Las Baulas Marine National Park

Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park
Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
	Playa Grande at Las Baulas park entrance
	Las Baulas Marine National Park area.
Location	Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica
Nearest city	Tamarindo
Coordinates	10°19′05″N 85°51′54″W
Area	7.7 square kilometres (3.0 sq mi) terrestrial; 167.3 square kilometres (64.6 sq mi) marine
Established	9 July 1991
Governing body	National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC)
	Marino Las Baulas National Park
Location in Costa Rica
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Tamarindo
Designated	9 June 1993
Reference no.	610

Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste) is a National Park of Costa Rica and a Ramsar Site. The park is managed by the Tempisque Conservation Area, and covers approximately a 167.3 square kilometres (64.6 sq mi) marine area of the Tamarindo Bay, next to the town of Tamarindo. It supports the largest nesting colony of leatherback sea turtles on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Female leatherbacks often come ashore at Playa Grande (Grande Beach) between October and May to lay their eggs.

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More than half the park is underwater and protected but still allows recreation, such as surfing. The park has white-sand beaches and forests. The forests are home to approximately 174 species of birds and many other animals. The National Park covers four beaches (Carbón, Ventanas, Grande and Langosta), as well as the Tamarindo estuary and mangroves at the mouth of the Matapalo River and the San Francisco River Estuary. To the north, the Cerros Morro and Hermosa are also included.^[3]

The Tamarindo estuary Ramsar site which was previously designated as the Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge (Spanish: Refugio de Vida Silvestre Tamarindo) is now located in this national park. ^[2]