CLUB MED KANI

GO-GO-GO

Activities on tap, as with an all-you-caneat buffet, is an excellent model when the quality is high and you’ve come with an appetite. Speeding up to Club Med Kani on our 30-minute boat transfer from the airport, we took in the buzz of the tiny island in happy anticipation. From beachside flying trapeze to regular aqua aerobics classes, there is a bustle to the main hub that quickly fades into the serene lapping of water on the shore if you walk along the island’s mile of beach to its other side. Guests book rooms according to how much they feel they want to be at the centre of the action.

We settled into our beachside suite of rooms in time for a dip in the pool before supper. Just as the children were perfecting their cannonballs, Marilyn Monroe tumbled into the water next to them. This distressed damsel was rescued by James Bond, with another chap who seemed to be Steven Spielberg directing an approaching shark. As I tried to read Elena Ferrante, my children ogled the scene, which ended in a Mamma Mia!-style group dance-along. My six-year-old was entranced, my eight-year-old and her father utterly mortified. “This is all a bit like Kellerman’s,” my husband observed. And yes, there is an insistence on organised fun that’s reminiscent of the early 1960s Catskills resort portrayed in Dirty Dancing. But one of the joys of fun on tap is that it requires little planning on your part: you just fall into step with the rhythm of the operation.

My son did not meet the minimum age for snorkelling trips, so one afternoon while he and my husband swam, my daughter and I headed out to see some fish. Following a swimming test, we took a boat to a nearby reef and spent an hour on a spectacular underwater safari. Expert guides led our group of 20 or so around the coral, pointing out turtles and all the colours. That this is included in the price is something of a relief: there are few hidden costs at Club Med, beyond waterskiing or scuba diving.

We zoomed back to Kani just in time for my daughter to join her brother in the kids’ club foam party. You may not think you need a foam party in your life, but it is an efficient way to buy time for a drink – a great variety of cocktails are available at the bar, all afternoon, on an all-inclusive basis. As the sun lowers, parents enjoy a proper apéro as children continue with the foam, or swim in the pool.

Kani has one main dining room, which expands on to the beach, and two smaller restaurants. Seafood features heavily, with dishes such as grilled lobster and nicely cooked steaks starring in evening meals, plus there is a pasta station, a Chinese corner, and an excellent Indian buffet churning out its own freshly baked bread at all meals.

All aboard at Club Med Kani, left; chill on the beach at Constance Halaveli, above