Review of Soneva Fushi by Six Senses, by John Borthwick

Soneva Fushi by Six Senses on Kunfunadhoo in Baa Atoll 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 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.

My suite is a tasteful creation with wooden louvres and adobe walls, plus seductive lounges that offer equally snoozy lagoon vistas. Add fine dining, a vast wine cellar and a full spa, and it's easy to understand why this is the luxury resort of celebrities and honeymooners. "If you're not relaxing here, you're wasting your time," one guest tells me.

The Maldives is the perfect place to learn scuba diving, with Open Water certificate courses starting from around $600. The blue depths of the lagoons and reefs are littered with mantas, turtles and reef sharks. The strong currents that flow between an atoll's islands allow for challenging, long drift dives. Although a warm El Niño current in 1997 decimated many shallow corals, they have recovered well, while the deeper reefs were unaffected and remain outstanding. Even if just snorkelling you'll find the water so gin-clear that you may be tempted to breathe it. For underwater photographers these reefs are like a swim-through aquarium, a submarine studio.

The Maldives might sound like a sandbar with a UN seat, an over-sized aquarium with deckchairs but there is more here than just postcard-perfect turquoise lagoons. Many resorts offer day trips to neighbouring village islands. Most of these are so small and flat that you can see blue chinks of sea framed at each end of the main street; in between will be a small mosque, a gaggle of friendly kids and neat coral-block homes. Sunni Moslems, Maldivians are devout but moderate and are happy to greet visitors strolling through their villages. (I think of the Maldives as Islam Unplugged, if not Unveiled.) Low coral walls fence their homes but please ask permission before photographing families at home within these compounds.

The affix "Soneva" before a resort name means that you are in for something special. Exclusive, expensive and exquisite in design, the Maldives' two Soneva resorts - Gili and Fushi - are like no others, nor each other. Every facet of the resort's design (I sometimes think of its style as "Scandinavian Troppo") reflects co-proprietor/designer Eva Shivdasani's genius in constructing "intelligent luxury".

I slip away by dhoni to Soneva Fushi's neighbouring island, the fishing village of Eydafushi that is home to some 2500 people. Straight, sandy roads cut across the island, while a blue and white minaret is the only structure that challenges the palm trees for high-rise status. "I have six children on Eydafushi and six more on other islands," a white-bearded man proudly informs me, leaving me to guess how many wives he has had. (Ironically the Maldives, that hosts so many visiting honeymooners, has one of the highest divorce rates on earth.) Strolling on, I find boat builders at work planking the hull of broad-bellied, new dhoni. There's not a waiter in sight, not a happy hour drinking crowd or a designer deck chair anywhere.