The last rays of the setting sun had left the cove where our Hatteras 53 sportfisherman lay quietly at anchor in the growing dusk. I could feel the warmth of the sun lingering in the teak planks underfoot, and I settled comfortably into the fighting chair with an icy Singha beer in hand. I was ready for the evening performance.

But what show could I be awaiting, you ask, since I was far from civilisation at one of Thailand’s deserted islands? I could have selected from DVDs for the television in the main salon (this was no spartan charter!), but I hadn’t. I was in the front row for a light show from Mother Nature’s at her best.

Far off in the distance, over the tropical highlands and jungles of Thailand, mighty cumulonimbus clouds were boiling into crenellated towers, churning upwards in rosy shades as the sun caught their pillars and valleys while black streamers of rain slanted downward to the hot earth.

Every evening this massive amount of aerial energy is converted into a spectacular electrical show that dances across the horizon as bolt after bolt of lightning is unleashed and flickers of heat lightning glow wickedly deep inside the cloud bases.

Too far away to hear more than a faint rumble long after each flash, I was witness to the sight but little of the fury reached my ears.

Overhead in the clear night air, the Big Dipper was just one cluster of zillions of stars fighting for space in the sky, and it wouldn’t be long before the Southern Cross poked above the horizon. This was yacht chartering at its best.

I had flown to Thailand to sail aboard one of the fleet of luxury charter yachts, exploring the islands and shoreline of the Andaman Sea around Phuket. Like the Caribbean of Hemingway’s time, these are unspoiled charter grounds. The crystal clear water laps against palm-fringed white beaches unmarred by foam cups or beer cans, and the anchorages are usually empty.

In fact, we went four days without seeing another yacht and our skipper, incensed at the eventual single intruder, asked querulously “Who the hell is that?” Pick a cove and enjoy a night without neighbours. Stroll the beach and yours are the first footprints in weeks.

I flew via Thai Airways from Los Angeles to Bangkok via Tokyo, revelling in the luxurious Executive Class service that made the long (24 hours portal to portal) flight slide past effortlessly. Once in Bangkok, there are connections to the island of Phuket almost hourly.

On the drive from the airport, it’s immediately apparent that you’re not in Kansas, Toto. The roads wind through dense jungles broken by rubber plantations, in which cathedral-like rows of arched rubber trees date back to when this country was called Siam and ruled by a king. You’ll also glimpse the occasional golden Buddha or an ornate and gleaming temple filled with monks in saffron robes. Water buffalo in the rice paddies add to the sense of another time and place, but the whizzing traffic is definitely twentieth century. Fleets of rental jeeps tower over the yammering tuk-tuks – a motor-tricycle type of taxi-van that you’ll use for getting around Phuket.

Unfortunately, Phuket (pronounced poo-KET, please) has become a crowded tourist trap, with honky tonk bars and “massage parlours” crammed elbow-to-elbow along the best beaches. There are exquisite luxury hotels, such as Amanpuri, but charterers will find that the neon civilisation falls astern as quickly as you leave harbour. Once underway, the waterways and islands are delightful and untouched.
Everywhere we went, people waved and smiled, and the local fishermen offered to trade pet-sized lobsters for a few bottles of beer. Thai food is delicious, with one caveat: beware of the hot sauces. When a Thai warns that a delicacy is hot, it will probably raise blisters on an uneducated Western tongue. You’ll find that they manage to combine sweet with savoury foods, so you can expect a salty tang with syrupy sugars in the same delicacy. Other hallmarks of Thai food are the lavish use of coconut milk, peanuts, meat and seafood. Mee krob is a crisp tangle of deep fried noodles with a sweet-sour-salty sauce, while tome kha gai is a classic coconut-chicken soup. Test your tongue by asking for a mild version of goong sou-sa, giant prawns sauteed in a pepper sauce, but beware of tohm yam kung (pictured right) a fiery seafood or chicken soup flavoured with lemon grass. The most important words you’ll need when ordering are kor mai phet (not too spicy, please).

At Phuket, I boarded an immaculate Hatteras 58 motoryacht with an American captain, Singaporean English-speaking mate, and Thai chef. We headed north into Phang Nga (pronounced “fang-naw”) Bay, where the waters are as calm as a lake, between Phuket and the mainland. The setting for the James Bond 007 film, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, there is now a James Bond Island, but the primary attractions are the eroded limestone pillars that thrust upwards from the calm sea like surreal fangs. Some tower as high as 1000’, while others have weathered into hollow spires where you can dinghy through caves to reach the open-air atrium in the centre that seems as remote as a moon crater. Others are eroded around the base, leaving them notched inward like mushrooms and covered with stalactites of green and brown lime. Everywhere you travel, you’ll see the rickety bamboo scaffoldings used by Thais to collect the basic ingredient of bird’s nest soup.

James Bond Island is fun to explore, especially if you’ve seen the movie, but try to schedule your visit before 10 a.m. or after 3 p.m. when the visiting hordes carried out from Phuket in tour boats have departed.

Nearby, we stopped at Pan Yi, a village on stilts inhabited by the so-called “sea-gypsies” who wander the area. Marked by a cobalt blue Muslim temple (these nomads descended from Muslim territories), the village is filled with shops and restaurants catering to the tourist boats, and the back alleys lead to tottery private homes.

Turning south again, we dropped off guests at Chalong Bay and continued on to Ko Racha Yai, a secluded island off the tip of Phuket with a deep-water cove, perfect beach, and complete privacy.

Early the next morning, I moved aboard an equally pristine Hatteras 53 sportfisher, for the run out to the Similan Islands twenty miles west of Phuket. These nine islands, a government protected preserve, are lushly forested and feature tumbled boulders much like The Baths at Virgin Gorda in the Virgin Islands. The beaches are empty and clean, and the diving is incredible in water so clear you can easily see the bottom in 90 ft depths.

Mooring buoys are provided to protect the coral reefs in the Similans and, once in the warm water, I was amused to find the brilliantly coloured angelfish would swim right up to my face mask and peer in, as if asking what I brought them.

Sportfishing is new to Thailand, and remains relatively unsophisticated in spite of a sea teeming with fish. On the way to the Similans, we spotted sailfish and dolphin cruising fearlessly on the surface. A 1,000-pound black marlin washed ashore on Phuket a few years ago, and 250+ pound black marlin are fairly commonplace. Sailfish are Cabo-sized at 60-70 pounds, and the sea is filled with wahoo, pompano and king mackerel. The 100 fathom dropoff is just 28 miles offshore with all the bait fish that marlin love to eat, so it’s likely that world records will fall in Thai waters in the future. Fishing season (June-August) coincides with the monsoon, so be prepared for humidity and rain if you’re after big game fish.

Though there are more than 80 islands scattered around the Andaman Sea, you’ll probably want to stop at the two Phi Phi Islands (pronounced “pea-pea”). Phi Phi Don is fun for a day or an evening, with beachfront restaurants and shops catering to the tourist trade, but a little walk will take you behind the glitter to a quiet Moslem village. You can explore Viking Cave with a dinghy and ponder whether the ancient cave paintings are really those of Vikings far from their northern latitudes or artists from another civilisation. Phi Phi Le is off limits during the nesting season of the swifts, whose nests are so prized, but both Phi Phi islands offer incredible diving and snorkelling along the cliff walls and into the cool caverns. Though we didn’t explore them during our cruise, the northern islands of Koh Surin are equally idyllic.

The prime season for chartering in the Andaman Sea is from November through April when the northeast monsoon produces clear, sunny weather with steady breezes, low humidity and no buggy critters. Most of the charter boats are in the Andaman Sea during that period, cruising the area between Phuket and Langkawi in Malaysia to the south. When the summer monsoon arrives, it brings daily rain and high humidity as well as big swells to the normally calm waters from June through October. During this period, some of the charter fleet moves to the South China Sea, using Singapore as a base for exploring the islands along Malaysia’s eastern coast in calm and clear conditions.

Returning from the islands, our Hatteras dropped me off at Nai Harn Bay, where I dinghied ashore with my duffel bag and checked into the Phuket Yacht Club, a truly luxurious resort built on a lush hillside overlooking a crescent beach. Each room has a spacious and secluded terrace rimmed with bougainvillea, and I dallied there for several days before flying back to Bangkok, where the clamour of traffic reminded me it was time to return to my own civilisation.

Thailand is, in many senses, a sleeping beauty. Her aquamarine waters were first explored by sea gypsies a millennium ago, followed by Malayan and Burmese mercenaries, European merchant buccaneers and tin miners who ravaged the jungle slopes.

But time and Thailand wait for no man, and now is the time to go before it becomes simply another stop on tourist road maps. Set your own course for Southeast Asia and enjoy Thailand now.

Charter: Browse through a selection of yachts available in Thailand.

Climate: The North-East wind season, November to April, is fine and clear. The South-West season, May to October, has occasional rain with long sunny periods. Tropical storms, cyclones or hurricanes do not occur at any time of the year.
Temperature: Average high 30oC (85F). Average low 24oC (75F).

Safety: The Phuket area is an extremely safe charter destination on both land and at sea. Being part of the Andaman Sea, which is regularly patrolled by the Thai Navy, Coast Guard and Water Police, it should not be confused with an occasional trouble spot in the South China Sea, over 2,000 miles away, between Borneo and the Philippines.

Entry Visas: They are not required by tourists from most countries, for a stay of up to thirty days in Thailand or ninety days in Malaysia. Upon your date of entry, passports should have a minimum of six months remaining, before the date of expiry.

Getting there: Fly to Thailand with Thai Air. They also operate a domestic service for internal flights.