That feeling of absolute escapism is compounded still further when you just happen to be visiting in the middle of November. Whilst the UK shivers as the first throws of winter kick in, the Seychelles enjoys the sort of climate that you’d expect from an archipelago nation located just South of the equator. With Emirates and other airlines running regular flights from the UK, getting there takes about 11 hours - not counting a short stopover in Dubai for an overpriced sandwich and a stewed coffee.

Touching-down on the Seychelles’ mainland island of Mahé is the end of the journey for most, but our destination lay a further 400 kilometres South West on the private island resort of Alphonse. Part of the Seychelles outer island group, Alphonse is a spectacular coral island that – along with neighbouring St Francois and the tiny nature reserve island of Bijoutier, is blessed with the sort of climate and natural beauty that is the stuff of travel dreams. Boarding a small 16-seater twin-prop aeroplane, we covered the 400 kilometres across the open ocean in about an hour. All too soon, our little plane bumped down on the tiny runway that runs the full length of Alphonse island.

Shaped like a shark tooth with a large lagoon providing shelter from the sweeping oceanic currents, Alphonse Island is less than a square mile in size. With the island split down the middle by the air strip, one half is given over to guests with accommodation comprising of a small number of raised beach bungalows and suites that run along the North-Eastern edge of the island.

From the moment you arrive, it’s clear that everything about Alphonse oozes exclusivity – the accommodation, whilst simple, is finished to a very high standard and the onsite restaurant caters to your every whim – the resort chef even seeks you out on arrival to get a feel for your culinary tastes. Quite simply, nothing is too much for the friendly staff there to answer your every beck and call.

Alphonse Island may be small but the 40km of outer reef that rings the island offers a healthy diversity of diving including deep drop offs, hard-coral plateaus, patch reefs, over-hangs, pinnacles and more. With thirty dive sites to choose from plus the option of joining the team on exploratory trips to dive unchartered areas of reef, there’s plenty to keep even the most demanding diver happy. Whilst currents are a recurring theme on the outer reef, Sam, Lucy and the team have become quite adept at reading the conditions and selecting sites that can offer anything from little or no current to a full on steam train experience.

Whilst there is very little in the way of soft coral in this part of the Indian Ocean, we were spoilt by spectacular forests of Gorgonian sea fans, stunning black coral and sea whips – all of which can be found on most of the outer reef sites. With so little diving activity around the island, the reefs attract a healthy abundance of marine life too with colourful fish darting around the hard corals as Bluelined Snapper, Yellow Goatfish and Barracuda sweep around you in large schools.

Encounters with large marine life are commonplace too with Humpback Wrasse and Green Turtles all making an appearance. Just don’t expect them to get too close – with little or no contact with divers, most of the life we encountered seemed a little skittish around us with the turtles, in particular, giving us a wide berth.