Cossies Beach on Direction Island was voted Australia's best beach, and it is where most visitors spend the hours between ferries. For snorkellers it offers the gentle alternative to The Rip: the official tourism site notes that calmer, beginner-friendly snorkelling is available in shallow coral areas near the beach, and Will Parker's Direction Island guide describes Cozzies as calm lagoon swimming – less dramatic than The Rip but easy. The water is turquoise and shallow over white sand, with coral patches and bommies scattered close to shore.

Juvenile blacktip reef sharks patrol the shallows, turtles pass through, and small reef fish – damsels, wrasse, butterflyfish, parrotfish – crowd the coral. Snorkellers finishing a run through The Rip drift out into this part of the lagoon, so it can be combined with the drift or used as a warm-up. The beach itself is a crescent of white sand fringed with coconut palms, with shaded picnic shelters, BBQs and eco toilets behind it.

Direction Island has no permanent residents, no shop and no drinking water, so everything must be brought on the ferry. The island's history is visible on the heritage trail: the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company cable station operated here from 1901, the Emden landing party came ashore in 1914 to wreck it, and a slipway and tank from the flying boat and sea rescue presence are Commonwealth Heritage-listed. Because the snorkel is shallow and calm, it suits families, children and nervous swimmers, and it's a lovely place to spend a half day.

Take care to stand on sand rather than coral when resting.

The public ferry runs from West Island (and Home Island) to Direction Island twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays; the return fare is $5 per person, cash on board, and the return boat leaves Direction Island in the early afternoon (around 2 pm – be at the jetty or be stranded). Check the current Shire timetable on arrival. Cossies Beach is the lagoon-side beach close to the Direction Island jetty; walk a few minutes along the beach from the landing.

Enter anywhere along the sand and fin out to the shallow coral patches. Lagoon tours and Cocos Dive day trips also stop here for lunch.

Lagoon snorkelling is possible year-round, but the south-east trades (April/May–October, often 15–25 knots) chop the lagoon, stir up sand and make swimming harder; the doldrum season (November–April) usually brings glassy conditions and the clearest water. Tides matter more than swell inside the lagoon: shallow flats can become too shallow at low water, and tidal streams run through channels between islands. Heavy tropical showers are brief and have little effect on visibility because there is no river run-off.

Cossies faces into the lagoon and is sheltered from ocean swell; in strong south-easterlies there is chop along the beach, but it remains swimmable.

Enter from the beach and fin slowly over the shallow coral patches parallel to shore. Stay well inside the lagoon and away from The Rip's channel unless you intend to drift it. Rest standing on sand, never on coral.

Self-guided snorkel – no operator required. Snorkel gear can be hired on West Island (visitor centre). Cocosday Tours (motorised canoe safaris) and Cocos Blue Charters (glass-bottom boat and snorkel trips) run guided lagoon trips.