Cocos is a difficult place to reach. It took us over 36 hours of cruising on a live aboard dive boat to reach. The island itself is I believe the “real life” inspiration for Jurassic park. Other than a couple of rangers who live on the shore the island is totally uninhabited....by humans. It is very mountainous and is covered in thick rain forest jungle with beautiful streams flowing into the ocean. Supposedly buried pirate treasure is to be found....forget about it as the jungle is for all practical purposes impenetrable. The real reason to come here is if you are an experienced diver. The waters around the island are filled with sea life including sharks, mantas, pilot whales, dolphins, tuna, etc.  because of the lack of a human population. But if you want to see this life go soon because the Japanese, Chinese and other  fishing fleets have been illegally raping the seas around the island. For example, for the sake of shark fin soup the shark population has been greatly diminished...the sharks are caught, the fin is cut off and the animal is thrown back to suffer and die. UNESCO designation means nothing to these modern day pirates.