Both the Pacific and Atlantic coast in Costa Rica are the stage of one of the most impressive natural occurrences in the world; the landing of sea turtles. Sea turtles are one of the oldest habitants of the planet earth. Their history goes back over 110 million years, meaning that the sea turtles were already around before the dinosaurs walked the earth. It is tragic that these magnificent animals are now on the verge of extinction, mainly because of new comer mankind. Threats come from the pollution of the ocean, the use of enormous floating fishing nets where turtles drown when they get stuck, the diminishing stretches of pristine beaches use for laying their eggs and poaching not just for their meat, but also their eggs. Costa Rica has a keen interest in sustainable development and many initiatives have been successful to protect the sea turtles that come to it’s beaches. Sea turtles are solitary animals and spent most of their life in open sea. Migrating patterns are discovered from the equator to the colder waters on both poles. Sea turtles have a very strong developed navigating sense, because female sea turtles go back to the beaches where they were born to make their nests. The female sea turtles only come ashore under cover of the night to lay their 80 – 120 eggs in a hole they dug with their flippers. After delivering al the eggs, the hole is covered again with sand. Somewhere between 45 and 70 days the eggs hatch and the little sea turtles rush to the ocean where only one or two will reach adulthood. It is not known how old sea turtles get, it is estimated though somewhere between 80 and 100 years. From the seven species of sea turtles, five are coming to shores of Costa Rica: the leatherback, the green turtle, the loggerhead, hawksbill and the Oliver Ridley turtle. The leatherback turtle is the sea turtle closest to extinction and the Caribbean beaches of Costa Rica are one of the main landing sites in the world for this particular species of sea turtle. There are protected areas in the Province of Limon, such as Parismina, Tortuguero and Gandoca in the South of the Gandoca – Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. On the Pacific Coast mainly on the beaches of Guanacaste (Playa Grande near Tamarindo, Playa Nancite in the Santa Rosa National Park and Playa Ostional near Nosara) four species come to shore to lay their eggs: the green, Oliver Ridley, hawksbill and leatherback turtle.