Yasmina Green

The world’s obsession with the Maldives has always been a mystery to me. I’ve witnessed as, one after the other, even my most beach-averse and device-addicted friends returned from these islands entranced by some ineffable quality, only able to give the vaguely cult-like response: “You have to experience it to understand.” One quietly admitted to spending more on her honeymoon there than on the wedding itself. Apparently, it had been entirely worth it. Having worked in travel for many years, I’ve been inundated with the pictures we’ve all seen a thousand times: lines of pristine over-water villas, tranquil turquoise ocean contrasting with startlingly white sand, all running together in a blur of gorgeous, but dare I say it, borderline sameness.

I’m holding a respectable tree pose on a sun-bleached jetty above St. Lucia’s turquoise waters. It’s the sort of place you drift off to mentally when you are midway through a peaceful meditation in a reassuringly mildewed London yoga studio. This time, though, I’m actually here and ready to embark on one of the latest wellness trends: a holistic diving experience in the Caribbean complete with breathing exercises and underwater yoga that will allow me to reach “whole new levels of relaxation” and, one hopes, enough spiritual transcendence to get me out of the water if things don’t go to plan. But there are boat engines roaring, tourists being herded on and off and an unusually aggressive coastal wind is picking up, along with the tide.