Pretty in pink

Pink is the first thing you notice. The thila is carpeted in soft coral, and the colour gathers thickest on the overhangs, where sea fans and pink and orange growth hang off the rock. You work the reef face slowly, dropping along the south side where a drop-off runs deeper than the coral top. Most of the dive stays shallow to moderate, close in on the structure rather than out in the blue.

The life here is small and tucked in. Glassfish hang in the shade under the overhangs, morays sit back in the crevices, and scorpionfish rest camouflaged on the coral. Green turtles cross the reef, and an eagle ray turns up now and then. Current is light, so you can hover and look rather than drift.

This is Meemu's colour dive. The atoll has a bigger all-round thila next door and dedicated sites for mantas, sharks and channel drifts, but none of them lead on what this one does: the density of pink soft coral. Purple sponges and orange cup corals fill in around it, and the overhangs concentrate the lot into one bright, close-up reef.

It rewards a slow, photographic approach. The calm water and shallow-to-moderate depth let you settle in front of a fan and work it. Because Meemu sees so little boat traffic, you tend to have the thila to yourself.

Pack a torch. Depth and shade dull the colour, and a light brings the pinks and oranges back and picks out the glassfish and crevice life. The overhangs are a partial overhead, so hold your trim and stay within natural light rather than pushing into anything dark.

Watch your depth on the south-side drop-off, which falls away below the coral. The clearest water comes in the northeast dry monsoon, January to April, which is the season to aim for if you are diving it for the colour. The site is reached by boat from the island dive base or a liveaboard, on the operator's schedule.