Nocturnal Turtles Watching Ostional Guanacaste Province

Our guide Wilmer was very knowledgeable and helpful he described the process, what to expect and how to be responsible participants to the turtles. The sunset was gorgeous. The road to the beach is a terrible drive. We arrived early so got to see the sunset a plan for dinner would have been nice due to the timing like a place to grab a bite prior to arriving or a stop to get a sandwich to enjoy on the beach would have made it better as it’s late and a lot of standing around. They do offer cold water we were able to get a beer from a vendor on the beach but didn’t get dinner til 9 pm when back to our hotel.

Unfortunately I booked this private tour for $150 each without reading the reviews, and thought we would have a knowledgeable guide that would bring the correct and right amount of equipment and look out for our safety not the case!, I also thought Viator would refund after finding out what a terrible experience it was. Not true again. We are knowledgeable about turtles and the ocean, I teach a conservation class and my son is a surfer and has seen turtles numerous times and actually had shown me one earlier in the week. The guide was not knowledgeable. He wanted to leave at 4:00, high tide was not until 8:30 my son changed the time to 5:30. He brought one headlamp for himself and one for my son and I to share, then said he couldn’t give it to us until the turtle started laying eggs, it was hard to see where we were walking, he had red paper and and a rubber band to go over a regular white light. I’m not sure it was a correct red light. The guide then left us on a dark beach for about 30 minutes to look for turtles while we stood on a dark beach with no light.. We went to another beach and he did the same thing, and left us on the beach, but gave us one light this time. He then told us to hide under a tree because there was a turtle, so we hid for about 10 minutes, he said it was moving , then people came from the other direction and it was a tree stump. He showed us turtle tracks which were obviously dirt bike tracks., he showed us other ones which was a water runoff. He showed us sea shells and said they were turtle egg shells. My son corrected him on all these things and wanted to leave. We walked through the woods to another beach, he got lost in the woods coming out, my son found the way and guided us out. There was also a tree that after we walked under it he told us it has poisonous fruit and people get sick from touching it and laying under it. He said we didn’t see turtles because the waves were to big, this was incorrect, the waves were almost flat to 1 foot all day, my son corrected him so he said the tide was to high, again my son told him the higher the tide the better for the turtles. On the way back in the dark woods he told a story of people being murdered. If I had been with anyone other than my son and been left on the beach and with no light, and gotten lost in the woods I would have been terrified. When I booked with Viator they said you can request a refund if you do not see a turtle, well you can request but you will not get it under any condition. I did not request a refunded for not seeing a turtle I requested because the guide did not bring the correct equipment, was not knowledgeable and put us in a frightening and potentially dangerous situation. Not a good tour! If Viator would not give a refund for this tour then they do not stand behind their tours DO NOT BOOK THROUGH VIATOR! Go into other tours and read the reviews. They are cheaper and I have heard good things.

DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR. The tour guide didn’t show up on the appointed day. The hotel concierge reached him and he blamed Viator and said the tour was supposed to the next evening. He did not show up again the second night. I have an extremely disappointed little boy and for two nights in a row, my vacation plans were completely messed up.