Soneva Fushi - Day 4

An early start today as we have our first dive booked for 9:30 and need to be at the pier sharpish. Yet another astonishingly good breakfast was followed by a boat trip on possibly the most luxurious dive boat I have ever been on. There was every luxury, including three staff and three dive masters looking after us. Fruit, food, and drink aplenty was provided, as were plenty of soft fresh towels. The dive itself was OK – but then I'm comparing it to snorkelling on the reef which was already great. The other diving party which went the other way around the dive site saw dolphins! And the dive master came back with a huge star fish on her shoulder with no idea how she had acquired it.

On the way back to the resort we lounged about on the roof of the cabin cruiser dive boat on sumptuous cushions. It was really de Luxe.

Then a delicious curry for lunch and a post lunch nap in the shade of some palm tress before going off for a snorkel in the warm, calm ocean.

After the snorkel (which was almost as good as the dive to be honest) it was back for some more reading. I just realised that I haven't yet touched on books. I like to read lots of books on holiday and devour them ravenously. So far, I have read Centurion by Simon Scarrow which I would describe as Andy McNab meets Gladiator; The American by Martin Booth which is possibly the worst book I have read in years. 175 pages of descriptive writing before anything actually happens; May on Motors, which is quite amusing but more of a loo book than a beach book, and I'm halfway through The Snowman by Jo Nesbo which is actually pretty good. Next up will be The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell.

Tonight there's a buffet, or rather a bouffée as we come away totally stuffed with the most delicious food. The cooking here is always sensational and it must be pretty challenging to be the executive chef. I chatted to him on the sandbank at the managers drinks and he brings a wealth of experience to the job he wasn't expecting to do. He had actually been hired to run Soneva's new Maldives property but the executive chef before him quit unexpectedly and there were delays to the opening of the new hotel, so he ended up in the flagship which will look fantastic on his CV. As will the praise that he is garnering from all the guests here.