It’s hard to decide where to start a sustainability story set in Palau.

I could begin with the facts: the 340-plus island nation created the world’s first shark sanctuary in 2009, followed by a 193,000-square-mile national marine sanctuary in 2015, larger than California. Then it launched a “Palau Pledge” in 2017, the world’s first tourism law requiring visitors to commit to acting in environmentally conscious and sustainable ways at passport control, followed by a Responsible Tourism Education Act in 2018, mandating that the tourism businesses themselves provide environmental education, conservation advice, and sustainable options.

Or I could start with how my wife and I stayed at the Palau Pacific Resort, just off the main island of Koror for a week, and how it was fringed by the most dazzling powder-white beach we saw anywhere during our stay, plus a kaleidoscope of purple and lavender burrowing clams, admiral blue sea stars, fiery red dartfish, and finger and sheet coral in the clear rippling 84-degree water that flitted with life just past our ankles.

Or I could start with the feel—the waves of relaxation that swept over both of our bodies as we lolled on the beach, with the archipelago’s thick, flowering foliage enveloping the islets around us.

Or I could start with an even more literal feel: the 2.5-hour Milky Way Escape we experienced together in the resort’s Elilai Spa by Mandara. Devised and implemented by its Balinese team, the treatment began with a cleansing peppermint foot ritual, followed by a coconut vanilla body scrub, quick showers to return our skin to a now-softer blank canvas, and then a white-clay body wrap to remove impurities and toxins, a scalp massage, bath, tea ceremony (with cookies!), and a warm-stone massage—intended to restore energy and balance, while also relieving sore muscles and stiffness.

How did our muscles get sore in the first place, aside from the 15-plus hours it took to fly to Palau from Honolulu, including a five-hour stopover Guam? From scuba diving, naturally. Palau offers some of the very best diving in the world, and in an age where so much of the planet’s coral is succumbing to bleaching, the Micronesian country’s is pristine. We dived three times a day with locally owned Neco Marine (www.necomarine.com), which picked us up every day at our dock, and were astounded by the health and vibrancy of the reefs (with their 700 species of corals and 1,400 species of fish), including giant oceanic manta rays with 25-foot wingspans, the largest in the world.

What we discovered in Palau is that it’s magnificent, both above and below the water—especially the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the tiny, lushly forested Rock Islands, just a boat trip away. When we weren’t diving or lolling, we explored Jellyfish Lake, famous for its undulating and pulsing non-stinging inhabitants, and the Milky Way Lagoon, whose goopy white mud inspired our massages (all that’s needed is to dive 10 feet down for a handful and then to spread it over your skin, but the guides will do the diving part for you, too).

Back at the resort, where there are indulgent lagoon and overwater bungalows, complete with glass floors, sometimes called Tahitian TVs elsewhere in the Pacific (the lagoon is a conservation area, itself), we capped off our stay with a seven-course “King & Queen Dinner” on the beach, served with fresh coconut and champagne—because you shouldn’t ever have to choose—with each of us crowned and draped with leis as the sun set before us. And as we ate, we knew the next morning would be revelatory, because all of them in Palau were.