The dazzling coral gardens of Raja Ampat

With its jungly karst islands, like dozens of bright green button mushrooms scattered across turquoise seas, Raja Ampat is perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.

And this “otherworldly” region of eastern Indonesia is also home to what is thought to be the most biodiverse marine system on Earth, said Lorna Parkes in National Geographic Traveller. Roughly 75% of the world’s hard coral species are found here, and these “forests of the ocean” support more than 1,500 fish species, at least 18 mammal species, and six out of the world’s seven species of sea turtle. For snorkellers and divers it is nirvana, and there’s no lovelier way to explore it than aboard a pinisi, a traditional wooden sailing boat. I went on a five-day trip with Rascal Voyages, a company that owns two specially adapted pinisi in which the five cabins are above deck, with wraparound views. (The boats have no sails, as a result.)

Our ship, the Rebel, is comfortable, “all polished woods, big picture windows and comfy palm-print cushions”, with an air- conditioned bar where marine biologists deliver lectures. There’s also a presentation by the charity Sea People, which helps to repair damage to Raja Ampat’s coral reefs caused by warming seas and unsustainable development.

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Guests who can confidently control their buoyancy while diving can join in its “coral gardening” work, which involves transplanting tens of thousands of coral fragments from healthy sites. I stuck to snorkelling, but still saw many wonders, from clouds of colourful fish to hawksbill turtles, huge manta rays and even an epaulette, a “walking shark” that crawls over the reef using its fins. Scarcely less heavenly were our trips on land.

While birdwatching in Waisilip Bay, we saw sea eagles and cockatoos, though we missed the dazzling birds of paradise for which the region is known. And at Kali Biru, we floated downstream beneath “an arcade of jungle creepers”, on a river of the bluest water imaginable.

Cabins cost from £1,880 full board; rascalvoyages.com