Before my wife and I had kids, we decided to take a splurgy grownup vacation, a long-haul kind of trip we knew we probably wouldn’t do with groms in tow. Our last trip had been mountains (Dolomites, mountain biking), so this would be beach, and we settled on either the Maldives or the Seychelles. In the end, we picked the Maldives. But the Muslim Maldives are restrictive — most places you can stay are inclusive resorts that are given exclusive concessions to operate on tiny islands. Moving around is difficult, getting to know the locals tough.

Not so in the Seychelles, which are just as tropical, just as flawlessly paradisical, but are more open to free range visitors. And Paul Wex clearly made the best of them — he put together this lovely video on a visit to his girlfriend, who’s in the Seychelles doing a medical internship, and the islands look vibrant, exotic, friendly, and fun. Oh, and in addition to shooting everything but the underwater imagery (which was captured by Thomas Zwetti), Wex created the music, too.

Declination is other places, other spaces, and the things that happen there.