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.
