The Global Reef Expedition mission to the Chagos Archipelago in 2015 allowed an international team of scientists from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) to study some of the most remote and undisturbed coral reefs in the world. When the expedition began, the coral reefs in the Chagos Archipelago were stunning, with high live coral cover and an astounding abundance of fish. However, towards the end of the research mission, KSLOF scientists witnessed the beginning of what would become a catastrophic mass global bleaching event, illustrating that negative human impacts reach even the most isolated and well-protected coral reefs on Earth.