"It encircles eight square miles of lagoon, forming a thin border between sky and ocean. Migratory birds make it their landing strip; green turtles use it as a nesting ground, plowing tracks through sand as powdery as snow. Though Astove's sand flats are as smooth as mother-of-pearl, its reefs are treacherous. Sharp blades of fossilized coral, or champignon, can shred feet and destroy vessels."
"Beneath the water's mercury surface, I snorkel through Astove's oyster-shaped reef and find tiny fish twitching electrically like particles in a grainy film as well as giant specimens gliding en masse through bars of light. Battalions of bluestripe snapper and humphead wrasse-just two of the thousand species that swim here-jump in unison with the current before a vertical coral garden."
Astove features abandoned copra plantations, giant tortoises, hermit crabs, and scattered shells across powdery sand flats. The atoll encircles eight square miles of lagoon and forms a thin border between sky and ocean, attracting migratory birds and serving as nesting grounds for green turtles. Reefs surrounding Astove are treacherous: fossilized coral blades can shred feet and destroy vessels, and a ghost yacht lies beached on the northwestern shore. The western Indian Ocean's trade winds create tempestuous seas and windswept isolation that have kept the atoll naturally protected. Underwater, extensive reefs support thousands of species, vertical coral gardens, and a reef wall plunging some 3,000 feet.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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