There is a particular silence on a Maldivian island at six in the morning. The water is flat, the sky is pale and the only sound is the reef breaking far away.
I had come with a reading list, a running plan and three podcasts to catch up on. I finished none of them.
The tide keeps time
Instead, I snorkelled from the villa steps, watched a turtle graze on sea grass for twenty minutes and ate lunch with my feet in the sand.
By day three, I had stopped looking at my phone. By day four, I had forgotten where it was.
A marine biologist on the island told me that coral grows about a centimetre a year. It felt like a sensible pace for a holiday too.
Journeys inspired by this storyAn island state of mind6 days · from £4,980
Nora LindqvistEditor at large
Plans journeys for Elsewhere and writes about the places that stay with them.
