Isla Del Coco

Cocos Island is a small island of 24km2 located in the Pacific Ocean, 550 km south-east of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and since 1978 a National Park above and below the water.

Cocos is mountainous and covered by a dense moist tropical forest. Annual rainfall amounts to over 7000mm. Numerous oceanic currents from the central Pacific Ocean converge on the island and have an important influence on the marine life. 

Ever since this remote island had been discovered in the 16th century, pirates appear to have made Cocos their temporary home. There are many claims of treasures hidden there. Many pirates, it is said, have buried their loot on Cocos. Countless expeditions to find gold and other treasures have been initiated but failed to find anything.

The only people allowed to live on the island are park rangers. All diving is from ships. The voyage from the Costa Rican town of Puntarenas is 30-36 hours over the open ocean.

The Diving

Sharks, sharks, sharks! You will see thousands of sharks during a trip. Schools of Hammerheads numbering in the hundreds, Tiger sharks, Galapagos sharks, Silky sharks, the occasional Whale shark, hunting Whitetips and others. Other common encounters are various kinds of rays, large schools of jacks, tunas and sometimes dolphins.

A Big Threat

Go there before the last shark’s fins have ended up in a soup bowl in Asia. The shark population around the world is under threat. When caught, the fishermen cut of the animal’s fins and throw it back into the water alive where it dies a miserable death. Many sharks are now on the CITES list of endangered species. Even in the remote area around Cocos, shark fishing is massive. Park rangers have collected over 5’000 kilometers !! of illegal fishing lines with GPS trackers in the small protected waters around the island over a period of only six years.