It is now possible to hire a boat in Puntarenas and visit San Lucas to get an idea of how those outcasts of society lived. The most visited of Costa Rica's islands is certainly Tortuga. This island sits in the clear, turquoise waters of the Gulf of Nicoya and boasts beautiful white sand beaches lined with swaying palm trees. Its intrinsic beauty was realized long ago by the locals of the area. Several years ago the tourist industry discovered it.
Violin Island is geologically unique in the context of Costa Rican islands.
It formed as a delta at the mouth of the Sierpe River near Corcovado National Park. The island is mostly mangrove swamp and as such provides an important littoral area for numerous species of marine life. Historically, it is recognized as the spot where Christopher Columbus first landed on our coast in 1502, during his fourth voyage to the New World. In Search Of . . . Of the several dozen islands in Costa Rica, there are only between fifteen and twenty of significant size. Local fishermen utilize them occasionally and you may find a tourist or two on one of them, but for the most part they are uninhabited and waiting.