The tide, calm but high, laps onto powdered white sand, occasionally rippling as one of the dozen or so black-tip reef sharks cruising the shallows darts at prey. The sea is otherwise silent, but the jungle encircling us is alive with early morning birdlife, hollering and cawing, now and then subduing before exploding anew into another raucous frenzy of calls. The sun breaks the horizon – it’s time to go diving.