Cocos Island National Park

Cocos Island rises alone from the Eastern Pacific about 550 km southwest of the Costa Rican mainland, a rain-soaked volcanic peak ringed by cleaning stations where scalloped hammerheads school by the hundred. The national park dates to 1978, UNESCO listing to 1997, and in 2021 Costa Rica expanded the protected waters more than twenty-fold as part of a regional swimway corridor toward the Galápagos. Nobody lives on the island but rangers; divers arrive on liveaboards after a crossing of roughly 36 hours and spend a week working sites like Bajo Alcyone, Dirty Rock, and Manuelita among hammerheads, marbled rays, whitetips hunting at night, and seasonal whale sharks.

The rules that bind divers

All diving is from liveaboards operating under park concessions; there is no resort, airstrip, or independent access, and landing ashore requires ranger coordination. Fishing is banned throughout the park's waters, which rangers and NGO partners patrol against illegal longlining. Divers pay park fees for each day inside the reserve, arranged by the vessel. In-water rules are strict: no touching or feeding, no gloves, keep off the bottom at cleaning stations, and night dives only at designated sites. Overnight anchoring is limited to set bays with moorings.

Fees & permits: Park fee charged per diver per day in the reserve, collected by the liveaboard on top of the fare.