Day 1

To be honest, I was a bit nervous to be on this cruise trip.

“Spending days and nights in the middle of nowhere? Jesus, what was I thinking about?”

“Well, you never know until you find out,” I tried to calm myself as I was packing for the trip that night, so little that I knew then that the decision I made just an hour ago would turn out to be the best decision I had ever made while I was in Phuket.

Jim Jam is 63' feet long, three decks, equipped with four air-conditioned cabins, two spacious bathrooms with hot and cold water, and the lounging and dinning area, all come in a size that sure would make my house back in England cry.

After I put my pack in the cabin that I shared with Peter, an English businessman, I went up to the sundeck to join the others. I soon found myself a bar stool and, despite the hour, decided to pop a Phuket Island Lager, my new found love.

“Hey, I think I can live with this,” I heard my negative self whispered as Jim Jam started cruising north towards our first destination, Nakha Yai Island, located on the northeast of Phuket and considered a gateway of Phang-Nga Bay.

We stopped at Nakha Yai Island for an hour. We swam and swam, or for those like myself, floated and floated in the clear blue sea. It was so much fun for a reason I could not really pinpoint. It was like being a kid again. But, again, who is to blame.

Afterwards, we headed further north in Phang-Nga Bay. And the closer we got, the better it became.

Phang-Nga Bay, and I have to tell you, is drop-dead gorgeous. Tall and steep limestone cliffs just emerge from the ocean and pierce up the bright blue sky, left and right, basically everywhere. And stalactites, oh man. Truly, truly amazing.

Then we stopped at Koh Hong Island for some exercises. There, the eight of us, the cruise director and a crew hopped into a 20' motor dinghy and off we went into cave after cave, enjoying the god’s creations and exploring the life as it is in the mangrove swamp, a life hardly found elsewhere.

Back on the yacht, our lunch was waiting. Oh no, our lunch was not a ham sandwich in a plastic wrapper, but it was a real gourmet meal, only no jacket was required. Everything was perfect. The sea was calm, and the sky was blue. As I looked around, whether it was the newlyweds, the three businessmen from England, the couple from Sweden, and myself included, we all seemed to have the time of our lives.

With lunch sitting well in our stomach, we stopped at James Bond Island, made famous by James Bond: "The Man with the Golden Gun" back in 1974, but only for a short while. The island is a bit too small given the crowd, but at least it was good to have a chance in a life to pretend being Mr. Bond.

Back to being ourselves, we went over to Koh Roi to explore a hidden lagoon. There was no one there by the time we arrived which was good. It was so quiet that we could clearly hear our voices echoing off the wall. Tranquility, indeed.

It was late in the evening by the time we arrived at Koh Pak Bia.

Koh Pak Bia is located in a group of deserted islands surrounded by loads of empty white sandy beaches, breath-taking limestone formations, weird-looking caves, forests and the coral beds that earlier I could only see on tapes.

While the younger ones decided to go on exploring these islands with their choices of canoeing, snorkeling, swimming, and trekking, I and the three English executives – the old men club – decided to stay on board, sipping the Phuket lager, talking the talk, but more importantly, doing what we love to do, relax.

Our captain chose to anchorage Jim Jam between the islands to hide from the night wind. A five-star dinner was later served on the fly bridge. Despite the air-conditioned cabins waiting for us, we all decided to stay on the fly bridge and, given the mood induced by the tropical air and the sound of the sea, we just talked, talked, and talked.

Back in my cabin, still, I remember myself murmuring that night as I was falling asleep, “The only thing missing here is that special someone.”