GC4TT9V Sea Turtle Hatchery
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: WellJointed @ | Hide Date: 29/11/2013 | Status: Available
Country: Mexico | State: Jalisco
Coordinates: N20° 38.596 W105° 14.450 | Last updated: 10/06/2026 | Fav points: 0
         

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Una tortuga marina corral de incubación
(A Sea Turtle Incubation Area.)
If it turns up missing feel free to replace it. Now a bison or 2-liter preform on a steel rod, but a film can, preform or pill bottle with 4 rocks around and over it behind an agave bush would be good. I usually travel with a few extras although there should be an extra in the lock-n-lock in the office. Attached with zip-tie which should have end trimmed. Thanks!

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En inglés y español (español abajo)
In English and Spanish (Spanish below)

In English:

The geocache is outside the hatchery fence on restaurant property. Not now, but was once a micro behind an agave plant (looks similar to an aloe vera plant) outside the hatchery fence. Most recently it was a bison or 2-liter preform hanging on a chain of zip-ties from a rebar near palm trees.

I also left a medium large lock and lock inside with management for trackables if you want a safe place to leave or trade any. However, you have to ask for that one but they have always been happy to oblige. (We eat there 1-2 times each trip, breakfast and/or dinner. My wife loves the Oasis Shrimp and, yes, you can drink the water) Ask the manager for the geocaching 'box' ( or tesoro, which means treasure). I think as of January 2016 you may be able to ask for the geocache but it probably helps to pantomime with your hands a 5" x 8" box. The larger box is decorated with the theme of the geocache, large enough for trackables and has its own log book.

If you are coming by taxi, you might ask for the beach by the Rio Pitillal (pronounce it PeeTeeYall ) near the Grand Venetian and Holiday Inn and that should put you within 200' of the cache. (Holiday Inn resort now the Sunscape as of 2016?). It's 2 minutes by taxi from the cruise ships or 15 minute walk.

Six out of seven of the world's species of sea turtles nest along Mexico's thousands of miles of coastline including Green Turtle, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Kemp's Ridley and one of the largest reptiles on earth, the Leatherback.

Mexico banned turtle hunting in 1990 and has developed one of the most advanced sea turtle protection programs. Puerto Vallarta, one of the most popular Mexican beach resorts for foreign tourists, has been supporting local sea turtle protection programs since 1981. The programs enjoy both government and private sector support and in Puerto Vallarta several hotels actively support it with their own releases.

The action begins in July and runs to December. Beginning in July, female turtles gather in the coastal waters and come ashore at night to nest, sometimes simultaneously in mass nesting events known as arribadas. The turtle eggs hatch in 45 to 70 days and the baby turtles enter the water. Through a mysterious process called imprinting, they return to the exact spot where they first entered the water.

This geocache takes you to a municipal sea turtle hatchery. The cache itself is close to the trail to the beach and is placed in the corner of the restaurant grounds with the knowledge and permission of the restaurant's manager, head waiter and owner. Some but not all of the waiters are aware of the cache. The head waiter is fluent but most of the wait staff speak enough English to wait on their customers, although not enough to understand you if you try to explain geocaching.

I hope you enjoy this geocache and it takes you to a place you would not otherwise have seen in this beautiful area.

In Spanish:
En español:

El geocaché está fuera de la valla del criadero en la propiedad del restaurante. Ahora no, pero una vez estuvo un micro detrás de una planta de agave (se parece a una planta de aloe vera) fuera de la cerca del criadero. Más recientemente, fue un bisonte o una preforma de 2 litros que colgaba de una cadena de bridas plásticas de una barra de refuerzo cerca de las palmeras.

También dejé un "lock-n-lock" de tamaño regular dentro del restaurante. Es para rastreables si desea un lugar seguro para dejar o hacer cualquier intercambio. Tienes que preguntar si quieres la caja. Es posible que los nuevos camareros no lo sepan.

Una tortuga marina corral de incubación. Seis de siete de las especies del mundo de las tortugas marinas anidan a lo largo de miles de kilómetros de costa, incluyendo la tortuga verde, tortuga golfina, carey, caguama, lora y uno de los mayores reptiles de la tierra, la tortuga baula de México.

México prohibió la caza de tortugas en 1990 y ha desarrollado uno de los programas más avanzados de protección de tortugas marinas. Puerto Vallarta, uno de los centros turísticos de playa mexicanos más populares para los turistas extranjeros, ha estado apoyando los programas de protección de tortugas marinas locales desde 1981 Los programas de disfrutar tanto de gobierno y el apoyo del sector privado y en Puerto Vallarta varios hoteles apoyen activamente con sus propias versiones.

La acción comienza en julio y se extiende hasta diciembre. A partir de julio, tortugas hembras se reúnen en las aguas costeras y vienen a tierra para anidar, a veces simultáneamente en los eventos de anidación masiva conocido como arribadas. Los huevos de las tortugas eclosionan en 45 a 70 días y las crías entran al agua. A través de un proceso misterioso llamado imprinting, regresan al lugar exacto donde primero entraron en el agua.

Este geocache te lleva a una incubadora municipal de tortugas marinas. El caché en sí está cerca del camino a la playa y se coloca en la esquina de los jardines del restaurante con el conocimiento y permiso del director, jefe de camareros del restaurante y el propietario. Algunos, pero no todos los camareros son conscientes de la caché. El jefe de camareros es fluido, pero la mayoría de los camareros hablan Inglés suficiente para esperar a sus clientes, aunque no lo suficiente como para entender que si se intenta explicar el geocaching.

Espero que disfruten de este geocaché y que te lleva a un lugar que no te ha visto de otro modo en esta hermosa zona.

Additional Waypoints

PK4TT9V - Sea Turtle Trailhead and Parking
N 20° 38.739 W 105° 14.286
Parking and trailhead to/from beach. Best bus stop is south of TH.

21/04/2014 By Kabutroid
Marking this as needs maintenance, in case the cache owner wants to replace it.

See previous log. A techno/EDM music event has wiped the cache in its current form from existence .

13/04/2014 By Kabutroid
Well... I've got good news, and bad news. The good news is that the travelbug that was inside of this cache is sitting in front of me right now. The bad news is that the cache is now gone. Details to follow.

My wife, sister, brother, and all associated significant others booked a stay at the Friendly resort just a stone's throw south of here. I wanted to get some geocache hunting done pretty much right off the hop, just in case I got too lazy after a few days of relaxing on the beach. So off our troupe went, a hunting for a geocache. Most of the crew at the bare minimum used to be geocachers, but aren't active with it any more, but were all up for the adventure. A little bit of hiking over incredibly hot sand (when it wasn't possible to walk by the water's edge), and we soon found ourselves near ground zero. It was a little bit close to the restaurant (which we later visited, and during which we discovered the cache missing), but it was quiet enough at the time to saunter over and have a look-see for anything we could find.

It didn't take long! After a few moments, GirlWithNoName happened across the hiding spot, and soon had the cache container in hand! We quickly found a travelbug hiding inside, and picked it up to drag it back to Manitoba, Canada with us... see if we couldn't put a few kilometers on it. The cache found, we quickly closed it back up again and hid it as found. The mission accomplished, we headed back towards our resort to spend the remainder of the week basking in the sun and absorbing our body weight in all-expense-paid alcohol . Also, quite possibly my body weight in suntan lotion... thank god for the high SPF availability up here.

However, I quickly realized that a travelbug that I meant to drop in Mexico, Berlin - Cacherhauptstadt Geocoin, was distinctly NOT inside the geocache container, and this needed to be remedied before we headed back to Canada. Thus, on April 17th, we decided that it was a good day to check out that restaurant right beside the cache, and at the same time make the drop. Alas, on return to the location... see attached pic. It seems that a large stage had been erected immediately beside ground zero, and the chairs and tables for said stage immediately on the OTHER side of ground zero. A quick search confirmed that the geocache container was missing... strangely, the place it was hiding was not. Sad at the loss of a geocache, but glad that we didn't lose the travelbug that I didn't drop during the first visit, we ate while listening to the EDM music thumping out some sweet bass.

Upon leaving said restaurant, I did another quick glance to see if maybe someone else had picked up the cache and perhaps put it back by now, but found that not only was the cache still missing, but the place it was hiding was missing as well. It looks like the event coordinator had cleaned up absolutely everything about it, and not a trace was left .

Thus... I'm sad to say that although this was my only cache on this visit to Mexico, it looks like I'm the last one to find it before its untimely demise. I can only fathom where the container is at this point, but I imagine it was at the bottom of one of the many new garbage bins that had been placed around the event. So... sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this one's gonna have to be replaced .

Took: Whistleblower travelbug
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball... wherever those now reside.