Location
Playa Preciosa / Platanares encompasses 6 kilometers of coastline in good condition with the presence of some houses and a couple of hotels. It is located 7 kilometers from Puerto Jiménez between Puntarenitas and the mouth of Platanares River and is part of the “Platanares Wildlife Refuge”.
As the longest beach in the Golfo Dulce, its position is highly important for nesting of sea turtles in the area. It has been documented that the Osa Peninsula is a nesting site for four species of sea turtles: Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), the latter being the least abundant.
Recently, it was verified that the Golfo Dulce is the habitat of a resident population of Hawksbill and it is considered one of the only two populations of this species reported on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Green turtle is “Endangered”, and the Hawksbill is “Critically endangered”. Thus, global efforts for their conservation have increased in recent years, in this way, Tortugas Preciosas de Osa joins this great effort for the conservation of these very important species to our marine ecosystems.