Cocos Island

Cocos Island is one of Costa Rica´s most famous national parks. It is globally known as the best scuba diving place in the world. It is pretty far away from Costa Rica, about a day in a ship; it is actually closer to Ecuador than to Costa Rica. The island is known for its beautiful flora and the exotic marine fauna, which comprises hammerhead sharks, dolphins and other large marine animals. When famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau visited, he mentioned it was "the most beautiful island in the world." In the island, only the forest rangers live, who take care of the park and patrol its waters looking for illegal hunters. Fishing in the island is totally prohibited; sadly, the island has been the target of many illegal poachers who go to hunt sharks and other exotic fish.

Cocos Island was declared one of the 7 World Wonders of Nature. It is also the place for many pirate legends. In 1818 Captain Bennett Graham, a distinguished British naval officer put in charge of a coastal survey in the South Pacific aboard the HMS Devonshire, instead of his mission chose a life of piracy. He was eventually caught and executed along with his officers, the remainder of his crew being sent to a penal colony in Tasmania. Twenty years later, one of the crew, a woman named Mary Welch released from prison claimed to have witnessed the burial of Graham's fortune — 350 tons of gold bullion stolen from Spanish galleons - on Cocos Island. Moreover, she had a chart with compass bearings showing where the so-called "Devonshire Treasure" was buried. Welch's story was believed and an expedition was organized to hunt for the treasure. Welch took part in it but on the island she said the lay of the land had changed so much that many of her identifying marks had disappeared. The expedition recovered nothing.

Benito Bonito, a portuguese pirate, allegedly buried the Treasure of Lima on Cocos Island during the Peruvian War of Independence. Another version is that captain William Thompson was given treasures from Lima and ordered to sail them on his ship Mary Dear to safety. But the temptation was too great for he and his first mate, James Alexander Forbes. They slew the guards and hid the treasure on Cocos Island. The secret was transmitted to a friend of Thompson called John Keating in 1844.

Some believe that Keating has managed to retrieve part of the treasure. Later a descendant of James Alexander Forbes, John Forbes made five trips to the island, the last one in 1950.