The problem with diving holidays is that all too often, the biggest dive is the hotel you’re staying in. It’s generally accepted among the wetsuit fraternity that if you insist on classy accommodation, you’ll be a lengthy ride from the best dive sites, whereas if you want to stay right in the action, your only options are a sweaty boat or a flimsy shack.

As a dive enthusiast and something of a sybarite, the photographer Tim Simond was frustrated that tour operators had so little information about how to combine divine luxury and dive locations, so he has spent the past 2 years researching resorts where sightings of the fusilier fish are not had at the expense of the Frette linen.

In his new book, Dive in Style, he describes 26 places, from Sardinia to the Seychelles, which offer that elusive, winning combination — but we’ve made him whittle his choice down to a select handful. Here, he reveals the six hotels that really are to dive for.

HOTEL BORA BORA, French Polynesia

“Bora Bora gets my vote as the most beautiful island in the world. Its palm-fringed, white-sand beaches are stunning, the diving is fantastic and then there’s the Hotel Bora Bora, which is the South Seas hotel. It’s a grande dame, a time warp. I love the fact that every other successful resort adds rooms — the Bora Bora opened in 1961 with 90 rooms, now there are just 54, so the level of privacy is unbelievable. There’s no bling, no preening celebrities, it’s all so low-key, it’s like staying with an incredibly rich friend. And the diving is first-class.

“In fact, there’s so much just around the hotel jetty alone that there was talk about making it an official dive site. Coming back from dinner one evening, I dropped in by the dock and lay next to a manta ray with a 12ft wingspan, its tips just brushing me. It’s wonderful for shark-diving, too. You’ll see so many fins in the water, it’ll remind you of a James Bond movie. On one dive, you are in the water beneath the sharks when they’re feeding. Sharks lose teeth as they feast and you can catch them as they fall.”

Getting there: ITC Classics (01244 355527, www.itcclassics.co.uk) has a week from £2,509pp, room-only, flying with Air New Zealand from Gatwick to Tahiti (via Los Angeles). Regional add-ons from £70pp.

MARLIN LODGE, Mozambique

“Mozambique is going to explode in tourist terms over the next few years. The Bazaruto Archipelago is totally virgin and unexplored. The fish are so varied and entirely oblivious to humans, which means you can swim in the middle of a school and they don’t care.

“It’s thrilling to think that nobody’s really been here before, which is instantly evident because of one thing — the shells. In most places they’re made into souvenirs, but here there are no shops, so you’ll see the most amazing shells — masses and masses of live, beautiful ones, covering the sea bed. It’s extraordinary. And the reefs are exceptionally healthy, the soft corals look like underwater flower stalls. The place to stay is Marlin Lodge, which was built as a fishing lodge. There are some simple rooms and some utterly luxurious suites, with four-poster beds and indoor and outdoor bathrooms. They’re very beautiful and create a real sense of being in Africa.”

Getting there: Audley Travel (01869 276250, www.audleytravel.com) has an 11-day trip from £2,850pp, full-board, including British Airways flights from Heathrow to Johannesburg, including transfers. Regional connections start at £60pp.

Times recommends

• Britain's top 10 New Year's Day brunches
• Mozambique's lost islands
• The best things to see and do in 2010