Misool Eco Resort

Misool Eco Resort is a 12-cottage dive resort on a private island within its own no-take marine reserve, in the jaw dropping southern Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Raja Ampat is one of the richest reef systems on earth, and one of the few places where marine biodiversity is measurably improving rather than declining. The resort built and now patrols its own 1,220-square-kilometre no-take marine reserve, established in 2005 on the site of a former shark-fishing camp. Just 12 guest cottages, some raised on stilts directly over the lagoon and built from reclaimed tropical hardwood without a single large nail, cap the island at 40 guests at a time, each with a Balinese-style open-air bathroom.

Three scheduled boat dives a day reach more than 25 sites within 15 minutes, including Boo, Fiabacet and Magic Mountain, where surveys have recorded up to six times more sharks than in unprotected waters nearby. You can also join the resort's manta identification and acoustic tagging research between dives, or simply watch baby blacktip sharks hunt in the shallows below their terrace at low tide.