Pulau Weh coral-coast bungalow

Pulau Weh sits at the very top of Sumatra, a small volcanic island an hour by fast ferry from Banda Aceh and the official Kilometre Zero of Indonesia. It is a diving island first and foremost: the wall at Iboih drops from three metres to forty within a few fin-kicks of the shore, Rubiah island's marine park is a five-minute boat hop, and the volcanic vents at Sabang Bay bubble warm gas through the reef.

The property is a two-bedroom hardwood bungalow built on a rocky shoulder above the Iboih water, seventy-five square metres under a steep shingle roof with a deep verandah that catches the afternoon breeze. Inside there is an open living-kitchen area, one bathroom with a rain shower, ceiling fans throughout and louvred windows on three sides. A short flight of concrete steps drops from the garden to a private snorkelling entry with permanently clear water.

Day to day the island is easy. Sabang town, twenty-five minutes away by scooter, has a hospital, banks, a covered market with fish landed each morning, hardware stores and a supermarket. Iboih itself has a strip of warungs doing grilled snapper, mie aceh and the strong local coffee that Aceh is famous for, plus half a dozen dive shops running certification courses year round.

Aceh is a conservative province and visitors dress modestly away from the beach, but the reception for foreigners on Weh has always been notably warm, and the island's tourism economy is well established. Ferries run several times daily to Banda Aceh, which has a domestic airport with connections to Medan, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. Foreign buyers use the standard Indonesian long-lease or Hak Pakai structure through a notary in Banda Aceh.

This is a house for someone whose ideal morning is a coffee on the verandah followed by a snorkel over a coral wall, and whose ideal evening is the sun setting into the Andaman Sea from the westernmost point of the archipelago.