Lord Howe Island

Diving here is small-scale and weather-led. A couple of operators run morning two-dive trips from boats kept in the lagoon, and because the lagoon shallows over the reef flat, departure can shift with the tide rather than sitting at a fixed hour. Visitor numbers on the island are capped at 400 at any one time, so a boat usually carries a handful of divers rather than a crowd. The skipper picks whichever coast is out of the wind that morning, and it is normal for the plan to be settled at the jetty.

The island is the eroded remnant of a far larger volcano, and the ground underwater follows suit: basalt ridges, boulder fields, arches and deep gutters, with corals growing over the rock rather than building it. The exception is the sheltered west side, where coral reef encloses a shallow lagoon. Lagoon dives are bright and easy, over sand patches and isolated coral heads; along the northern and outer coasts the bottom falls away and sites become ledges, caves and gutters with current running along them.

Balls Pyramid is the outlier, and the one thing that can go unticked for a whole trip. It is a long open-ocean run southeast of the island, it only goes when the swell allows, and the settled December-to-April months give the best odds. The stack rises out of deep water with nothing else around it, so the diving is usually a drift along steep rock, watching what hangs in the blue rather than studying reef. Operators want divers who are current and comfortable being dropped in open water.

It suits people who want diving to be one part of an island trip rather than all of it, with mornings underwater and afternoons on the walking tracks or snorkelling. A walk-in dive from the beach fills an afternoon with no boat involved. It is a poor fit for anyone wanting four dives a day, guaranteed encounters with big animals, or a cheap week: flights, beds and boat places are all limited, prices reflect that, and the weather has the last word.