Travel: Beating the fear

Lorna V has never been into adventure trips. So how would she manage a diving trip in Baros, Maldives?

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Travel: Beating the fear

ย Experiencing Total beauty

You donโ€™t go to a place like Baros to navigate street life and check out sights, you don’t go loaded with maps and lists and tips and must-visit venues. You go to experience total beauty and to play and to be looked after. You donโ€™t even have to worry about nabbing a sun lounger because you have so much of your own space. It’s your moment of being in a Bounty bar ad only the moment lasts for a week or more. Itโ€™s the unreality thatโ€™s the point of the trip.

And from this unreality, the fantasy me slipped into her flippers to enter a marine reality. And yes, that really was me who returned two hours later having followed other snorkellers around the lagoon. There was no question as to whether Iโ€™d last out for the tour that afternoon though I still had to come up, take a proper breath, and consider if I was up to going past that wall into the open ocean. I did it, entering a state of ecstasy looking down onto steep mountain-like coral.

On our last day I found out that the marine team had identified โ€˜ourโ€™ turtle. It was Pana, whose name means โ€˜hopeโ€™.

ย A week at 5* Baros Maldives costs from ยฃ1,599 per person – saving up to ยฃ662 – booked throughย Sovereign Luxury Travelย (0843 770 4526,ย www.sovereign.com). The price includes a free night, return flights from London Gatwick with Emirates, airport lounge access, private transfers and seven nights B&B in a Deluxe Villa based on 2 adults sharing a room.ย Based on departures 2 May 2014.

For further information on Baros Maldives please visitย www.Baros.comย or callย +960 664 26 72