Desert Islands De Luxe

By John Borthwick

The blue abyss beyond the reef is littered with mug lair fish of every hue. The Maldives are famous for excellent diving, and although many corals were decimated by a warm current in 1997, the deeper reefs are still outstanding. With visibility of up to 30 metres, you’re diving in waters so gin-clear you're tempted to say "Cheers!" and drink it.

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Below us, Kunfunadhoo Island is a comma of coral and palms adrift on an epic sea. The 30-minute trip here from Male has been less a flight than a transcendent experience.

Soneva Fushi Resort on Kunfunadhoo is one of the Maldives' most upmarket retreats. I settle into my beachfront suite and a tough regimen of snorkelling, dining and the contemplation of a good novel. The food is a wonder of the reef - tuna steaks that seem to have leapt straight from sea to plate. At the resort’s spa, a Swedish masseuse has a fair go at untying the Gordian knots of my shoulders. As relaxed as jelly, I then wobble off on a bicycle, along banyan shaded paths, to flop into the sea.

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