Powdery white beaches, palm trees and impossibly blue waters dominate everyone’s imagination of tropical island escapes. Even better if there is no one else there.

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This is the case at Cap Masoala, the destination of the Blue Lagoon Expedition, where time might as well have stood still for the past few hundred years. Rural people survive there on a subsistence lifestyle and over the past 20 years have accepted guests as part of the community.

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Some 50km from the base camp at Masoala Forest Lodge lies Cap Masoala, the very tip of the Masoala Peninsula. This remote location holds a small rural population that depends largely on the sea for subsistence and has the luxury of a fortnightly visit by a coastal trading boat for rarer goods. It really is miles from anywhere and as a result has an idyllic, disconnected feel.

Access is literally only by boat from Masoala Forest Lodge and guests can stay there only as part of the Blue Lagoon Expedition, the first nights of which are spent at Masoala Forest Lodge after first flying into Maroantsetra Airport some 90km from Cap Masoala.

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On this expedition you combine the core area of Masoala National Park and rainforest with a marine exploration of the Blue Lagoon, its beaches, fringing reefs and offshore islets by kayak and outrigger pirogue. Walk the shores and snorkel the coves while still finding time for night walks in search of lemurs and sundowners on old crumbling colonial lighthouses. Simple food, fresh air, and midday siestas in shady hammocks are the order of the day.

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This expedition takes place in the summer months of October, November, and December during optimal ocean conditions.