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A pristine coral beach and natural lagoon, Direction Island — known locally as Pulu Tikus — floats like a scattering of bleached coral at the northern edge of the Cocos (Keeling) atoll. Uninhabited and reachable only by boat, its narrow ribbon of powder-white sand curls around a turquoise lagoon so clear that reef sharks and turtles are visible from the shoreline.

Beyond the lagoon’s glassy shallows lies The Rip, a celebrated drift snorkel where the ocean current sweeps swimmers gently through a canyon of hard corals and reef fish in numbers rarely seen elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. Coconut palms and casuarina trees fringe the interior, offering rare pockets of shade to the handful of visitors who arrive each day.

There are no buildings, no vendors, nothing but coral rubble paths, a composting toilet, and the low murmur of the reef. This remoteness is precisely its allure — a genuinely untouched corner of Australia’s external territories, shaped by Cocos Malay seafaring history and left almost entirely to the tides.