On arrival there was almost a double take the wow! was so strong. The public area is an over-water village, a waterworld of interconnected venues on different levels made of found materials: wood, rope, branches, thatch, worn telegraph poles. Yet nothing is disordered, the welcome and service is all drilled calm. This is rustic chic at its apogee.

The way the place looks, the way the place feels inspires a sense of well-being in everyone. It is not just the staff that smile but guests passing each other smile and say ‘hi’ with no awkwardness at all. A guy on the other mac using the internet says ‘take care’ as he gets up to leave. A husband comes up the beach away from his catamaran with a huge smile on his face and hugs his wife; their two children play in the shallows.

The island vegetation is more screwpine and hardwood than tall palms but although there is plenty of open sky as you walk around it’s not filled in with imported shrubs and flowers. The beach has lovely deep, soft sand where most of the beach villas are on the southwest and south sides but is narrower on the other side where sensibly the 3 water villa jetties have been built.

The reef was badly affected by the great bleaching event of 1998 and knocked back by subsequent lesser events. A restoration project called ‘Plant a Fish’ has been inaugurated by Fabian Cousteau. It involves grafting corals to create artificial reefs in the lagoon. This is not only valuable to corals and fish but also to guests who are not strong or confident swimmers.

Having said that, there is some very good snorkeling to be had from the public area out past the water villa jetty to the sandbank in the lagoon. Furthermore, as this island lies in the mainchannel of the atoll, dolphins and turtles are common sights close by and manta rays have been spoken of too.

Ocean Dimensions are a great team running the dive school and the watersports. Kitesurfing is a specialty here but it’s paddle boarding and surfing that has really made a name for Six Senses Laamu. There are a couple of useful nursery waves and then there is Yin Yang, the most famous break in the atoll.

Six Senses Laamu, like Soneva Fushi, puts health and freshness at the centre of its culinary philosophy. The organic fruit and vegetable garden, mushroom hut and chilli table are spread out around and below the Vietnamese restaurant, Leaf. Lunch is cooked before you from the ingredients you choose. The extensive breakfast list of juices comes with individual descriptions of use and value. There is delight and extravagance too, with 40 odd flavours of handmade ice cream and a wine cellar around a fine charcuterie and fromagerie.

The wellness principles extend to inviting world authorities in many related fields. Yoga and Tai chi is led by the in-house tutor on a lovely platform above the hi-tech gym. The spa is simply the most breath-taking design for a spa I have ever seen. It has pods like birds’ nests in the trees, both in the jungle and by the sea.

At the end of the day, there is no finer place to make you feel good than on a big mattress and pillow out over the water on a hammock, watching the sun set with a musical groove behind you coming from the bar Chill. Chilled.