STRESS RELIEF:
HIS is deep house and the crucial thing is to synchronise your BPMs,” explains DJ Moudy. With one headphone cupped to eat maestro from Saudi ching my son the art of nce floor swaying with a e from trance music (150 beats o deep house (130 bpm). The ing is that we’re not in a ment or a bubble club in Ibiza ny island of Dhidhoofinolhu in the Indian Ocean. Ben is lub 17’s sound system at the the Maldives, and even with sing father shaking his booty, feels pretty hip and on perception of the Maldives y but dull set of tiny islands honeymoon couples and mantics. Some of the fresher as Lux, see it differently and o widen their appeal to young adults. And it’s so far, with my 15-year-old son — e-savvy — enjoying a new ng a holiday with his father. small island (1.6km long and Dhidhoofinolhu provides us singly full agenda. Next up is e in the resort’s newest yboarding. Imagine a pair of built-in jetpack that allows the ver or fly above water like swimming costume. The are connected by a long hose roviding enough water aunch the boarder up to 15m That’s the theory anyway. ong the jetty towards the dive ot another guest embarking yboarding lesson. He is a t but hasn’t mastered his s being repeatedly ducked ves by the thrust of the wiftly volunteer Ben, rather for a solo session. After dips, he fights back and over 2m or so up in the air, Bambi on ice. A few more ons and he completes a full anoeuvre around the jet ski. nman but certainly The resort’s instructor, hammed, explains that if he stamina to get through the es of splashing and sinking, ack flyboarding. ew days are a whirl of luding a Chinese treatment at xtensive spa. It’s Ben’s first ce and he loves the jacuzzi, er pants, has mixed emotions sseurs’ attention and is he Olympic rings left on my back by ancient Chinese Zhengliao cupping. Later we play pool, watch a film under the stars and do a lot of buggyhopping, looking for a secret coconut stall (found it) and a prize message in a hidden bottle (failed this). Best of all is an introductory class in freediving, where we learn a breath-holding technique that increases our underwater time by 60 seconds.
This comes in handy for the night snorkelling session on our final evening at the resort. Floating in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, exam pressures and arguments about the PlayStation drift away. I feel reconnected with my son.
We were now ready for our next Maldivian adventure — a three-day openwater diving course in the Unesco World Biosphere reserve of the remote Baa Atoll.
As we step off the seaplane at Landaa Giraavaru, the atmosphere immediately feels more adult and sophisticated than the fizzy fun of the Lux resort. The wide, palmlined boulevard leading to the airy lobby of the Four Seasons resort introduces a grander tropical island. Mature beach gardenia and lantern trees create a natural green network, concealing the coralrendered beach villas. Ben and I home in on the bale (a traditional hut) with its inside-out living room, complete with table lamps, armchairs and a spiral staircase leading to a loft room without walls.
The theme of quiet maturity continued in Landaa Giraavaru’s Marine Discovery Centre. As well as a dive school, it has a well-established turtle conservation scheme, a coral reef regeneration programme and a pioneering manta ray research project that leads the world in studying the flying giants of the sea. It’s the ideal base from which to embark on my first underwater dive.
Ben had prepared by attending a weekly BSAC course at our local swimming baths and after three months was familiar with the equipment and disciplines of diving. I chose the busy father’s route and opted for the Four Seasons online Padi course, which allowed me to work through dive theory at home without wasting precious time on the idyllic island.
Inevitably, I came unstuck. “I cannot do it,” I mouthed and signalled that I needed to get to the surface. We were just 4.8m down and our gracious instructor Bella was demonstrating how to take off a mask underwater. Seeing her face without her usual smile and surrounded by bubbles had sent me into a panic. Bella adapted quickly, however, and shifted our training to a shallower part of the lagoon.
We were soon back on track. After three practice dips we did our final qualifying dive off the nearby uninhabited island of Milaidhoo. Adrift in an explosion of bannerfish and surrounded by a seascape of anemones, I was too distracted to worry, although I was glad that out of the corner of my mask I could see Ben monitoring my progress. After half an hour we were back