Sailing Indonesia: The Spice Islands

On the first day of your adventure, be collected from your hotel after breakfast by the ship’s tour leaders and taken directly to the boat, which will be waiting at anchor in Ambon Harbor.

As soon as everyone is settled in and the captain gets clearance from the harbor master, the crew will raise anchor and head south in the open sea, crossing to the legendary Banda Archipelago.

Today reach the remote and legendary Banda Islands. Famous for their natural beauty and cultural heritage, and the well-preserved remnants of an extraordinary history of imperialist rivalry, these islands are quite simply one of Indonesia’s highlights. Banda was originally the world’s only source of nutmeg and mace, valued for their rarity and high cost by aristocrats and elites.

This is a very special destination. Since conditions of wind and tide will determine the order in which the ship can visit various Banda islands, the activities here can’t be assigned to a particular day. But you can look forward to a few highlights detailed here.

In the capital Bandaneira, on the biggest island, Neira, It’s a pleasant stroll through the quaint colonial outpost’s characterful streets, inspecting notable residences, a museum, forts, churches and a waterfront market. Just across the harbor is Banda’s perfect, jungle-clad volcanic cone Gunung Api (Fire Mountain – 2,100ft/640m). The fit and ambitious might make an early morning ascent up a challenging track to the top for stunning views.

Depending on weather, the group will also visit a selection of the other small islands of the Banda archipelago – Lonthoir, Ai, Run, Hatta – each of them with its own remnants of old plantations, Dutch cemeteries and fortifications.

The tiny outlying island of Run was the subject of an unbelievable real estate deal when in 1667, under the Treaty of Breda, it was ceded by the English to the Dutch in exchange for Manhattan. Yes, The Manhattan where New York stands. On the island of Ai, visit Fort Revenge, built by the English before being captured by the Dutch. And on Lonthor enjoy the tranquil beauty of nutmeg groves, where the shapely fruit-bearing trees grow in the shelter of towering, gigantic kenari or native almond trees. With any luck spot the Elegant Imperial Pigeon, a species Wallace discovered and named, which can swallow nutmegs whole.

Observe the age-old technique of harvesting spices by hand, and taste (and buy) baked goods, condiments and jams flavored with fresh mace and nutmeg. The fruit enclosing the nutmeg seed is sold dried and has a unique and intense flavor. It is a delicacy rarely obtainable outside the Banda Islands.

Another stop might have you climbing up to fortress Hollandia and meeting the last of the ‘perkeniers’ – the small-holder farmers who managed the plantations for the Dutch, on land parcels known as ‘perken.’ You’ll learn of more recent wars and eruptions that shook these lovely islands, and value even more their current peace and tranquility.

Leaving Banda, navigate through the Sonnegat (‘Sun’s gap’) between Neira and Gunung Api, possibly escorted by kora-kora – the big Moluccan galleys used traditionally for ceremony and warfare, propelled by banks of warrior-oarsmen.

Wake up and go ashore on Nusa Laut, an island rarely visited by outsiders. It is home to a Christian community that was founded after early missionaries planted their faith here at the same time that Islam was spreading through the archipelago.

On Saparua, land beside Dutch Fort Duurstede (1691), stormed in 1817 in a revolt led by Ambonese Kapitan Pattimura, a national hero and martyr. His story is told by vivid museum dioramas. Brightly painted bemo mini-buses will take the group to a morning market before you sail to nearby. A highlight here is a lunchtime feast of wonderful local dishes – freshly prepared by villager hosts from forest, garden and sea produce. It’s your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try papeda, the most famous and unusual of the many sago dishes in this region. Your next destination is the Island of Manipa.

Manipa Island is said to have magical powers, because none of the Portuguese, Dutch or WW2-Japanese who occupied the surrounding islands ever landed here. The spell doesn’t apply to Indonesian ships, so land at Uwe township for lessons in village technology. Its gardens produce cashews, while the leaves of forest Melaleuca cajuputi are pot-distilled to make a volatile oil called kayu putih or cajeput. It’s famed throughout Indonesia as a universal panacea: cosmetic, antiseptic, insecticide, decongestant, analgesic, expectorant, anti-spasmodic, stimulant and tonic.

Also view production of the traditional Moluccan food staple, sago, a nutritious flour washed from the fibrous trunk of the sago palm. Sago can be baked into easily transportable dry cakes, which Wallace often subsisted on, while the palm also provides building material and thatch. After an afternoon snorkeling, cruise on towards Belang-Belang.

Deserted, white-sand Belang-Belang is a real beachcomber’s paradise, where your guides will launch a full flotilla of watercraft, kayaks and paddleboards. At Obi Latu, mountains clad in forest and clove plantations plunge spectacularly into the sea.

Wake up off the western coast of Bacan, another of Indonesia’s historic spice sultanates. Go ashore to explore the forested slopes where Wallace made some of his greatest zoological discoveries, including the Moluccan Cuscus, the Standardwing Bird of Paradise, the world’s largest bee Megachile pluto, and the huge and magnificent Golden Birdwing Butterfly. Wallace described the latter species as the “finest butterfly in the world.”

Keep a close watch for a host of other animals, some of them endemic to these islands, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, hornbills, the elusive cuscus and the endangered black macaque – the only monkey in Maluku. It’s the wrong side of the Wallace Line for monkeys; these ones were introduced hundreds of years ago from North Sulawesi.

Today visit the Guarici Archipelago, a chain of islands with white sandy beaches, vibrant coral reefs and lovely local villages. Spend a full day here snorkeling, swimming and visiting with locals at one of the villages.

The islands are part of a government-controlled conservation area, designed to protect the reefs and the many beautiful marine species that live there.

Wake up just across from Ternate off the coast of Halmahera, with the mighty peaks of Ternate and Tidore as your dawn backdrop, ready to head ashore to the village of Dodinga after breakfast. This is the very place where Alfred Russel Wallace was staying when, in a fit of malarial delirium, he came up with the idea for the mechanism for evolutionary theory. He promptly wrote to Charles Darwin when he recovered and set in motion the formalization of the theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.

Dodinga is a pretty little riverside village with friendly people, colorful houses and the ruins of an old Portuguese fort, and its importance in the history of science cannot be understated. After spending some time with the villagers, sharing some fresh coconuts and enjoying their hospitality, head back to the boat for lunch and then an afternoon of snorkeling and relaxation.

Finally, reach the island of Ternate. This colorful city was the center of the spice trade for several centuries, and the imprint of the Dutch and the Portuguese can still be seen. In fact, its warehouses are still filled with fragrant piles of clove and nutmeg. Nearby is the splendid 17th-century, pagoda-style royal mosque, and the Sultan’s Palace with its rich collection of heirlooms.

There’s a choice of forts to visit from the turbulent colonial era, such as well-restored Fort Tolukko (Portuguese, 1540). Wallace rented a house on Ternate for three years and used it as his base for the exploration of the Moluccas. It was while living here, very soon after returning from Dodinga, that he posted his legendary “Letter from Ternate” containing his independently conceived theory of natural selection to Darwin.

Visit the probable site of his house near Fort Oranje, before going back to the ship to say farewell to the ship’s naturalist, the captain and the crew. Then take the tenders ashore and being transferred to the airport for your onward travel.

Arrive by plane to the small island of Ternate, the capital of the North Maluku Province. Be met at the airport and transferred to the ship, moored off Ternate City. Next, venture into the city, which has retained its commercial and political importance as the administrative and trading center of North Maluku. Of the four historically powerful spice sultanates, Ternate is the only one where the sultanate has survived uninterrupted. Visit Fort Toluko, built by the Portuguese and the ‘Kedaton’, the palace of the Sultan, with its rich collection of heirlooms. Also see the impressive Fort Oranje built by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and the probable site of the house where Wallace was living when he posted his essay on natural selection to Charles Darwin in 1858.

In the afternoon, head to the village of Dodinga: the very place where Wallace was living when, in a fit of malarial delirium, he discovered the mechanism which drives evolutionary change – natural selection. Once he had recovered, he promptly wrote a detailed essay explaining his theory, which he posted to Charles Darwin as soon as he returned to his base on Ternate. His essay, which was published together with Darwin’s thoughts on the subject in August 1858, prompted Darwin to publish his book Origin of Species in 1859, which explained the theory in greater detail.  Dodinga is a pretty little riverside village with friendly people, colorful houses and the ruins of an old Portuguese fort, and its importance in the history of science cannot be understated.

Today visit the Guarici Archipelago, a chain of islands with white sandy beaches, vibrant coral reefs and lovely local villages. Spend a full day here snorkeling, swimming and visiting with locals at one of the villages. The islands are part of a government-controlled conservation area, designed to protect the reefs and the many beautiful marine species that live there.

Wake up off the western coast of Bacan, another of Indonesia’s historic spice sultanates. Go ashore to explore the forested slopes where Wallace made some of his greatest zoological discoveries, including the moluccan cuscus, the standardwing bird of paradise, the world’s largest bee megachile pluto, and the huge and magnificent golden birdwing butterfly. When Wallace caught the first golden birdwing butterfly male in 1859 he wrote: “When I took it out of my net, and opened its gorgeous wings, I was nearer fainting with delight and excitement than I have ever been in my life; my heart beat violently, and the blood rushed to my head, leaving a headache for the rest of the day.” Very few Westerners have ever seen this species alive and no groups of tourists have ever been taken to see it before. Of course spotting it is not guaranteed but your guide is the one person on Bacan who knows exactly where the butterfly can be found.

Keep a close watch for these and a host of other animals, some of them endemic to these islands, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, hornbills, the elusive cuscus and the endangered black macaque—the only monkey in Maluku. It’s the wrong side of the Wallace Line for monkeys; these ones were introduced hundreds of years ago from North Sulawesi.

Snorkeling amidst the anomaly of warm water, a result of a nearby hot spring spilling into the sea, is a truly remarkable experience. The surface shimmers with a distinct warmth, creating a unique contrast against the cooler depths below.

In the morning make landfall at the Pisang Islands. These tiny gems isolated in the vast waters of the Ceram Sea offer a chance to relax and enjoy the sparkling white-sand beaches, clear waters and vibrant reefs before the ship makes her way to the shores of West Misool.

Today hope to see the lesser birds of paradise displaying in the wild, an unforgettable experience for anyone lucky enough to see them. Rise around 4:00am and have a quick breakfast before going ashore at Kapatcol, where local guides will be waiting to take everyone through the forest to hopefully see the birds as they dance around in their ‘lekking’ (courtship display) trees. In the afternoon, have the chance to spend some time on an uninhabited island for snorkeling and beach time.

In the morning, snorkel at a channel that divided two islands, where sea fans are hanging in the drop-offs and the current is rich in nutrients. The afternoon will be a laid back time spent strolling the white-sandy beach and snorkeling the reef where juvenile black tip reef sharks usually frequent. You will also have the chance to play beach volleyball if you are interested.

This morning wake to see the sun rise over the picturesque chain of islands that makes up the eastern part of the Misool archipelago. The topography is typical of karst dissolution featuring a great number of tiny islets whose bases have been eroded over time by the relentless motion of the tides. After an early breakfast, take tenders into the heart of the bay to see this partially submerged cave where it is possible to swim, snorkel or simply float while gazing up at the cavernous grotto adorned with astonishing stalactites. The more adventurous can swim or paddle through the dark waters to the other mouth of the cave. 

Then move on to a mysterious jellyfish lake and swim among the many thousands of stingless animals: undoubtedly one of Raja Ampat’s most memorable activities. After returning to the ship, use the tenders to explore more of this impressive maze of karst islands, both above and below the surface, complete with mysterious skull cairns in sea-cave cemeteries and prehistoric cave paintings estimated to be 3,000-5,000 years old that depict various human figures and huge human palms, fish, plants, tools and vessels.

After days of marine exploration, the jungle-clad island of Batanta offers a change of scenery. After getting back to the boat and having lunch, go snorkeling and get the paddleboards and kayaks in the water, before heading north later in the afternoon on an overnight cruise to a beautiful group of islands.

For those who wish, if the tide permits, take a short walk along the riverbed to the first of two jungle waterfalls complete with a refreshing pool for cooling off. The fit and adventurous may choose to continue the uphill climb along the rocks to where a second, larger cascade awaits. After this, the boat will move to Dayang Island for another great snorkeling opportunity.

Wake up in front of the island of Penemu, a dramatic location with a short hilltop climb to take in the amazing views. After some great snorkeling on the island’s reefs, set course for the tiny Arborek Island, where the local children will perform their traditional dances. Also take time to walk around the village and gain a sense of the Asai culture, which is still kept very much alive by the villagers living in this isolated place. There’s a chance to see possible manta rays while snorkeling, but no guarantees. 

Today presents another opportunity for keen naturalists to rise early and walk into the forest on a pre-dawn quest to spot the remarkable red bird of paradise, one of the species that Wallace was most anxious to collect. With a little luck and the help of knowledgeable guides, see this rare bird’s elaborate courtship display as dawn breaks over the forest canopy. After returning to the ship, turn attention to the sea as the ship makes her way through the Dampier strait, home of some of Raja Ampat’s premier reefs. If the currents are in favorable, see some of the area’s larger specimens of marine life, which are attracted to the strait’s nutrient-rich waters. 

Spend the afternoon in Yenbeser village where Wallace spent some months. If the tides permit, visit a faithful replica of Wallace’s small hut, which was built by the villagers. Also visit a nearby small island where a local man has set up a coconut crab sanctuary. The island is home to a small number of these monsters (Birgus latro, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod), and opportunities exist to get up close and personal with these magnificent yet docile beasts. Another late afternoon snorkel along a reef with some spectacular giant clams (the world’s largest bivalve) will lead into dinner at anchor on board, ready for an early morning venture for the red bird of paradise. 

Today, rise at 4:30am, off Saporkren village. Take a dinghy to the village while it’s still dark and follow a local guide on a short drive into the forest on a pre-dawn quest to spot the gorgeous Wilson’s Bird of Paradise. Hope that the efforts of today’s early start will pay off with a rare and privileged sight of the bird’s elaborate courtship dance as the day breaks over the forest canopy. 

Back in the village there’s time to meet with the community and perhaps visit the school. Get back on the boat by mid-morning and head to Yenbuba at Mansuar island for some snorkeling before lunch. This place is known as the “fish bowl” because it provides the chance to see different types of fish around the bay. The boat will then move to Mioskon island for more snorkeling and the opportunity to watch a multitude of bats flying overhead just after sunset. Tonight, enjoy a farewell party. 

Today is the end of the adventure, but there is still one last chance for a swim and a snorkel at a small offshore island before cruising into port. Alternatively, explore Doom Island. Once at anchor, say goodbye to the crew and ship before taking the tenders ashore and being transferred to the airport for your onward travel. 

After arriving in the early afternoon from Bali, be met at the Maumere airport by the tour leader and taken directly to the boat to meet fellow passengers and the crew.

After settling in, head back to shore and take a short drive to the scenic Iwang Gete highlands to visit a small village of Watublapi, where you will be met with singing and dancing by the local people. Be shown firsthand their famed and unique textiles, and ancient techniques of spinning, dyeing and weaving their famous fabrics. Here, have the chance to view (and purchase) some of the local textiles, try their betel nut and brave their locally produced liquor.

Back on the boat for lunch, cruise out of the harbor and head off to the east, giving you a chance to become familiar with your new home for the next 11 days, stopping for a snorkel and a swim along the way, before sunset cocktails and dinner as you cruise on into the night.

After breakfast, explore the (hopefully) belching Komba volcano with the ship’s dinghies, and go for a snorkel on the surrounding reefs. Late morning, head south and cruise towards the mainland and the beautiful Lewaling Bay. Later this afternoon, snorkel and watch the sunset over Ile Apé, another active volcano. After dinner, make the overnight crossing to Alor.

After breakfast, head to shore and board some local boats to visit with Mawar, a friendly but wild dugong who lives in the seagrass beds of the nearby bay. Also meet Pak One, who ensures that Mawar is well protected.

In the afternoon, pay a visit to Umapura, a village famed for its weaving and dyeing industry, where you can see how the local women create their intricate ikat cloth. There is every chance to purchase some as a memento. Later, go for a great snorkel on a nearby reef, before cruising to your next destination to spend the night at anchor.

Today, visit the very traditional village of Takpala up in the hills of Alor, where you are welcomed by the chief and can witness a ceremonial war dance in honor of your visit. See their traditional ‘Moko’ war drums and intricately designed ‘Ikat’ fabrics, which have been woven and dyed using age old techniques, and used in local bridal dowries for centuries.

Around midday, weigh anchor and cruise east as you enjoy lunch on board, stopping in the late afternoon at a picturesque tropical island to snorkel and swim on a coral reef. Then head east as you continue your journey into the night.

Wake up in a lovely bay on Wetar Island and go ashore to a local fishing village to meet the locals and see their way of life as they dry their catch on the beach. Spend the day swimming and beaching, snorkeling and exploring, and indulge in a bit of local culture by way of sopi, a strong alcoholic drink made from a local palm tree. Later in the afternoon, weigh anchor and continue the journey east.

This morning go ashore on a small island and be welcomed into a remote village where the locals will share their way of life as farmers and fishermen. After lunch continue cruising, stopping off at another tiny island—this one deserted—to swim, kayak, snorkel over the reef and relax on the sand. This evening the crew will set up for a beach BBQ for all to dance and sing into the night before heading off again for an overnight cruise to the next destination.

Today is another day of cruising and exploring in one of the remotest parts of Indonesia. Visit a very simple village where the people’s houses are made using the products of the sago palm, the staple crop in this part of the world. The villagers will demonstrate how they process the heart of the sago palm into the edible product that sustains them. After lunch, cruise around the island and stop off to explore the beaches and reefs, where you will snorkel along the way.

Today will be a day at sea with a route that will pass four spectacular volcanic sea mounts, explicit examples of Indonesia’s place along the Ring of Fire. One of these islands is uninhabited by people, and is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, (brown and red-footed boobies, and frigate birds), who will likely come out to encircle the boat in great numbers upon her approach. If the tide allows, go ashore and investigate, and surely have a snorkel. In the late afternoon proceed north to the fabled Spice Islands.

By dawn, spot the Banda Archipelago Spice Islands, original home of nutmeg and the scene of much bloodshed between the colonial powers of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries over control of the spice trade. Go ashore and visit Fort Revenge, built by the Dutch, before snorkeling on the local reef.

Later, head across to the main island group and the main town, and anchor in the beautiful enclosed anchorage under the imposing gaze of a nearly 2,000-foot-high volcano. If arriving before nightfall, go ashore and explore the town.

Today is a day of exploring the history and beauty of the Spice Islands with a visit to the main town of the Spice Islands and its fort overlooking the harbor. Wander through the streets and markets of this bustling town and meet the local people. After lunch on the boat, take a local boat over to the biggest of the islands to walk among the vast nutmeg plantations, visit another Dutch fort, talk with the locals and visit one of the last perkineers, the farmers who still run the larger plantations on the island who will tell about life on the islands.

Later in the afternoon, snorkel on a local reef and have a chance to see the rare and multi-hued Mandarin fish, which only comes out at dusk to mate. Dinner will be had ashore at a local restaurant that offers traditional and delicious local dishes.

This morning offers time for a final stroll around the town or a last snorkel before saying farewell to the Spice islands around lunchtime and heading north. Enjoy lunch on the way, passing another major seabird island, before settling in for a relaxing afternoon on board scouring the horizon for migrating whales.

Wake up just south of the final destination. Spend the last few hours enjoying the majesty of the ocean, and possibly see more whales along the way. As the ship drops anchor in the harbor, say farewell to the crew and tour leaders and be taken to the airport for onward journeys, ending a magical 12 days of exploration and adventure.