The world's largest marine protected area surrounds a handful of coral atolls in the central Indian Ocean, but this British territory exists primarily as a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia. The remaining uninhabited islands — with names like Danger Island and Eagle Island — harbor untouched reefs and seabird colonies.
Access requires special permits that are rarely granted to civilians. The few researchers and military personnel who've been describe crystal-clear lagoons, coconut palms on white sand, and some of the most pristine coral ecosystems left on earth.
This is conservation by exclusion — a place that exists more as an idea of untouched ocean wilderness than a destination. The Chagossians, forcibly removed in the 1970s, still fight for the right to return home.