Life’s too short

I looked at the Baros website shaking my head, thinking no-no-no, it might be a dream trip for someone else but what with it being a popular honeymoon destination, I don’t want to be reminded that marriage is a box I've never ticked either. Then I took a deep breath. Changed the no to a ‘yes’. Felt euphoric. Life’s too short to do what you don’t want to do.

But how do you really know if you don’t try? I was curious, having met so many divers and snorkelers who seemed to belong to a cult. What was it that made their eyes light up? I knew from them the Maldives is the aquatic Holy Grail. My goal was to give the diving and the snorkeling a go rather than typecast myself as the non-adventurous type.

It takes about 20 minutes to walk around Baros, a clever eco-resort that resists crude bling. Once you’re walking through coconut palm trees onto ivory coral sand leading onto a luminous blue lagoon it’s hard not to feel a calling. And from spotting the sudden ripples of tuna fish bobbing up and down when you’re taken on a sunrise boat trip, to catching sight of black tipped sharks (which don’t attack humans) swimming right up to shallow waters just below the Lighthouse, the resort’s flagship restaurant, you realise marine life isn’t just everywhere: it is it.

The Maldives is a clusters of islands known as atolls, which are the result of coral secretions that have taken place over 45 million years. I felt pretty ignorant for not realising until now that coral is a living animal and that stepping on it, even touching it, kills it. So I stepped carefully on the sand and peered through the water from above at the shapes and forms moving underneath.

Next page: Like yoga underwater  

A week at 5* Baros Maldives costs from £1,599 per person – saving up to £662 – booked through Sovereign Luxury Travel (0843 770 4526, www.sovereign.com). The price includes a free night, return flights from London Gatwick with Emirates, airport lounge access, private transfers and seven nights B&B in a Deluxe Villa based on 2 adults sharing a room. Based on departures 2 May 2014. For further information on Baros Maldives please visit www.Baros.com or call +960 664 26 72