General Information
Location: 311 km. (193 mi.) southwest of San Jose via Inter-American Hwy. Accessible by boat, 15 km. (9 mi.) off shore from Corcovado National Park
Area: 200 Terrestrial Ha. (494 acres); 2,700 Maritime Ha. (6,669 acres)
Services: Camping; no facilities
Hiking: On marked trails
Access: Only with permission of the Corcovado Park Authority.


Caño Island Biological Reserve is located 10 miles off the western coast of Osa Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of 740 acre (300 hectares), and 5,800 hectares of sea.

The water surrounding the island teem with many species of fish. Some of the marine mammals are the common dolphin, bottle-nosed dolphin, sperm whale, pilot whale and humpback whale, the latter and endangered species with a wide range throughout the world.

Caño Island was visit, in 1519, by Spanish pilot Juan de Casteñeda, who named it after a waterfall or caño the plunges down the cliffs.


The existence of stone spheres, tombs with stone statues, golden votive offerings and polychrome ceramics gave rise to a theory that the Island was used only as cementery for important persons during the pre-Columbian period. However, remains of domestic pottery and stone farming implements suggest that the island was inhabited by local Indians 500 years ago.