DIVE COCOS ISLAND DIVE TRAVEL GUIDECocos Island - Cyber Diver Top 10 Dive Destination >>  f you're into close encounters with sharks of the unfed kind, there is no better dive destination on the face of the planet than Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Do not confuse this expedition quality diving with predictable theme park dives where tourists line up to feed sharks and then skip off to the disco for banana daiquiris and the Spice Girls. This is the real no-nonsense thing, the ultimate in high-voltage, top-of-the-food-chain big predator action by which all other shark diving destinations are measured.
Situated some 600 kilometers (375 miles) off the west coast of Costa Rica, the expedition begins with a rough 36-hour trip out to Cocos Island and its seamounts. By comparison, you can fly down to the Caribbean, log a few shark feeding dives, drop a few bucks at the casino, stock up on duty-free trinkets and be back home before Cocos divers have even reached their destination. The day and a half trip to Cocos and its status as a United Nations World Heritage Site ensure that this destination will remain undisturbed by the overdevelopment and mass tourism claptrap that ruin so many dive resort developments. There will be never be airports, duty-free shopping complexes, beach-front resorts and cruise ships here. Cocos Island is not for everyone and unlike dive resorts, it doesn't want to be. The conditions are demanding. Powerful currents, limited visibility and thermoclines challenge even the most experienced and adventuresome divers. This is no place for beginners, nor warm-water resort divers twirling cute little umbrellas around in their tropical drinks. All of the dive sites are excellent and depending on the season, you may see mantas, whalesharks, whitetips and schooling hammerheads all on the same dive. The three liveaboards that have been authorized to take divers to Cocos offer rebreather training and certification which is conducted during the crossing from the mainland. It's worth doing to enhance the opportunity for close encounters with hammerheads that shy away from diver bubbles. Best time to explore Cocos Island? May to December when the weather is lousy and top of the food chain heavies are looking for victims. Click image to enlarge map |
Facts about Costa Rica- Area: 51,100 sq km
- Population: 3,773,057
- Estimated Population in 2050: 5,696,700
- Capital: San Jose
- People: 96% Spanish descent, 2% African descent, 1% indigenous, 1% Chinese
- Language: Spanish (official), English spoken around Puerto Limon
- Literacy: 94.8% total, 94.7% male, 95% female
- Religion: Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, other Protestant 0.7%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3%, other 4.8%, none 3.2%
- Life Expectancy 73.49 male, 78.68 female
- Government: democratic republic
- GDP: US$38 billion
- GDP per capita: US$6,700
- Major Industries: microprocessors, food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
- Major Trading Partners: USA, Germany, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico
- Natural Resources: hydropower
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