I didn’t think anything would ever top diving on the Great Barrier Reef, where I got my first PADI certificate. But that was before I went off to Sharm el Sheikh to do an advanced course in the Red Sea. The coral reefs are bursting with life and colour, so it was all too easy to get distracted when you were meant to be practising underwater navigation or getting your buoyancy just right. My favourite was the deep dive: a few tests at 36 metres to make sure the pressure wasn’t messing with our heads followed by a slow and steady swim towards the surface along the face of an amazing coral cliff spotting everything from eels to parrotfish. It felt effortless, but we always had a massive appetite for dinner at Tam Tam, the local Egyptian café (though that may have been because the food was pretty good and cheap, too). Go now before rising sea temperatures destroy the reefs...