Chagos Archipelago

The Chagos Archipelago sits at the heart of the Indian Ocean as one of the last truly pristine reef systems on Earth. Protected within the British Indian Ocean Territory marine reserve — the world's largest no-take marine protected area — these islands and atolls have never known commercial fishing. The result is reef life of staggering abundance: walls blanketed in hard and soft corals, schools of bumphead parrotfish numbering in the hundreds, hammerhead sharks circling seamounts, and whale sharks drifting through open water. Access is exclusively by liveaboard expedition vessel, and permits are tightly controlled, meaning the reefs here exist in a state most divers have only read about.