Journey to the depths

-Sport Scuba Diving: Those who know how to scan the sea depths say that Cocos Island is not only the best place for scuba diving in Costa Rica, but also one of the best in the world, for you can see mantle rays, dolphins, and banks of hammer sharks (usually conformed by 30 to 40 individuals), just to cite a few species.

There are three bays ideal for the practice of snorkelling and scuba diving at Cocos Island: Chatman Harbour and Iglesias and Wafer Bays. Other places suitable are the surrounding Isles of Pájara, Manuelita and Dirty Rock's.

A certain experience is required to scuba dive at this fantastic Island, due to the abrupt topography of its sea bottom and to the conjunction of cold and tropical waters, which create incredibly variable currents that in occasions generate sudden visibility changes, reducing it dramatically from a 50-metre clarity to a few-metre visibility in a sec.

These weird and sudden changes are the reason why the banks of fishes are attracted to this area, allowing divers to get close to the incredible and most varied fauna inhabiting Costa Rica's Pacific waters.

Those submerging in yawning depths will have the chance of watching hammer sharks and white fins. With a little luck divers can spot some specimens of silky sharks, and if their luck is even greater, they can meet a whale shark, the largest shark in the ocean.

When diving in shallow waters divers will share the sea with gigantic mantle rays, fish of the carangid family and very many sea turtles.

On the other side, the notorious influence of the cold oceanic currents surrounding Cocos Island hinders the abundance of coral species. Another factor impeding their development is the presence of starfishes, which damage the coral reefs.

Corals at Wafer Bay and Manuelita Isle are currently being recuperated, and nowadays you can see red-lipped batfishes, amongst other species, swimming in their surrounding waters.

-Manuelita Isle: The waters bordering this Isle are perfect for nocturnal diving at depths fluctuating between 10 and 15 metres. It is not unusual to watch white tip sharks, called like this due to two spots of that colour they have on their bodies: one on the tip of their dorsal fin and the other on the upper lobule. It is common to watch trumpet fishes (in their diverse chromatic periods), soldiers and crossbows, yellow-tailed type of salmons, besides Carey, green and boba loggerhead sea turtles, (Caretta caretta), turtles offshore this Isle.

Likewise, Pacific lobsters are abundant here but its extraction is forbidden since 1978, when the Isle was declared National Park.

-Pájara Isle: A series of factors hinder the possibility of diving in its waters, but neither the currents, nor the surf or the shallowness, can impede the constant appearance of the hammer sharks. Fast, vigorous and frightening, the powerful sharks cut the Pacific waters before the dazzled eyes of those travellers who manage to outline their silhouette, their flattened head, their grey back, the symmetry of their caudal fin, and even the cold predator eyes in search of a kill, in this case stingrays.

Hammer sharks come to the vicinity of minute Pájara Isle preceded by "cleansing fishes"; hence, all that is left to do is to grab your camera and start shooting.

Pájara Isle is nearby Cocos Island.

-Dirty Rock's Isle: It does not look that attractive, just a piece of land nearby Cocos Island's coasts, although its waters bear the world record for the largest concentration of hammer sharks, where you can watch groups of 200 up to 3 thousand individuals.

You can also watch huge mantle rays, goatfishes and soldiers while diving in its waters, though you can rarely see a whale shark in here.

Hikes and something else

Adventure in Cocos Island is not limited to submarine voyages; you can also test your physical endurance on interesting trekking routes, where the simple act of walking becomes an exploring journey along trails prodigal on flora and fauna species.

There are circuits of intermediate and low scale of difficulty at Chatman Harbour and Wafer Bay, and a tough route to ascend Iglesias Hill, the highest point on the Island. Other ideal zones to be reached by foot are the Genio River, the Iglesias Falls and the diverse vantage points and caves in Cocos Island.

Other adventure alternatives are sea kayaking and riding around the Island on boats.