Costa Rica’s Treasure Island –Isla del Coco National Marine Park – has advanced to the next round of competition to be named one of the new seven natural wonders of the world.
The competition is based on online voting at the Web site www.new7wonders.com, and organized by the New 7 Wonders Foundation.
Isla del Coco, located about 365 miles west of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, is the nation’s only competitor still in the contest, and is running against 260 other natural attractions to make the next round of 77.
Other competitors from the region include OmatepeIsland in Nicaragua, the Bocas del Toro archipelago in Panama, the PlatanoForest in Honduras, LakeCoatepeque in El Salvador, the Belize Barrier Reef and ViñalesValley in Cuba.
Lake Superior and Niagara Falls, which jointly represent the United States and Canada, and the U.S.’s Grand Canyon are also in the running.
According to the New 7 Wonders Web site, voting will continue through July 7, and the foundation’s Nature Panel of Experts will choose 21 to advance from the list of the top 77 finalists. A popular vote, running through 2010 into 2011, will select the final seven natural wonders from that list. The final seven will be declared in 2011.
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