Cocos Island National Park

Due to its palm trees and plentiful of drinking water, Cocos Island, became very well known during the 17th and 18th centuries, it served as a hide-way for the pirates and corsairs who flourished along the Pacific coast of the Spanish America..

The island is located 500kms off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Cocos Island became famous , as legend has it that three famous treasures were hidden here by three famous pirates - William Davis, William Thompson and Benito Bonito( known as Benito- Bloody Sword- Bonito). This between the years 1684 and 1821. The treasure hidden by Thompson - The Lima Booty- was the most valuable of the three. It consited of tons of gold and silver bars, sheets of gold leaf the covered the domes of Lima churches, church ornaments and life-sized statues of the Virgin Mary in solid gold. Cocos is considered to have been the hidding place for more pirate treasures than anywhere else in the world. To date, none of these treasures have been found.

But, the real treasure is the island itself, the unique flora and fauna have attracted numerous l scientists and naturalists from all over the world. Identification has been made of 97 species of birds, 2 endemic species of reptailes, 57 of crustaceous, and over 500 of sea mollusks. It is considered that there are over 800 species of insects and arthropods., 300 species of saltwater fish, and only 5 species of freshwater fish.

The coral reefs are composed of 18 species, all with an Indo-Pacific affinity.

The predominant species of vegetation include cupey palm, the huriki which is a large endemic tree with spreading crown. There are approximately 127 species of spermatophytes.

The island receives a very large amount of rainfall-7.000mm a year. The forest mass is very thick, very moist evergreen. The terrain is very rugged, which led to the formation of many waterfalls, some plunge directly into the sea with a spectacular view.

The jagged coast is lined with cliffs that tower 183 meters high and are riddled with underwater caves; the amazingly transparent turquoise-blue waters teem with the marine life. Sharks are very numerous everywhere, especially the gigantic hammerheads and white-tipped sharks.

Cocos Island is located at the center of the volcanic Cocos Ridge, which runs from the Galapagos Islands to the Middle American Trench southeat of Costa Rica. It is the only outcrops of this submarine volcanic chain and rises 3.000 meters from the bottom of the ocean to the summit.

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