by Laurel Robbins

Created on: July 02, 2009

I'm a big believer in discovering as many magical off the beaten path places in a lifetime as possible. Not the mythical kind where one might encounter leprechauns or fairies, but the kind where anything is possible and you never know what you will discover .....

I was fortunate enough to discover such a place last summer. It is the world's largest uninhabited island. It is also a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Reaching it requires a 36 hour boat ride 300 miles into the Pacific Ocean. This island receives less than 1000 visitors each year because it is so far off the beaten path. Any guesses?

This magical place happens to be Cocos National Park and is part of Costa Rica. There are over 90 different species of birds that live there, over 200 waterfalls, and rainbows almost every day that disappear into the tree covered island. The only inhabitants are the rangers and volunteers living on one part of the island. There is even thought to be many hidden treasures there buried by pirates!

Perhaps you can begin to see why I consider this a magical place? In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but what makes it truly magical lies in the waters surrounding the island.

Cocos is one of the few places on earth that is home to the world's largest schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, numbering in the hundreds! Just in case the hammerhead sharks were not enough, white tip, silvertips, silkys and the odd Galapagos and whale shark also frequent the island.

I came to Cocos to scuba dive with hammerhead sharks. Contrary to popular belief, most sharks are not dangerous to people. Having said this I nearly had to be pushed off the boat on my first dive into the shark infested waters. Knowingly jumping into shark infested waters is not for the faint of heart!

My expectations of magical moments were high, this was Cocos after all and I was not disappointed. My fellow divers and I were graced with the presence of whale shark, the world's largest fish measuring ~35 feet on our second day of diving. We jumped into the water and moments later the majestic fish appeared only a few feet away from me. Seconds later it disappeared into the blue. It is truly quizzical that a fish so big can disappear so quickly!

On several occasions we jumped into a black ocean on a night dive knowing that a feeding frenzy was taking place just a few meters below us if that is not a leap of faith, I don't what is. White tip sharks hunt at night

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