Direction Island

Direction Island is an uninhabited palm islet on the northern rim of the Cocos lagoon, home to Cossies Beach, once voted the best beach in Australia. Its soft white sand faces water of an almost unreal blue, with picnic huts under the palms. At the end of the island the channel called The Rip carries the tide past the reef, and snorkellers drift through with reef sharks, turtles and schools of fish. A telegraph station stood here until the German cruiser Emden raided it in 1914. The ferry from Home Island stops on some days, or visitors come by boat.