Just imagine if a 60-strong tropical island chain with the world’s largest atoll, a third of the size of the area of all Maldives but far more open to Indian Ocean swells, suddenly appeared on the map.

Well, with the announcement that the UK government has after 60 years of control given up sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands, that has, kinda, happened. Previously off-limits due to a U.S. military base, it will soon be accessible. Good news for adventurous surfers, and even better news for the indigenous Chagossians, who have been effectively banned from living there for decades.

The Chagossians are the descendants of slaves bought there by the French from Africa and India in the 1700s to work on coconut plantations. Once freed, the Creole people made a subsistence living based on fishing and farming on the archipelago for centuries. However, in the 1960s the UK government gained control of the island and permitted a US military base to be built on the biggest island in the chain, Diego Garcia.

The locals were rounded up, forced off the island, the majority sent to Mauritius with no compensation. For the last 60 years, the base has been used by the U.S. and UK governments for its navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft. The new deal means the U.S. keeps the base on Diego Garcia but handed the rest to Mauritius.

It was huge news for the Chagossians, who have fought for decades to return to their homeland, even if they were largely locked out of the negotiations. It could also be huge for surfers. Located deep in the heart of the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Islands lie between Africa and Indonesia, about 500 km due south of The Maldives, directly in the path of the same swell lines that roar through J-Bay, sweep into Indonesia and smash against Western Australia.

In addition to their swell magnet location is their sheer size: The archipelago consists of seven atoll formations, including the largest atoll structure in the world, the Great Chagos Bank with a total area of 13,000 km2. Are you starting to get a picture of the potential of this place in surfing terms?

Yet until now, its use as a military outpost meant there was no way of accessing the waves. For at least the last 60 years Diego Garcia’s waves have gone largely unridden, even strictly off-limits for the military men stationed there. The only other vessels allowed in its waters are small cruising sailboats that use the atoll to rest while in transit across the Indian Ocean. Apart from the base, there is no people, services, or infrastructure. It is just white sandy beaches, aquamarine lagoons, palm trees and millions of coconut crabs. Commercial fishing has been banned since 2010.

However, it has been surfed. A 1981 article in SURFER Magazine by the late, great Mike Perry told of Floridan surfer and soldier Tom Cress, who had somehow managed to smuggle his 8’6 pintail out there in 1975.

Perry reported the island was populated ‘by rednecks who hated the beaches and anyone who found a little pleasure there.” Such was the isolation, heat and lack of infrastructure, a posting here was considered a form of punishment by GIs. Even in 2010, it was said a stint here turns you into either a drunk (drinking), a monk (praying(, or a hunk (weightlifting).

Cress did find waves, but the fast-breaking waves and the shallow coral reefs came with an array of hungry sharks, stingrays, and stonefish, meaning the rewards nowhere matched the risks. With no one to surf with, and with the pastime effectively banned, he reluctantly gave up but did note the potential.

“Coral reef points and angled stag horn coral shelfs offered ends that wound for 100-500 yards,” he told Perry. “It was never under four foot and often too big, the waves were deadly perfect. They wound into a shallower water as they went but remained forever flawless.”

50 years on, the chain might be one of the last great unexplored surfing outposts. With an area of 60 km2, it is around 1/3 of the size of Maldives. However, its more southerly location (it sits on the same latitude as Southern Sumatra) means it should be more open to the Indian Ocean’s consistent swells that are moderated by dry season trade winds. There have to be dozens of world-class waves waiting for those who can access them.

That won’t be easy. All the infrastructure including harbours, refuelling stops and provisions is located on Diego Garcia, and so still out of bounds. The nearest civilisation is in the Maldives, 300 miles to the north. The next closest is the Seychelles, 1000 miles to the west.

There’s an argument that maybe it’s best if the Chagos Islands is left alone in its current, relatively pristine state. Yet with gold-standard surfing treasures lying on the coral, it surely is a matter of time, before the first real surfing explorations take place.