An underwater Serengrti

摘要

JACQUES GOUSTEAU DESCRIBED GOCOS ISLAND as the most beautiful island in the world, and the few people who have a chance to visit would likely agree with the praise. Located about halfway between Costa Rica (to which it belongs) and Ecuador's GalapagosIslands, Cocos Island is a place of superlatives. It is the only island in the eastern Pacific Ocean that has a tropical rainforest and, with peaks as high as 2,000 feet, the only one with cloud forests as well. Six-hundred-foot-high cliffs punctuated by tree-lined bays form the shoreline. The rugged landscape makes for stunning scenery: Waterfalls tumble down the mountains, turn into streams and rivers, and then cascade straight into the ocean.