Cocos (Keeling) Islands Travel Guide

Aptly named as coconuts are the island’s number one cash crop, it is also named after the original explorer Captain William Keeling to avoid confusion with other similarly named islands. You’d think people would get more creative with naming islands, but then you look at the number of towns that wanted to be called Springfield. Cocos (Keeling) Island is a series of 27 coral islands formed into two large coral atolls located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The islands cover a total of 14 square kilometres, making it a very itty bitty landmass. Only Home Island and West Island are inhabited, and neither boasts large resorts, shopping centres, restaurants or gift shops. Come here for simple rustic tourism. The islands can be explored leisurely by bike. You can also checkout the nearly intact coral atoll ecosystem in the water by snorkelling with over 500 species of fish, 100 species of hard coral, turtles, manta rays, bottlenose dolphins and nudibranch. Wreck diving enthusiasts can also visit the Cocos Lagoon, which holds an 18th century barque wreck, a 19^th century American whaler, a WWII barge, and several cannons. The strong Malaysian influence means that visitors should dress conservatively. Though Cocos (Keeling) Island is in the path of cyclones, the islands managed to keep themselves lush and heavily vegetated.