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Follow in their footsteps aboard Walindi Plantation Resort's latest liveaboard, MV Oceania, which is due to set sail this April and will head to the most remote corners of Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea. Cruising the remote Cocos Island, 340 miles offshore from Costa Rica, avid adventurers can descend 450 metres deep in its deep sea submersible to seek out the elusive prickly shark and other alien creatures, spending dive-able depths mingling with hundreds of scalloped hammerheads. The route encompasses no less than three UNESCO World Heritage sites, nine natural protected areas and two national marine parks, including the Sea of Cortez, which hosts everything from playful sea lions to hundreds of mobula rays (May), whales (November to March) and even orcas - it is "the aquarium of the world", after all. Channel their cetacean curiosities with Six Senses Laamu's new Junior Marine Biologist programme, which allows six to 16 year-olds to muck in in all things marine biology, from helping collect data on Laamu's marine inhabitants (which include turtles, rays, sharks and reef fish galore) to restoring coral reefs and working on a personal research project.

What started as a conversation with the dive guides at Alphonse in late 2017 ended with Original Diving taking a group of clients on an exclusive trip to explore the islands of Aldabra in late 2018 - a trip led by me (all in the name of research), Tim Simond, author of Dive in Style and co-founder of Original Diving, and Sam Balderson from Blue Safari, the company that operates the lodges we were to be staying in… Setting off from London in the depths of a cold December, we flew to Mahé for a night to get over the jetlag before the real adventure was to begin on the islands of Astove and Cosmoledo in the Aldabra Atoll. Early the following morning, we took a small, 16-seater plane from Mahé to Astove, via the island of Alphonse; a total journey of some three hours and over 700 miles. In the late 60s, the Veevers-Carter family, a husband and wife (British and American) and their three young kids, gave up their comfortable lives in the western world and moved to Astove to live off the grid. Most of the dives are done on the Astove Wall which is just metres off the main beach, but there are sites all around the island - probably 15 or so that are currently known.

As the ocean's largest fish whale sharks are found in tropical seas around the planet, making for some pretty comfortable dive conditions - unusual when diving, or snorkelling, for some of the ocean's bigger beasts. Suspected highlights of a diving trip to the Galapagos might include sea turtles, marine iguanas and fur seals, but the gentle giants of the ocean can also be spotted here between June and December. Isla Holbox is just a 25-minute boat ride from the mainland of Quintana Roo and is one of the rare pockets of this region that is yet to be overrun by mass tourism, despite attracting the ocean's largest fish, who arrive between June and September to feed and mate. The bay is part of the Teluk Cenderawasih National Park and is also home to more than 150 different coral species and over 200 known species of fish, making for spectacular diving conditions.

And while sea turtles can be found in all oceans (except the Arctic) throughout the year, here is our pick of the top spots to see turtles across the world, from witnessing a turtle nesting to hundreds of hatchlings paddling to the ocean to volunteering with an all-important conservation project and generally have a turtle-y (sorry) awesome wildlife holiday. The Turks and Caicos Islands Turtle Project has successfully flipper-tagged over 300 green and hawksbill turtles since its inception in 2011, and guests of the super-luxurious Amanyara hotel on Providenciales can now get involved in the conservation efforts, joining the resident naturalist on a turtle tagging safari to the shallow waters of the Caicos Banks to learn how to catch, flipper tag and release these resident reptiles back into the wild. Four of the world's seven species of sea turtle nest on the golden beaches of Oman, including at the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort, which plays host to green and hawksbill turtles from January to August each year. And for a turtle adventure like no other, head to Alphonse Island, where a staggering five species of turtle can be found, including green and hawksbill turtles who use the Outer Islands of the Seychelles as their nesting grounds.