After a three-hour bus ride and 30-minute boat trip along parts of the Rio Madre de Dios, Mercer students landed at the dock of Estacion Las Tortugas. 

The remote station in the Limon Province of Costa Rica is sandwiched between the river and the Caribbean Ocean and is where visitors come for a chance to see leatherback, green ridley and hawksbill sea turtles who have long used these beaches to nest and lay their eggs.

The Mercer On Mission plan had been for a week of hands-on learning around sea turtle habitats and protection, but the students and faculty traveling to Costa Rica saw a more immediate need.

The facility is composed of basic living quarters — bunk beds with limited electricity. But openings in the walls and roof allowed access for things like bats, spiders and crabs and the staff’s focus on turtle nesting left little time for routine maintenance and cleaning. 

“Upon arrival, we quickly realized the station was in need of a large-scale repair,” said Dr. Anastasia Kerr-German, an assistant professor of psychology. “It was not our original plan, but we rallied, and the professors and students divided based on our skills and wanted to sort of leave the station better than we found it.”

Students spent their first full day at the station making repairs, cleaning bedding and treating some of the local animals for mange and scabies.

Ainsley Rash, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience, cleaned the sleeping quarters, including scrubbing mold and dirt off the mattresses and pillows.

“The rooms that we were staying in, they were all very much improved, as well as I think that just everything …it felt cleaner after we went through when we were leaving,” she said. “I think that we definitely had a positive impact there.”

Christopher Field, a junior majoring in neuroscience, helped with repairing doorframes and patching gaps in the windows which had allowed animals to enter.

“There were a lot of, like, little things that needed fixed that they didn’t have the time or the people to fix, so like us, in like a morning and like an afternoon, were able to knock out a bunch of those little things,” he said. “I think it just overall made Las Tortugas like a better environment.”

Las Tortugas is one of many conservation stations along the Caribbean side of the county. During the Mercer visit, there were leatherback turtles nesting eggs and the release of some hatchlings.

The remote location of the conservation projects means housing and construction materials have to be carried in by boat. The students sourced materials already at the station to make the improvements. 

“We are Mercerians, right? And this is what we do when we’re on Mercer On Mission,” Kerr-German said. “We’re really proud of being able to be a part of leaving that place better than when we arrived.”

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