Sara: THE ARRIBADA HAS BEGUN! We are going to Ostional tomorrow to watch the [hopefully, masses of] sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach. We plan on spending the night and coming back on Thursday since it’s a 4.5 hour drive. We will have 5 additional spots in the car if anyone wants to join. Please let us know ASAP in case we need to figure out shared accommodations! This natural event usually draws crowds so we need to move quickly.
Daniel: I could be interested! What's the schedule? At what time will you leave tomorrow? And at what time you'll be back on Thursday?
Sara: There’s no concrete plans yet, they just announced it so I just started planning right now. We are pretty flexible on timing but it does take 4.5 hrs to get there so we’d like to leave by late morning tomorrow at the latest.
Daniel: ok, well, if it's 100% sure there will be turtles, I'm in ;)
Alexander: Interested! 
Sara: Awesome! They announced about an hour ago that it has begun and that they expect it to be one of the last big ones of the season. They’ll give more details as time goes on so I’ll update here too!
Sara: Update: they expect it to last 4 nights with the peak being tomorrow. I’m trying to book a tour for the evening. The tours for tomorrow are at 5 am and after 4 pm depending on the activity of the turtles.
Becky: is this for laying eggs or watching the babies hatch and go into the water? I’d feel like I’d be invading their privacy if they’re trying to give birth with tons of people watching lol
George: Honestly if I was giving birth I want everyone to watch since it's a natural phenomenon:)
Sara: This is for laying eggs. I don’t think there will be any hatchlings until after we leave based on the last arribada and the usual incubation periods.
Ken: I'd be very interested if we can make it work with work day etc
Alexander: Didn’t Lara see hatchings?.. was that something else?
Sara: Yeah she did, but it seems it was the last of them from another “arribada”. Basically roughly once a month during nesting season, hundreds or thousands of sea turtles come to shore to make their nests and lay their eggs (called the arribada). It’s a natural phenomenon because somehow it’s inexplicably synchronized and they’re in a sort of trance over a 4-5 day period while they do this. Roughly 45-60 days later, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles run to shore. The last arribada was from Nov 2-7 which means they should hatch around the week of Dec 17.
Sara: Ken, considering the 4.5 hr drive the only way to have it work around the work day would be to drive at night, right? I can look into seeing if driving that road at night is feasible/safe
George: Hey looks like we have to leave during the working hours for both way since there are rivers that we have to cross.
Sara's organising a trip for Arribada and she has free spots in the car. The group is going to Ostional tomorrow to watch sea turtles lay eggs. It's 4.5 hours drive. Ken wants to go on work day so they need to drive at night to see the morning peak tomorrow.