Costa Rica
Caño Island Biological Reserve
An island of pre-Columbian stone spheres, ringed by reefs where sharks trace slow arcs.
The boat anchors in blue water above a reef you can see from the surface. This is water where white-tip sharks habitually trace slow arcs over coral and jacks shift direction as one silver organism. On the island above, stone spheres sit in the jungle understorey — carved by the first civilisations of this coast and left where the forest keeps them.
Caño Island rises twenty kilometres off the Osa Peninsula, a biological reserve since 1978 whose water runs famously clear — snorkellers and divers share it with reef sharks, rays, turtles and, in season, passing whales. The island's forest holds carved stone spheres, evidence of substantial pre-Columbian activity and kin to the Diquís spheres on the mainland, whose making is still debated. Landings are limited and beach time short by design; the reserve's job is the reef, not the day trip. Boats run from Drake Bay across water where dolphins like to ride the bow.
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Couple
World-class snorkelling, resident reef sharks and an island wrapped in archaeological mystery — one of the Pacific coast's most layered days.
Friends
Surfacing from the reef and then finding stone spheres in the jungle is the double hit that fuels a trip.
- Snorkellers share the reserve's clear water with reef sharks, rays and turtles — whales pass in season.
- Carved pre-Columbian stone spheres rest in the island's forest, kin to the mainland's Diquís spheres.
- A biological reserve since 1978, with landings limited to keep the reef recovering.
- Day boats cross from Drake Bay, dolphins often riding the bow on the way out.
A packed lodge lunch on the boat — gallo pinto, fruit and thermos coffee between snorkels.
Post-dive corvina ceviche back at the Drake Bay dock, lime-bright and cold.
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