The small village of Tortuguero lies on the northeastern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, approximately 50 miles north of the principal Port of Limón. the village is comprised of a variety of cultures: Hispanic, Miskito Indian (Nicaragua), and Afro-Caribbean. Both Spanish and Creole English are spoken. The region surrounding Tortuguero is called the Tortuguero Plain, which is a vast low lying area of little topographic relief still covered by a large expanse of tropical rainforest.

With the park established, development along the coast would never stretch much beyond the existing village, and the presence of park guards would discourage poaching. The park now includes over 19,000 hectares (46,900 acres) and protects 22 miles of nesting beach from the mouth of the Tortuguero River south to Parisimina. The park, and the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge to the north, comprise the largest remaining adjoining tract of lowland wet tropical forest on Costa Rica's Atlantic Coast.

Tortuguero means "turtle catcher" in Spanish. As the name implies, the Park encloses one of the largest and most important nesting sites in the world for the Green turtle (tortuga verde), the Hawksbill (tortuga Carey), with its distinctive hooked beak; and the ridged leatherback (tortuga Laud), the largest turtle in the world, some of these measure 5 meters (16.4 feet) in length, and weigh in at 300 to 500 kgs. (150 to 250 lbs.) The animals are drawn to this area not only to lay their eggs, but also to graze in the pastures sagasso seaweed, their favorite food.

Visitors will find leatherbacks nesting here March to May. The hawksbills tag along later, July to October -August is the peak month-. Notice that our turtle friends scheduled their egg-laying activities for the rainy season, so if you plan to visit them, bring an umbrella – or maybe a submarine. Tortuguero National Park gets 6.000 mm of rainfall (that's almost nearly 20 feet of rain) making it the wettest and most biologically diverse area in Costa Rica. The Park drenches visitors in two types of rain: the short rain that lasts for only an afternoon and the long term Caribbean rain that rides in on a North wind and doesn't ride out again for two weeks – or until the day after your vacation ends, whichever comes first.

While turtles have been known to lay their eggs in daylight, it is far more common to find them at night, waddling in a surreal procession from the sea to make their egg-nest in the sand. Nesting can take place a turtle at a time, a single mother scrambling solo up the beach. More commonly, you'll see them in groups (arribadas), dozens of them emerging from the sea, marching up the sands to their chosen spots, safely above the high tide mark. Each turtle digs a hole in which she lays eighty or more eggs. The noise they make, the collective whirring dozens of flippers whaling away at the sand, is something visitors will never forget. Her business complete, eggs laid and covered with sand, the turtle marches back to the sea, leaving the her eggs to hatch under the heat of the sun. Incubation takes some weeks, but, finally, the hatchlings emerge and instinctively follow the light of the moon on the water, scuttling to safety in the ocean. To see the turtles nesting, or to explore the park wildlife and the canals, you need to rent a boat and to hire a certified guide.

Most people come to the park to see the turtles, of course, but the Park wetlands are home to many creatures as well. The system of waterways here is fabulous, a natural plumbing system of canals and navigable lagoons that crisscross the park from southeast to northwest, bringing a constant fresh supply of water to the Park lowlands, providing the perfect habitat for seven species of land turtles, manatees, crocodiles, a wide range of crustaceans and fifty two species of freshwater fish, including the bony, needle-nosed gar (called the living fossils of the fish community), eels and bull sharks.

Tortuguero's beach is a beautiful place to stroll and sunbathe, however, visitors are warned to swim with caution. A heavy undertow along these beaches has been known to sweep swimmers out to sea and not return them.