Outer Seychelles — Alphonse

The island works as a single property, and the diving inherits the rhythm of the saltwater fly-fishing programme it grew up alongside. Divers go out in small boats after breakfast, usually two dives with the interval aboard or on a sand cay, then come back for a long lunch before an optional afternoon dive. With one dive operator and no other dive boats around, sites are picked on the morning for wind and swell rather than booked ahead.

The diving splits cleanly in two. Alphonse itself is a compact atoll with a narrow reef flat, and its northern edge is the serious half: the top of the wall sits shallow, so how deep the dive goes is a decision the diver makes rather than one the site imposes. Across the channel is the other half — sand flats, scattered coral heads and tidal cuts between the islands, dived in softer conditions and usually kinder for photography.

Tide does most of the work on the flats. Water floods across the sand with rays, sharks and trevally following it in, then drains back through the channels on the ebb, so the crossing gets timed to catch one state or the other rather than fitted in wherever it lands. Out on the wall the practical consequence of so little fishing pressure is framing distance: subjects tend not to retreat, which rewards wide angle and a slow approach over trying to close the gap.

This suits divers who would rather have one very good place than a varied itinerary, and who can absorb a charter flight on top of single-property island rates. It works well for pairs where one dives and one fishes, since both programmes run from the same lodge. It is a poor fit for anyone after wrecks, evening life ashore, or the option of writing off a bad day and finding another boat — there is not another boat. Dates are set by the lodge's own calendar, which does not run right through the year.