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As America was mesmerized, and outraged, by the oil spill catastrophe off its shores in the Gulf of Mexico, many learned about endangered sea turtles for the first time. However, most people know virtually nothing about these amazing animals. Sea turtles began swimming the oceans of the world about 100 million years ago. Their ancient ancestors were land animals which went to the Seven Seas before there were Seven Seas. Along with crocodiles, these are the most ancient of reptiles. To give you and idea of how long 100 million years is, imagine mighty Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain in the remote Himalayas. Sea turtles had been swimming the ocean for some 35 million years before the Himalayas even existed. These ancient creatures roam every sea except the frozen Arctic and Antarctic. Once, the raw numbers of these marine reptiles were so seemingly without end that seamen who were lost in the fog sometimes found land by listening for sea turtles paddling towards nesting grounds. Sad to say, those numbers are no more. Today, man's unrestrained development along every coast and wanton destruction of their nests have put these creatures at risk. For many years, millions were slaughtered in Central and South America to make expensive Italian shoes. When "I Love Lucy" began airing in the early 1950s, there were still so many nesting turtles in Mexico that a billion eggs a year were being laid. Within just four decades, so many turtles were killed that only two turtles came ashore one nesting season. And, that slaughter was taking place across the planet. But, more and more governments and conservationists are working to restore at least some turtle populations. Additionally, in many ways at the forefront of this battle for survival is the tiny country of Costa Rica. Conservation groups and researchers have begun tagging pelagic turtles like the green sea turtle in remote places like Costa Rica's Cocos Island. Some animals are fitted with flipper tags while others bear satellite transmitters in an effort to track their travel patterns and we now know that some species swim thousands and thousands of miles of oceans, from tropical waters to the cold and deep waters off Canada. Cocos Island is one of Costa Rica's Seven Wonders, an uninhabited island halfway to the Galapagos. It's also under consideration as one of the World's Seven Natural Wonders and for a lucky few, a Costa Rica vacation Cocos diving experience of a lifetime . But, it's way out in the Pacific. Marine researchers sailed Costa Rica open waters for about 30 hours in their search for knowledge about these ancient marine animals. Consider what they do as a kind of scientific working Costa Rica vacation that perhaps will contribute to saving these marvelous animals now sadly endangered in much of their range. But, truth be told, long before most Americans became distraught at television images of oil covered sea turtles gasping for life, Costa Rica was taking steps to preserve these beings. Long before it was fashionable in Central America, Costa Rica set aside magnificent Tortuguero National Park just north of where Columbus came ashore and named the country "Rich Coast" (Costa Rica), as the world's largest green sea turtle preserve. Today, thousands of people include Tortuguero in their Costa Rica vacations, so many in fact, that the once impoverished residents along that part of the Caribbean Coast sometimes refer to these animals as the "turtle that laid the golden egg." But, of course, one day, after the oil has stopped gushing in the Gulf, Americans and most of the rest of the world will forget all about the most ancient mariners and go on their way, thinking about what movie to see, what restaurant to eat in, or what present they want for Christmas. Fortunately, there are a few people in tropical places like Costa Rica who will still work to preserve these great animals. Jacque Yves Cousteau predicted that: "If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect." We cannot undo the past but the people who tag sea turtles have faith that marine turtles can survive another 100 million years if we lend them a hand. And, maybe, just maybe, our Costa Rica vacations to Cocos Island or Tortuguero National Park will contribute a bit, too.
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