Magnificent Cocos Island : A Costa Rica Underwater Scuba Diving Adventure

By Author: Victor Krumm
Total Articles: 17
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Cocos Island is a national park of Costa Rica nearly halfway to the Galapagos Islands from Costa Rica's Pacific coast. It {remains one of the world's natural gems though most people who travel Costa Rica have never heard of it and will never get to see it.The world famous underwater explorer Jacque Yves Cousteau described it as the most beautiful island in the world, Costa Ricans voted it one of their country's Seven Wonders, and it is {being considered for one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The island is some 340 miles off the Pacific shore of Costa Rica. Though it is a very small island, only about nine square miles, its fame today comes from its undersea treasure.Without question it is one of the truly great places for scuba diving, considered by many divers to be the best place in the world for large marine animal viewing. The island sometimes has so many sharks around it that it has also been called Shark Island. There are an incredible variety of kinds of tuna, rays, sharks and other fish, as well as sea turtles, porpoises, and whales in the waters surrounding Cocos. Hammerhead sharks are common and some ...
... of the largest Hammerheads ever encountered have been seen off this island. Cocos Island has long been famous for pirates, real and imagined. It is believed by some that it served as inspiration for Robert Lewis Stevenson's famous {novel Treasure Island but real pirates often {{hid off it to get away from the English fleet , to bury treasure, and to rest up for their next adventure.In fact to this day two great treasures, called the Lima Treasure and Devonshire Treasure, may still be buried there. How much plunder may still be buried on the island? Think hundreds of millions of dollars. This remote, shrouded in mystery island also ignited the imagination of novelist Michael Crichton whose world famous Jurassic Park is set off the coast of Costa Rica. Except for a handful of Costa Rica park rangers whose job it is to protect its waters from illegal fishing, the island is uninhabited. Its isolation has protected its rain forest from depredation and until recently its spectacular underwater splendor was protected from foreign fishing fleets. Because of its remoteness and complete lack of tourist facilities, Cocos Island is not a heavily visited Costa Rica vacation spot. The only way of getting to the island is by boat. Several operators offer Costa Rica scuba diving tours to Cocos Island but plan for at least 30 hours on open water. And be sure to bring Dramamine!If you are lucky enough to visit Cocos, you will only be allowed onshore with prior permission of the rangers and no one is allowed to stay overnight except on their boats. But, if you can go ashore be sure to walk its coast because there are boulders and rocks bearing inscriptions from sailors over the centuries. A hundreds years or more before " Kilroy was here", seafarers inscribed their names and dates of visits on Cocos Island rocks. You may even find a sea boulder bearing the name of Jacque Cousteau's son, who signed it a couple of decades ago.And, should you have the good fortune to sail to incomparable Cocos Island, remember what Captain Cousteau said: "A lot of people attack the sea, I make love to it. "
Victor Krumm lives in lovely Costa Rica. Visit his beautiful website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes about lovely Costa Rica. Visit his beautiful website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes from lovely Costa Rica. Visit his beautiful website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes about lovely Costa Rica. Visit his beautiful website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm lives in lovely Costa Rica. Visit his informative website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes about lovely Costa Rica. Visit his informative website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes from lovely Costa Rica. Visit his informative website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.

Victor Krumm writes about lovely Costa Rica. Visit his informative website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the great Costa Rica Beaches you will want to enjoy.