Diving, James Bond-style

None of the staff shows any interest in devising ingenious ways to kill you, and there are no seductive yet strangely vulnerable double agents. Apart from these two omissions, you could confidently say that on this diving holiday James Bond would feel thoroughly at home.

As you step back aboard the Explorer after a dive, Clement, the waiter from Madras, appears holding a tray of moist, chilled and scented cotton flannels. You don't worry about your diving kit, you know someone else will bring it on board. Someone has also filled the whirlpool bath beside the open-air bar and set the jets-and-bubbles to give you a soothing massage as you lean back, sip a cocktail and watch the sinking sun set the sky ablaze.

A diving holiday, James Bond-style, means lavish pampering and none of the chores you never see 007 doing: rinsing out your wet suit, refilling your tank with compressed air, setting up all your kit before each dive and dismantling it afterwards. Somehow, it all happens off-screen.

This may not surprise devotees of Four Seasons, the luxury hotel chain that launched the Explorer in January. A 39-metre catamaran with a cruising speed of 16 knots, she accommodates just 22 guests - and a slightly larger number of crew to spoil them.

The spacious cabins are fitted out in teak - the Explorer Suite has a king-sized bed, a day bed, panoramic windows over the bow and a walk-in wardrobe. The lounge has five sofas and a vast plasma screen, while the galley houses three executive chefs producing exquisite buffets and waiter-served meals, which you can take in the dining room or at tables on deck. One deck below is a fully equipped dive centre.

This luxury take on the liveaboard dive boat completes a leisurely figure-of-eight through the coral atolls of the Maldives once every fortnight. Its base is the Four Seasons resort of Kuda Huraa, on North Male' atoll. You can sail for a whole week on either the northern or southern route, or combine a stay at the resort with three or four nights on board, arriving at the Explorer on a seaplane taxi.

On our cruise along the southern loop, we visited up to four sites a day. Before each dive, we'd find our equipment kitted up on the traditional wooden dhoni - traditional due to its wooden construction and carved decoration, rather than the recessed halogen lighting and open-air, hotandcold shower at the stern.

The underwater sightseeing was spectacular. Not so much the coral - much of it bleached by the warm waters El Niño brought in 1998 - but for the creatures around it; giant clams, starfish the colours of stained-glass windows and moray eels. Once, on the sandy sea floor, I heard an underwater squealing and looked up to see about 25 dolphins, one with a young calf, silhouetted above. Another time, three eagle rays swam past with slow, effortless beats of wings that must have measured six foot.

On one dive, we followed the outer wall of a coral atoll until we reached a channel through which the tide was surging, and felt as if we were flying over the coral, past a turtle, a ray semisubmerged in the sand and a sixfoot shark lurking in the gloom.

We learned more about what we saw from the resident marine biologist. This being a James Bond fantasy, the brains on board was a tall, blonde Swedish zoologist who, in a wet suit, could stun at 50 metres. Whatever she said - for example, discussing the life of the sea cucumber, which lazes on the sea bed like a giant brown turd, and which breathes through an anus that is home to a resident fish - I found myself paying attention in a way I never did during biology at school.

Her illustrated talks and guided snorkelling trips were two options also open to non-divers. On several occasions we'd stop on a sandbank, where a small gazebo would be erected for the resident masseur, and guests would swim, kayak or waterski.

One evening, we went to a tiny sandbank illuminated with candles, sat at a table on the sand and ate grilled lobster under a billion tropical stars. Even Bond would have been impressed.

Way to go

James Bedding travelled to the Maldives with BSAC Travel Club, operated by Hayes & Jarvis (0870 90 37 737). From 1 September to 25 October, a seven-night Explorer Cruise costs £2,785 per person (twin share) including flights, transfers, full-board on Explorer and diving. An Island Discovery holiday - three nights on board ( full board, plus diving) with four nights B&B at the Four Seasons, Kuda Hurraa - costs £2,165 pp.