Nope, can't say I have. Though I am aware that mostly they are climbed or shimmied up, the only time I ever saw someone climb a coconut tree was in real life, in Hawaii.

Similar to this:
http://eecevents.tripod.com/album/various/palmclimbthumb.jpg or this one from India:
http://www.benbeall.com/34staffclimber.jpgEDIT: Not sure if the first link works, but I just talked to be boyfriend who lived in Sri Lanka for nine years and he said they use ropes there too, just like I mentioned.