Although dying to get into the water I hang back a while and take it in. Crabs scamper away from us – little intricate shells suddenly sprout legs and crawl along the sand. Washed-up coral scatters the waterline. Looking across to the mainland, there are huge forest-covered mountains towering out of the ocean. A large dark rain cloud is rolling down its sides, dumping its load – an impenetrable wall of rain.

On with the snorkel and flippers. I've hardly done any snorkelling before and end up waddling around comically – it’s really hard to walk through shallow water in flippers! Eventually, I realise that walking backwards is much easier. Plunging into the water, my ungainliness is gone and I'm of into an Aquamarina fantasy: powering along mermaid style, wondering if I should be letting my hair out to wave around behind me … I realise the big yellow snorkel and mask probably ruins the look …

I've never seen a coral reef before, and I'm totally blown away by what I see. It really does look like a forest under the water – a strange alien forest. Waving, frondy bits, spiky cactus shapes, blobby things that looks like giant brains, huge round mould like day-glow things … some the size of cars. There’re endless variations in the shapes and colours down here. Busy little fish swim in and out of the fronds with the underwater bustle of a market town, while here and there bright blue, languid starfish drape across the reef.

Faye swims by and I know she’s experiencing the same feeling as me – I can see her eyes sparkling. "I must have done something very, very good in my life to get to be here," she says.

The warm water is no relief from the sweltering heat above, and every now and then there is a wave of almost hot water. I didn't know it was possible to feel hot and sweaty while swimming in the ocean!

I get to a steep drop off, the reef suddenly disappears and all I can see is deep, deep blue. I stop; suddenly anxious. It all feels familiar and I wonder why I'm scared of the blue abyss. Then it hits me, it's exactly like that scene in Finding Nemo. Just then a little clown fish swims by...

Back on the inflatable we head home under the hot sun, skirting the edge of the dark brooding rainstorm. I'm not in any danger of ever getting bored with bouncing along the waves...

Coral reefs are another part of the eco-system affected by logging. The run-off from areas cleared by logging contains large amounts of soil sedimentation and it destroys reefs like this – it’s already happened in Papua. Large sections of reef have also been damaged by log barges scraping the seabed.

- Sophie