A Whitetip Reef Shark warily eyes the approaching photographer diver. The government of Costa Rica diligently patrols the waters of Cocos Island - 300 miles off its Pacific coast, to deter the illegal practice of shark "finning" by commercial fishing boats.

The Okeanos Aggressor rests at anchor off the coast of Cocos Island.

Cocos Island is ruggedly beautiful and remote. I read Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" on the 33 hour passage from Punteranas, the mainland Costa Rican port. There are rumors of buried treasure on Cocos and that the island may have been one of many inspirations for Stevenson's novel.