimen captured along the boardwalk. [watch video]