Large numbers of people flock to Koh Phangan Island to take part in this “backpacker rite of passage.”

That night on Koh Samui it was pouring with rain. Lightning filled the skies over Koh Phangan too. I thought at the time the flashes were fireworks. Meanwhile Ben had decided not to come; he would stay with Joy and Som back at his hotel.
Sam and I waited on a beachfront bar, sipping Red Bull and Vodka (served in buckets) and we waited for the weather to improve.
Eventually the weather improved enough for the speedboat crew's liking. Everyone piled on board the 40 foot boats. In all at least 50 people were aboard our boat.

The next 40 minutes consisted of speedboat vaulting over high waves, with the cheers of the British passengers: “Waaaaoooo” as the boat pitched wildly. I on the other hand, surveyed escape options if the boat flipped. I had been told that at least one person dies at the Full Moon Party every time—usually drug related— but I didn’t rule out drowning in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Lucky for us the boat reached the wharf safely and it was a short tuk-tuk ride down to Haad Rin.

Even though it was 11 pm, Haad Rin was electric. There seemed to a half dozen bars pumping out electronic dance/trance music. There were crowds of foreigners dancing on raised platforms scattered around the beach. The only Thais I could see were bar staff, glow stick and glow paint salespeople, and drug dealers.

At the end of the night there were some sorry souls; either bent-over or collapsed. There was even a special fenced area set up for comatose people. With the daylight breaking, the two of us hired a tuk-tuk back to the wharf (getting ripped off in the process) and arrived back in Koh Samui just after 7 am.

A days snorkeling cost us 1600 Baht, and is was worth it. We set of early from our Nathon residence and waited outside the tour agent near the waterfront. A minivan did a small round trip picking up more foreigners and we were herded into a small beachfront office. There were several hundred people there.

After being colour coded–a coloured wrist band to differentiate the type of tour that we booked– we were loaded onto the packed catamaran ferry. It slowly crawled its way over to Koh Phangan to drop off some tourists before heading out to our snorkeling Islands.

The whole trip took 2 and half hours. We arrived at Koh Nangyuan where we were issued our gear for the day. The first hour was spent on Koh Nangyuan. The main snorkeling bay was enclosed by a net, trapping hundreds of species of fish inside the bay. We spent an hour exploring the shallow bay. The fish would come right up to you, within a metre, but if you tried to touch them they would dart away easily. I was so concerned about not getting cut on the coral. My doctor told me it took him weeks for his coral cuts to heal and I did see many tourists with bandages on their feet as well as elbows. I would tentatively swim around the rocks and try not to touch the corals. After lunch (which was included) the tour operator took our group to the neighbouring Koh Tao Island. The boat set anchor just off from the reef, and we spent about 2 hours swimming around the corals and rocks. The water was as clear as the first Island, but with the water rolling onto the rocky coast, care must be used when nearing the shore. The waves would stir the sandy bottom a little.

At the conclusion the catamaran took Sam and I back to Koh Samui and it was only then that we could feel our backs and legs beginning to warm. We had forgotten to apply sunscreen there! The days to come would be painful…