San Juan del Sur. NICARAGUA

Top tips for San Juan del Sur

• Hostel you have three choices. 1 Casa Oro, great breakfast and chilled out. 2. Pachamama, has a pool and gets a bit more lively at night (but still close to Casa Oro), or 3. Naked Tiger, which is slightly out of the way but has an awesome pool and setting, is also lively and also has free shuttles to San Juan.
• There are plenty of other hostels around but the above three are most popular.
• Book the turtle viewing at Casa Oro, the guide is excellent and knowledgeable. Do ask about conditions for the night, eg if there is full moon you may not see many. Also ask how many turtles were sighted the night before. 
• The beach at San Juan is pretty shoddy, but main hostels offer a shuttle service to nearby beaches which are prettier and better for surfing.
• Do the Sunday pool crawl if you are up for a party, book at Pachamama, it is $10 and you get a free vest. Drinks cost around 40-60 local currency. Sneak a bottle of rum with coke in to save money.
• Take your laundry to the laundrette yourself and not through the hostel it is cheaper that way.
• Most important of all, DRINK FLOR DE CANA rum, it is the best rum in South and Central America.
• If you are going to Lake Ometepe, you can catch a taxi for 4 for around $20 (45 minutes). Or you can get the chicken bus near the market, ask someone about which and what stops to get to San Jorge.

To Sea Turtle or to See no Turtle

After leaving Costly Rica we were finally at a place where our $40 a day budget would allow us to have some fun. San Juan del Sur is located closely to the Costa Rican border on the Pacific coast. A small beach town where people come to surf and turtles in their thousands come to lay their eggs on nearby beaches.

As we weren't massive surfers we were keen to see some turtles hatching their eggs. Our hostel Casa Oro arranged a night tour which we decided to go on. We had our briefing meeting with our tour guide who had explained all about the turtles, their habits and of course their threat to existence.

The nesting site at La Flor wildlife site is one of seven sites in the world where the Olive Ridley turtle lay their eggs. The site is protected to ensure maximum survival rates for this endangered turtle. They are under huge threat, from overfishing, egg poachers, turtle hunters and also from various predators once they have hatched. Each turtle hatches around 100 eggs, and out of 1000 eggs hatched only one turtle will survive to a fully mature adult, who can live well over a hundred years old. So programmes and education like this are vital  to the survival of these animals.

The Olive Ridley turtle

The park itself was an hours drive away on a beautiful isolated beach. We had been told in our briefing that white light or cameras were an absolute no no as any light given off could scare the turtles as they come from the sea to lay their eggs.

As we reach the beach the moon is shinning at its brightest, not the best conditions for the turtles, already i had the feeling that we would be very lucky to see any turtles tonight! We spend the a couple of hours pacing the beach to see any willing turtles, but with the light shinning brightly from the moon it was looking bleaker and bleaker!

We did manage to get a glimpse of one turtle who had come out of the sea but immediately changed her mind and returned swiftly into the ocean under the breaking waves. It was not to be our night, as the group the night before had seen 5 turtles! In the months of September and October you can see up to 1000 at a time trying to find space to hatch their eggs.

Some of the eggs are taken from the beach and monitored

Our guide

The full moon hampering our night

Ann unhatched egg eaten by a predator, probably a sand crab

Crab crawled right passed me

So not the most succesful night but nonetheless a good experience and interesting insight into turtles and their SHY behaviour.

POOL PARTY TIME

San Juan del Sur is also known for its Sunday pool crawl where mainly all the travellers don their pool crawl vests and get shipped off by 4x4 to all the hostels with pools whilst wildly drinking and acting like idiots. So we decided we would join in and get involved. As we wait to be packed in the 4x4 all the locals stand and watch in amazement as the travelling herd gather for their piss up! What they must think of us I don't want to know! But we met a good group from our hostel so we knew we would have a good one!!

The gang

Typical Aussie

Waheyyy

Nice View

 A club 18 to 30 day with lots of beer consumed, wouldn't do it again but it was fun!!

The next day we chill at the beach with a slight hangover and then head off to Isla de Omotepi located on lake Nicaragua.

Beauty in San Juan

San Juan Beach