cocos island

About Cocos Island

Located in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, 300 miles southwest of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, lies the renowned Cocos Island Marine Park. A rugged yet incredibly verdant island, this World Heritage Site is the spectacularly beautiful crown jewel of Costa Rica’s many National Parks. In 1994, after several return visits to the island, Jacques Cousteau pronounced Cocos, “The most beautiful island in the world.”

Thanks to the breathtaking marine life in its waters, Cocos Island was named one of the ten best scuba diving spots in the world by PADI and a “must do” according to diving experts. Among Cocos Island’s many attributes is a startling degree of biodiversity. This island’s world-renowned waters explode with life including innumerable white tip reef sharks, schooling hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, marbled rays, eagle rays, and even the occasional whale shark and tiger shark. 

Cocos Island is also home to at least 27 endemic fish species including the exotic rosy-lipped batfish. The terrestrial life at Cocos also exhibits a high number of endemic species. The island is home to 70 of the 235 identified vascular plant species in the world, some 25 species of moss, 27 species of liverwort and 85 species of fungus. There are upwards of 87 bird species, including the famous Cocos Island cuckoo, finch and flycatcher. There are 362 species of insects, of which 64 are endemic. Two native reptiles are found only on the Island.

Tap into the thumbnails below to watch snapshots of the trip on our Instagram reels: