Sea Turtles Are Still Nesting Here
Sept 2026. By Dr. Vanessa Bézy
What five years of monitoring on Guiones and Pelada are teaching us — and how the community can help
When we think about sea turtles in our area, it is almost impossible not to think first about Ostional and the arribada. Tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of turtles arriving together to dig their nests and lay their eggs is extraordinary and highly visible.
But sea turtle conservation does not stop where the arribada ends.
Guiones and Pelada are also part of the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, and our monitoring shows that turtles continue to use these beaches for nesting. The numbers are much smaller than at Ostional, but that does not make these nests less important. If anything, nesting on beaches experiencing increasing human activity can represent particularly important habitat worth understanding and protecting. Our recent research report specifically identifies nesting on Guiones and Pelada as potentially critical habitat despite the relatively low number of nests recorded.
Since formal monitoring began, a total of 17 trained volunteers have completed 276 surveys covering more than 322 kilometers of beach. We documented 47 nests and confirmed three species nesting here: olive ridley, Pacific green, and leatherback sea turtles. Olive ridleys nest throughout the year, while green and leatherback nesting has been recorded primarily between October and March.
And those are only the turtles we know about. Our coverage of the beach is limited, and there are undoubtedly nests and hatching events we have not accounted for.
Sea turtles usually come ashore at night, and hatchlings typically make their way to the ocean when most of us are asleep. Often, by morning, the only evidence left behind is a track in the sand. But that track can tell us a surprising amount. With training, we can often identify the species, determine whether a turtle nested or returned to the ocean without laying eggs, and even understand what happened to the nest afterward.
If you are curious about which species you may have seen, you can also use our Sea Turtle ID Guide to help identify the turtles that nest along our coastline.
That is why community reports are so valuable.
If you see a turtle, hatchlings, a nest, or tracks on Guiones or Pelada, please take photos if you can and note the nearest numbered beach marker. You can submit your observation through our community sea turtle reporting form (bit.ly/turtlereport). Community reports are an important part of our monitoring and help fill gaps where regular volunteer coverage is limited.
If you regularly walk Guiones or Pelada in the mornings, you can help even more. We are looking for volunteers who can be trained to survey a roughly 1 kilometer section of beach two to three mornings per week. You do not need to be a biologist. We will teach you how to recognize turtle tracks, record activity, use the beach markers, and document threats to sea turtles.
Unfortunately, the same monitoring that confirms turtles are still nesting here also shows how much pressure they face.
Of the 47 nests we documented, more than half showed evidence of illegal take, while another 11% were depredated by dogs.
During beach surveys we also documented dogs, motorized vehicles, and bonfires repeatedly on Guiones and Pelada—all activities prohibited within the Ostional Refuge because of their potential impacts on wildlife. Across the three-year monitoring period, volunteers recorded a total of 1,968 dogs, 482 vehicles, and 59 bonfires.
Another important threat is one we may not notice as easily: light pollution. Sea turtles evolved to nest on naturally dark beaches. Artificial light can alter the behavior of nesting females and disorient hatchlings trying to find the ocean. The good news is that this is also one of the easiest threats for us to reduce. Closing curtains after dark, shielding outdoor fixtures so light points downward, using lower-intensity amber or red-colored lights, and turning unnecessary lights off can all help keep our beaches darker at night.
You can find more practical recommendations for reducing light pollution and other everyday environmental impacts at SustainableNosara.com.
The COVIRENA patrols implemented during the 2024–2025 high season helped reduce some of these risks and improved visibility and enforcement on the beaches, although our analysis suggests the overall effect was relatively small and some downward trends had already begun beforehand. That means continued monitoring is important to understand whether improvements last and what additional strategies are needed.
The encouraging part is that many of these threats are things we can directly reduce.
If you encounter a sea turtle or hatchlings:
Keep your distance and stay behind the turtle, leaving a clear path between the turtle and the ocean. Keep dogs well away.
If a turtle is still searching for a nesting site or digging, give her extra space. Turtles disturbed during this stage may abandon the nesting attempt and return to sea. Once she begins laying eggs, she is much less likely to be disturbed.
Do not touch or handle turtles or hatchlings, and do not use flash photography or bright lights.
Help manage the people around you. Often the most useful thing you can do is explain what is happening and encourage others to give the turtle space.
Remove movable obstacles from their path when it is safe to do so. Even logs, holes, deep footprints, or small divots in the sand can become major barriers to a hatchling small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
Report the observation, including photos and the nearest beach marker, and alert the lifeguards when possible because they maintain one of the most consistent presences on our beaches.
The most important thing to remember is that not seeing turtles does not mean they are not here.
A beach can look completely empty during the day and become nesting habitat at night. By morning, a few tracks may be the only sign that a turtle crossed the same stretch of sand where we walk, exercise, or gather with friends.
Guiones and Pelada will never look like Ostional during an arribada, and that is not the point. These are secondary nesting beaches supporting three species of sea turtles in a landscape shared closely with people.
Every nest gives us information about how turtles continue to use this coastline, and every report, survey, darkened light, leashed dog, and respectful encounter gives them a better chance to keep doing so.
Walk Guiones or Pelada regularly? Become a trained Sea Turtle Monitor and help us survey your local stretch of beach. Even a few mornings each week can help us understand what is happening on our beaches when most of us are not there to see it.
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