Armed with good food, good company and an indomitable sense of adventure, we sailed off the beaten track and found the joys of frontier diving.

We hope the pictures speak adequately of Napantaw's mind-boggling fish-clouded, candy-colored, coral-laden wall; or do justice to remote, paradisaical Dinagat Island, an undiscovered gem tucked away in a time-forgotten corner of the archipelago; or perhaps convey the sense of living la dolce vita at The Surf Camp on Calicoan Island.