I’m standing on deck of the tall ship Star Clipper, in pitch darkness, sweltering in the humidity of the tropical night, hopping with excitement as the anchor chain rattles up and we prepare to set sail.

Star Clipper is a proper, old-fashioned sailing ship with complex rigging

The ship’s evocative sailing music, Vangelis’ theme to 1492: Conquest of Paradise, blasts out across the decks. There’s a mood of elation as the sails catch the wind and the 170-passenger ship takes off into the blackness. Soon, the lights of Patong Beach fade into the distance and we’re clipping along effortlessly. I fall asleep to gentle rocking and the sound of water rushing past the hull.

Exploring in the ship’s Zodiacs

Some come to Thailand for temples and markets but my week is to be spent exploring the national parks north and west of Phuket, swimming, snorkelling and general lotus-eating by day, hauling anchor against the backdrop of a fiery orange sky and sailing through the night.

Watersports from the beach

The islands we visit are ‘same-same but different’, as the Thais say; undeveloped, with no jetties, sowe become experts at the ‘wet landing’, when you’re ferried to the beach using the ship’s lifeboats, or tenders, and scramble down a short ladder into the surf.

The first morning, we speed across an emerald bay towards Ko Surin, skimming over the dark shadows of rocks and coral just below the surface. Surin, tucked up against the Burmese border, is home to a community of reclusive Moken, sea gypsies, who are actually of Australasian descent.

Ko Similan

On Ko Similan, a stretch of white sand framed by tumbled granite boulders and an aquamarine sea, I drift lazily in the warm shallows, listening to mauve and green parrotfish crunching on the coral.

From Ko Rok Nok, an intrepid group paddles across the bay in the ship’s kayaks, returning with tales of dragon sightings; prehistoric-looking monitor lizards basking in the sunshine. At Ko Kradan, I snorkel over wavy red and brown corals and giant sea urchins, fish in psychedelic shades of electric blue and yellow flitting right in front of my mask. Coconut palms and rubber trees form a dense backdrop to the beach, monkeys hooting to each other and fish eagles riding the thermals above the canopy.

Phang Nga Bay

In Phang Nga Bay, it’s the ship that becomes the star of the photo-shoot, sailing in all her glory, 36,000 square feet of sail catching the wind as we buzz around in the tenders, snapping away like paparazzi.

The bowsprit net at sunset

Life on board moves at a gentle pace. There are knot-tying lessons, talks on seafaring and on a calm day, a chance to scramble up a ladder to the crow’s nest, part-way up one of the towering masts, for views over the whole deck. My favourite spot, though, is lying in the big nets strung either side of the bowsprit, where I can gaze up at the sails, or down at the water below, and feel as though I’m flying.

Star Clipper’s crew on the bowsprit

Friendships are quickly struck up in the al fresco Tropical Bar, with dancing most nights and some riotous quizzes and games. But you don’t really come on Star Clippers for manufactured entertainment. After dinner most nights, I lie on a lounger on deck, just gazing at the starlit sky through the criss-cross of rigging, soothed by the waves and the gentle creak of the masts. My kind of nightlife.