Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary

A lone rock 506 kilometres out in the Pacific, Malpelo island and the 857,150 hectares of ocean around it make up the Eastern Tropical Pacific's biggest zone closed to fishing — and a stronghold for big marine predators. Divers come for aggregations of more than 200 hammerheads and over 1,000 silky sharks, for whale sharks, tuna and giant grouper, and for confirmed sightings of the rare short-nosed ragged-toothed shark. UNESCO inscribed the sanctuary in 2006.