Coco Costa Rica

Due to the popularity of Cocos island as one of the Best Scuba Diving Destination in the World, it has been searched on the web using different names. For our Spanish speaking friends, it is called Isla del Coco which is the Spanish word for Cocos island. Some are quite detailed where they type the whole word Cocos Island Costa Rica Diving on the search bar while some would like to use short names like Coco Costa Rica. Nonetheless, regardless of what keyword or name you use, all search results will end up pointing to an offshore island located at the west end of Costa Rica.

Liveaboard: It’s the only way to Cocos Island

Located 550 kilometers (340 miles) from mainland Costa Rica, Cocos island is one of natures extraordinary beauty standing proudly in the Pacific Ocean. However, going to the island for a vacation is not as easy as ABC or 123. Remember, Cocos island has a mountainous terrain and a runway for planes is always out of the question.

Sea travel is the only way. With this, you need to sign-up with a tour company who offers liveaboard cruise to Cocos island. Despite the fact that the week-long liveaboard trips to Cocos island is expensive, people (divers in particular) are still rushing to fall in line and get a reservation. With this, you need to sign-up several months before your arrival in Costa Rica as most liveaboard trips are often fully booked and the chances of making a booking within a few weeks notice is slim, if not, impossible. Once onboard, you can say that you are getting your money’s worth as you will experience comfortable and luxury living while at sea, as if you are checking in with a 5-star hotel.

For more information, you can read our related article about the Undersea Hunter Group which is the prime company for liveaboard trips to Cocos island.

An Offshore Paradise for Divers

At the start of your first dive and while you are slowly descending down to the depths of Cocos island, you will realize and know the real reason why people are busy searching the web for this offshore Costa Rican Island. If all comes in place, it would be less than a minute or two where the big boys of the deep will come and greet your presence. Yes, we are talking about sharks, different kinds of sharks and usually in huge quantity.

School of hammerhead sharks is the main attraction when you go diving in Cocos island. You can either observe them in a distance while they are patrolling the open water ecosystem or have a close interaction at a cleaning station where hammerhead sharks come close to the reef on a relax mode while being cleaned of skin parasites by cleaner fish. As part of your dive plan, you will usually visit the adjacent open water just outside the reef where other sharks species are thriving like  thresher sharks, silky sharks, blacktip sharks, silvertip sharks, Galapagos sharks.

If you are diving in the right condition and it is your lucky day, then you can expect to interact with the passing by of whalesharks which is the biggest fish in the world or the highly feared tiger shark. Another famous dive in Cocos island can be found in Manuelita where you can go night diving with hundreds of whitetip reef sharks in a reef just near to the northern shore. Diving in Cocos island is not just about sharks and other large pelagic fish. One thing that divers love is the underwater terrain of Cocos island where you have the option to explore deep seamounts, vertical ledges and unique rock formation such as the one in Dos Amigos or the shallow reefs of Silverado where an interaction of silvertip sharks is guaranteed.

Don’t be Confused: Cocos Island of Costa Rica and another in Australia

If you type the word “Cocos island” on the web’s search bar, 2 places comes out on top of the list. With this, you should be aware that there is another Cocos island located in the Indian Ocean which is under the jurisdiction of the Australian Government. This Aussie island that we are talking about is officially known as Cocos Keeling Island.

Although the Cocos Island of Australia shares the same offshore location, it is totally different when it comes to weather, topography and the richness of marine resources. Just to let you know, Cocos Keeling Island is composed of several islets, an atoll, a small human settlement of about 600 local residents and has a tropical hot climate. In other words, it is almost the complete opposite of the Cocos island that you want to visit and explore while you are in Costa Rica.

At the end of the day, speed in searching the web without entering the right keyword may sometimes have its own consequences. Just like what happened to a Dutch teen where he book a flight on the web going to Sydney. The booking process was fast and later did he know, while time had passed by, he’s now sitting on the plane on what was supposedly the start of his Aussie vacation. When the plane touched down, the Dutch teen was really surprise to see that the airport was not the usual busy Aussie airports and the airport terminal was relatively quite while the outer surroundings where totally different which totally contradicts his expectation. To cut the story short, he was supposed to go on a vacation in Sydney, Australia but ended up in the wrong Sydney that is located in the Canadian temperate province of Nova Scotia. Anyways, the boy was taken cared by airport officials and was able to safely get back to his hometown in Amsterdam.

The story above can be a good learning experience where you need to put more time in using the right keyword in searching the web. If your expectation for Cocos island in Costa Rica includes a pristine ecosystem, mountainous rainforest filled with waterfalls and no human settlement on the island (as depicted and featured in several blockbuster movies), then we suggest you put the right keyword in the search bar. Otherwise, the possibility of arriving in an offshore Australian island located in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka, can become a possibility.

Finally, to make sure that you are going on the right track and choose the correct Cocos island for your ultimate diving vacation and experience interacting with big pelagic fish, you can read our related article about Cocos Island Costa Rica and build up your expectation for a great vacation ahead of you.

Reference:

The Star News: www.thestar.com

Wikipedia – Territory of the Cocos Keeling Island, Australia: www.wikipedia.org

Undersea Hunter Group: www.underseahunter.com