Los Roques

Everything runs out of Gran Roque, the only village in the archipelago. Guests stay in small posadas, and it is the posada rather than a dive shop that usually arranges the boat, often an open peñero shared with snorkellers and beach-goers that runs out to a cay for the morning and returns before the afternoon trades build. Dive centres are few and their schedules are informal, so how many dives you actually get in a week depends on how firmly you fix it before you arrive.

Wind sets the day. The trades come out of the east, so the outer eastern edge takes the weather and boats work the lee of the cays when it is up. Current runs through the channels between cays and fish life concentrates there, while the sheltered inside ground is calmer and brighter, which is where check dives and second dives tend to happen. Expect a plan built on the morning's conditions rather than a published site list.

Plan conservatively. There is no recompression chamber in the archipelago and nowhere to rebuild a failed regulator, so carry o-rings, a spare mask, fin straps and computer batteries, and remember the light aircraft cap baggage tightly, which is the real limit on what you bring. Flights from the mainland can be intermittent, so leave slack before onward connections. It suits self-sufficient travellers and people pairing a few dives with the bonefishing, kiting and beach days the cays are better known for.