Parks & Reserves

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Cocos Island National Park
Places To See - Parks, Reserves and Protected Areas

Location: In the Pacific, 532 km (331 mi.) southwest of Cabo Blanco Absolute Reserve extending south-westerly almost into the Galápagos Archipelago
  
Size: 5,706 acres, 97,235 Maritime Ha (240,171 acres)

Max Elevation: 2,080 ft. - the highest peak on the island at Cerro Iglesias

Date of Creation: June 1978

Part of:  Cocos Island Marine Area

 

About:

You remember Coco Island. You remember flying in over the gigantic surf that crashes against cliffs as jagged and forbidding as broken glass. You remember the rain forest and the rolling green hills where herds of raptors play, forever on the lookout for the dreaded tyrannosaurus rex.

We're talking about the movie "Jurassic Park" which was filmed on Coco Island, home to the world's largest collection of fantasy dinosaurs.

 Cocos Island is also:

A. The largest uninhabited island in the world.
B. The only island in the Pacific that receives enough rain to support a rain forest.
C. Arguably, the most beautiful place on earth.

 

History: 

The island was discovered in 1526 by Spanish explorer Joan Cabezas. It quickly became a favorite refuge for pirates who, for three hundred years, terrorized honest merchant traders sailing the coasts of Spanish America. Costa Rica finally took possession of the Island in 1869.

As everyone knows, pirates never invested any of their ill-gotten gain. Instead, they took great satisfaction in digging a hole and filling it with stolen gold and diamonds and other priceless stuff.

Coco Island, legend has it, is weighted to point of capsizing with the buried booty of such pirate kings William Davis (1684) and Benito "Espada Sangrienta" Bonito (1819). An X even marks the spot of the fabulous "El Tesoro de Lima" treasure, tons of gold and silver bullion and gold plate that once covered the dome of an ancient Spanish church.

The promise of easy riches has lured more than five hundred expeditions to the Coco Island, including one "official" treasure hunt mounted by the Costa Rican government. Searchers have scoured every nook and cranny of the place, but to this day Coco Island has yielded up not a doubloon, not a diamond studded tiara, not a nickel-plated pocket watch.


However, the real treasure of Coco Island is not measured in chests of booty, rotting under a tree somewhere. The real wealth of this place is the beauty that nature has bestowed upon it. Evergreen forests blanket the island, often buried under masses clouds which ride on the Islands mountain peaks (some more than 600 meters (2,000 feet) high. The terrain is irregular, forming many waterfalls. The sea is turquoise and amazingly transparent. The cliffs belting the Island to nearly two hundred meters (600 feet), their bases punctured by dozens of underwater caves.

Coco Island is not a popular tourist destination. The rough three-hundred-miles-plus boat trip out to the island takes too much out of one's schedule, pocketbook and land-lubber stomach. Most of visitors to the island are divers serious enough about the sport to venture to the Island, usually on 10-day scuba safaris.

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Weather:

Annual Rainfall: 7,052 mm (250 in.)
Heavy rains fall throughout much of the year with a short, somewhat dry season from January to March.

 

Activities:

Camping is not permitted on the island. 

Hiking: There are some 200 waterfalls one can hike to on unmarked trails.

Snorkeling and scuba diving: warm (80 to 85°F) clear waters and lots of structure and wildlife below the water’s surface.

 

Facilities:

There are two houses on the island for the park’s staff. One is located in Bahía Chatham in the north and the other in Bahía Wafer on the western coast.

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Flora & Fauna:

Flora: Island flora is too abundant to describe. Some 235 species of plants can be found here, of which 70 are endemic. Some of the more common varieties: eupey, the endemic euterpe macrospadix palm, huriki, monkey tail, cazuela fungus, ferns, bromeliads and selaginellas.

Fauna: More than 360 species of insects have been identified (64 endemic); there are two endemic reptiles (a lizard and salamander); 85 species of birds (3 endemic: the Coco Island finch, Coco Island flycatcher and Coco Island cuckoo). There are also 57 crustaceans, 118 shellfish, 200 fish and 18 coral species, including rare cup coral.

There are sharks, notably the hammerhead, which can reach 4 meters (13 feet), most of which is appetite. Whale sharks and the white-tipped sharks share the habitat, along with parrotfish, tuna and manta rays.

Beaches:

The island is surrounded by rocky, forest lined beaches.  Coral reefs surround the island. 

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Fees and Schedule:

Entrance Fee: $15

Getting There:

The island is accessible by boat from Puntarenas.  It is a 36-hour journey to the island.

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Nearby Parks:

Corcovado National Park

Caño Island Biological Reserve

Contact info: 

By satellite phone on the island:

0087-468712-0010 or

ACMIC:  Cocos Island Marine Conservation Area


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