The Nautilus Maldives

From the air, the overwater houses at The Nautilus make a leaf: the boardwalk leaves the beach as its stem and branches off to each house like a vein, with a curved pool at the tip of every one. The beach houses stay on the sand. This is Thiladhoo, a private island in Baa Atoll half an hour by seaplane from Velana, and there are only 26 houses and residences on it, each with its own pool and its own House Master, a butler on call day and night in place of a front desk. David Edward of Aston Design built them of red meranti and kapur under cones of kajan thatch. By a pool tiled in sea green, a day bed hangs from ropes in a thatched pavilion, for when the pool is too much effort. In the Nautilus Retreat part of the floor is glass, so the lagoon carries on under the living room.

Recommended for couples who would rather not be told when lunch is, and for families: two children under 12 stay and eat free, and Young Wonderers, the kids club for three- to twelve-year-olds, is in the middle of the island. None of the three restaurants keeps opening hours or a dress code, and breakfast comes anywhere, at any hour, dinner time included. The pick is Ocaso, a grill on the sand, for smoky Japanese, Mexican and Peruvian cooking. A private yacht takes about fifteen minutes to Hanifaru Bay, where the manta rays are and, from May to November, whale sharks, or out to a sandbank for a picnic. Back at Naiboli, the pool bar, canapés come out all day, and after dark a nautilus lights up on the floor of the pool beside it, which is as close as the island comes to a clock.