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 in packs and we were fortunate enough to join them as they aggressively pursued their dinner while fish quivered behind rocks hoping their hiding place proved not to be a fatal mistake. One might think that 15 or so divers all with lights might interfere with their dinner plans, but the sharks always seemed oblivious to the interruption.
You would think that all these shark encounters would be enough even for adrenalin junky like myself, but I remained captivated by the seemly mythical schools of hammerheads until day three, when literally out of the blue, a school of 50 or so hammerheads emerged right before our eyes. I was in awe. I opened my mouth and ended up swallowing a mouthful of sea water which returned the same way it entered shortly after. Normally, this would have bothered me but I was completely enthralled by the hammerheads.
The most fascinating part of hammerhead sharks is the unique shape of their head. They look very comical when they swim as their head looks disjointed from the rest of their body. Hammerhead sharks found in schools are usually females. Sometimes they are recognizable from their mating scars, since when hammerhead sharks mate, the males hang on to the females with their mouths leaving large scars. Ouch! It was because of such a mating scar that I met my first hammerhead, who I named Mona, which means monkey in Spanish, because in addition to sharks, I also love monkeys!
The first time I saw Mona, she was by herself and came much closer to me than the other hammerhead sharks did. She would come very close, swim away, and then come close to me again. She would do this for up to ten minutes following me on my dive, but never being aggressive. I was so excited to see a hammerhead shark so close that I was flipping around a lot and breathing very fast. Maybe Mona was just curious to see who this awkward creature was that was giving off a very strong electrical field, probably unlike anything she had experienced from her usual graceful prey! After deciding that while maybe I was amuzing to watch, I wasn't suitable prey after all, she would go in search of her preferred prey - fish, rays, or squid.
I saw Mona on five more dives and each time she saw me, she would approach me, sometimes alone and sometimes she brought along a friend. She was never aggressive nor did she come too close. I looked forward to these encounters and was so excited to see my new unexpected friend. I had no idea that sharks could be curious about us humans, but Mona certainly seemed curious!
After ten days, it was regretfully time to leave Cocos and I vowed to do something to protect my magical place and my newfound friend. Cocos is a protected national park where fishing is not allowed and shark finning is illegal, but I saw several hammerhead sharks with fish hooks dangling from their mouths, most likely the fortunate escapees of illegal fishermen. Unfortunately not all sharks are so lucky.
I am optimistic that once people are aware of this truly special off the beaten path location which has been nominated for one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature Award, that people will take action to protect it and the hundreds of sharks who are so fortunate to call it home. I hope to go back to Cocos, my magical place, one day very soon and see my friend Mona again. Who knows, maybe I will even see you at my magical place too! In the meantime, I hope you find your own magical places to discover.