Cocos Island
Latin America
Costa Rica
£2.50
Cocos Island: The Island of the Sharks
Cocos Island is not just a destination; it is Jurassic Park for divers. Located 340 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, this remote rock is the absolute gold standard for pelagic action. It is legendary for one reason above all others: Hammerheads. We aren't talking about seeing a few in the distance; we are talking about the famous "Hammerhead Highway," where massive walls of Scalloped Hammerheads drift overhead in numbers that block out the sun. It is a wild, high-current marine park where you are outnumbered by apex predators from the moment you hit the water.
Why We Chose This Sticker Design
This sticker had to be all about density. The defining image of Cocos is the silhouette of the school against the light, so we filled the frame with Scalloped Hammerheads swimming in every direction. We used a monochromatic palette of deep ocean blues and backlit cyans to capture the feeling of looking up from the deep toward the surface, where the sharks are just dark shapes patrolling the blue. It is a moody, atmospheric design that perfectly captures the awe of being in the "shark tank."
Diving Cocos Island
Cocos Island lies some 550 kilometres off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, a green uninhabited peak in open ocean, and reaching it means 30 to 36 hours at sea each way. Divers make that crossing for scalloped hammerheads, which school here in numbers that rank among the best on earth, and for the whitetip reef sharks that hunt across the reef in packs after dark at Manuelita. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and national park, it is liveaboard-only and firmly for experienced divers.
- Best time to dive
- June to November for the biggest hammerhead schools; December to May is calmer
- Difficulty
- Advanced — current, surge and limited visibility at times
- Water temperature
- 24–28°C, with thermoclines dropping to around 20°C
- Visibility
- 10–30m
Top dive sites
- •Bajo Alcyone — Seamount famous for hammerhead schools
- •Manuelita — Night dive with hunting whitetip reef sharks
- •Dirty Rock — Pinnacle with sharks and big schooling fish
What you’ll see
Frequently asked questions
How do you get to Cocos Island?
By liveaboard from Puntarenas on the Costa Rican mainland, with a crossing of roughly 30 to 36 hours in each direction. Trips typically run 8 to 10 days to make the journey worthwhile, and the island is a national park with no accommodation ashore — landings are restricted and diving is from tenders. Because the crossing is long and open ocean, seasickness is a real consideration for anyone who suffers from it.
When are hammerhead numbers best at Cocos?
The rainy season, roughly June to November, brings the nutrient-rich water that draws the biggest hammerhead aggregations, and it is the period most experienced Cocos divers target. The trade-off is rougher crossings, more rain and sometimes reduced visibility. December to May offers calmer seas and clearer water with hammerheads still present in good numbers, just less consistently in the huge schools the island is known for.
