• Get in
• Fees/Permits
• Get around
• See
• Do
• Buy
• Eat
• Drink
• Sleep
• Stay safe
• Get out

View of a cove, Cocos Island

Cocos Island is in Costa Rica.

[edit] Understand

Cocos Island is located in the Eastern Tropical Pacific approximately 300 miles southwest of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica. A rugged and incredibly beautiful island, today Cocos Island is the most sacred National park in Costa Rica's extensive park system.

Among Cocos Island's many attributes is a startling degree of biodiversity. This island's world-renowned waters explode with life, including innumerable white tip reef sharks, schooling hammerhead sharks, dolphins, mantas and marbled rays, giant moray eels, sailfish, and of course the occasional whale shark. Other common encounters are large schools of jacks and tuna, silky sharks, silver tip sharks, marlin, Creole fish, green turtles and octopus. On the Island you will encounter a lot of pigs and not much else besides the usual vegetation.

[edit] History

The island is supposed to hold three of the largest treasure troves of all time. From pirates to the entire horde of Lima which was hidden there from Simon Bolivar and his troops in 1821.

[edit] Landscape

Cocos Island is a very hilly, dense tropical jungle with over 200 waterfalls and averages over 400 inches of rain a year. It has three bays and is 24 square kilometers of land.

[edit] Flora and fauna

[edit] Climate

Is hot and very humid. It rains just about everyday between March and December for a couple of hours.

[edit] Get in

As tourists are allowed ashore only with permission of island rangers, there are very limited ways to be able to step foot on the island but one of the best ways to experience this natural beauty is through a dive trip. There are two fully equipped dive boats that do week and a half trips out to the Island and back, they are the Okeanos Aggressor and Undersea Hunter.

[edit] Fees/Permits

In order to set foot on the island with the intent of treasure hunting requires a permit from the Costa Rican Government. This is because of the large numbers of treasure expeditions that have been seen come through the island over the last 50 years. Over 400 large scale expeditions have been assembled along with tens of thousands of smaller and independent searches.

[edit] Get around

Getting around the island is a little tricky. The main types of transportation are by foot or bike usually used for hikes and sight-seeing tours. The few locals who live here mainly use foot, or bike, or small motor bikes and dirt bikes.

[edit] See

Since this is an island you will see a lot of ocean, but if you ever get the chance to step foot on the island and are somewhat physically fit, hike to the top of the island with a guide. It a magnificent view. Also catching a rare view of one of Guam's last birds, which unfortunetly have become rare due to the accidental importation of brown tree snakes.

[edit] Do

The main attraction for Coco island is its unbelievable scuba-diving with its schooling hammerhead sharks. On the island hiking and biking to the top of the island for the spectacular view is an almost must. Other main activities include snorkeling, island hopping, and fishing the waters surrounding the island. Many people go to Cocos just to relax on the beach and enjor the scenery.

[edit] Buy

The main island only has a few shops, all of which open and close as they please. Most can only accept cash and possibly checks but not credit cards except for the west island. The few shops that are present on the island are souvenir shops, tackle and bait shops, and the diving equipment and rental shops. Cocos island is also an extremely popular but extremely hard to book wedding destination.

[edit] Eat

Cocos only has two restaurants on the island The Tropika on the west island and Bunga Molati on Home island. The "treasure island" has no restaurants on it. Dory's of Cocos is the only constant coffee-shop but they also offer home-made milkshakes, muffins, cakes, sausage rolls, and sandwiches. The Tropika which is located in the beach motel complex on the west island serves three meals a day. There is even a chalkboard on the front door for those wishing for a catered evening meal to write their name and the number of their party. Bunga Molati is an authentic Malay cuisine restaurant which offers noodles, beef lamb and seafood dishes, rice, curry and chili, and chicken.

[edit] Drink

There are no bars on the island so once again all drinking will be done on the west island at the resort for tourists or a local bar if familar with the area.

[edit] Sleep

Tourists and are not permitted to camp or sleep on the island. There are no hotels on the main island therefore tourists must stay on the west island in the resort. Others sleep on boats or just head out to the island from Costa Rico for a day-trip.

[edit] Stay safe

Cocos island is a completely safe place with the only threats really being the attractions in the water. By that I mean the sharks, eels, and other creatures that might be seen while diving, snorkeling, boating, or fishing.

[edit] Get out