Selvagens Pinnacle

The Selvagens Islands — a strict nature reserve 280 kilometres south of Madeira and 165 kilometres north of the Canaries — rise from an oceanic plateau to form underwater pinnacles that function as open-ocean waypoints for large pelagics. Blue sharks and mako sharks circle the southern pinnacle in the October to January period; hammerheads have been observed in summer. The pinnacles top out at 8 metres and the walls plunge past 60 metres into deep blue water where Atlantic torpedo rays and stingrays patrol the sand apron. Almost no one dives here; access requires a research or scientific permit from the Portuguese government and a liveaboard vessel. The reward is complete solitude in a near-pristine mid-Atlantic ecosystem.