Costa Rica
Caño Island Biological Reserve
A burial island ringed by reef sharks where pre-Columbian stone spheres dot the jungle floor.
The boat anchors in blue water above a reef you can already see from the surface. Below, white-tip sharks trace slow arcs over coral while schools of jack shift direction in unison like a single silver organism. On the island above the waterline, pre-Columbian stone spheres sit in the jungle understorey — burial offerings from a civilisation that vanished, placed on an island where no one ever permanently lived.
Caño Island Biological Reserve lies twenty kilometres off the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica's South Pacific. Its reef system covers five square kilometres with sixteen coral species and over 150 fish species, and visibility typically reaches twenty metres. Reef white-tip sharks, silvertip sharks, and occasional nurse sharks circle the submerged pinnacles year-round. The island's forest interior holds stone spheres identical to the Diquís spheres on the mainland — UNESCO World Heritage objects whose purpose and production method remain debated. Protected since 1978, the reserve has been without permanent human presence for over four decades, leaving its reef and forest in a state rarely found this close to a continental coastline.
Friends
The boat ride, the diving, and the island walk create a full-day shared adventure. Surfacing from a shark dive and then finding stone spheres in the jungle is the kind of double hit that fuels a trip.
Couple
The combination of world-class snorkelling, reef sharks at close range, and an island wrapped in archaeological mystery makes Caño Island one of the most layered day trips on Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
- The island's reef system covers 5km² with 16 coral species and over 150 fish species — visibility typically reaches 20 metres.
- Pre-Columbian stone spheres identical to those on the mainland are scattered through the island's forest interior, where no permanent human habitation was ever recorded.
- Reef white-tip sharks, silvertip sharks, and occasional nurse sharks circle the island's submerged pinnacles year-round.
- The island has been protected since 1978 — 45 years without permanent human presence has left the reef and forest in a state rarely found this close to mainland coast.
Your Drake Bay lodge packs lunch for the boat — gallo pinto, fresh fruit, and thermos coffee.
Post-dive ceviche back at the dock, made with the freshest corvina and lime.
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