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In Macao, we saw Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell landing in the port city from the Hong Kong ferry. Here we climb aboard the good old steam ferry, Fa Tsan, with the promise of plenty of romance and adventure ahead – although we’ll be needing our sea legs.

Welcome to Macao, the fascinating “Monte Carlo of the East”, whose infernal gambling dens are a perfect playground for bad boys. Crooks, fugitives and smugglers hit the jackpot or are left high and dry depending on a throw of the dice. Still waters run deep and you have to be careful: this “calm and open” haven with its gently bobbing sampans has another, hidden side, “secret and veiled”, tucked away inside the casinos, as the opening credits warn us. Macao, in red letters with yellow shadowing on the poster, is all decked out in its finery, every bit as glamorous and elegant as the music-hall vamp who has emerged from its choppy waters. 

Today I'm going to talk to you about sponges. Not the sort that frenziedly scratch and scrub away at the dark corners of your bathrooms, but the inoffensive animal species that softly cover the world's ocean beds. Although they do, alas, end up marooned on the edge of an ordinary washbasin, left to their sad, utilitarian fate.

The Red Sea is a favourite destination for divers, captivated by its translucent waters brimming with a variety of lush flora. However, it does not always live up to its image as an aquatic paradise. The depths of the Red Sea are also home to terrifying underwater monsters...

Who hasn’t dreamed of moving freely, unshackled from the laws of gravity, among silent creatures, as fascinating as they are disturbing?

Simply by looking at the poster, I can already feel my pulse slow, my body and mind soothed by the deep blue which banishes the noise and fury of the outside world.