SeaTrek from the Spice Islands to the Dragon Islands with Dr. Yi-Kai Tee, Marine Ecologist

Visit 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. Dodinga is a pretty little riverside village with friendly people, colourful houses, and the ruins of an old Portuguese fort, and its importance in the history of science cannot be understated.

Visit the Guraici Archipelago, a chain of islands with white sandy beaches, vibrant coral reefs, and some lovely local villages. We will spend a full day here snorkelling, swimming, and beachcombing. The islands are part of a government-controlled conservation area, designed to protect the reefs and the many beautiful marine species that live there.

We will explore the deep forest of Bacan Island, where Wallace first saw what he called “the most beautiful butterfly in the world”, the Golden Birdwing. During our trek, the other species that we might see here include cuscus, the black-crested macaque, and some hornbills. We will be searching for some very special species of butterfly, some unique birds, and some quirky mammals.

Visit the island of Obi with its steep hillsides covered in clove and nutmeg forests, reaching back to the rich and heady days of the spice trade. We will go ashore and walk through the villages and plantations and see the fruits and spices growing on the trees and drying in the sun, ready for market, in the same way it has for centuries.

We have two days of snorkeling, culture, and history as we find ourselves in the middle of the Banda Sea in the remote and breathtaking Sulu archipelago. We will feast on some history and culture as we visit the local village market and visit the ruins of a 17th-century Dutch Fort, which once protected the spice trade along these routes.

We are in for some rich cultural experiences. We will go ashore on Taliabu Island, where we will be treated to a traditional war dance known as the ‘cakalele’ by local warriors. We will also have a chance to explore the local village and meet the people of this remote isle.

The Bokan islands are an area of unsurpassed beauty, and today will be a day of marine exploration and relaxation as we snorkel, swim, paddle around the glorious reef, beach, and island with giant clams scattered around the area.

We have the rare privilege to swim in a small marine lake filled with stingless jellyfish, one of only 20 lakes of its kind in the world.

We will visit the bustling Indonesian island port town of Banggai, a place filled with activity and commerce. Here on Banggai island we will visit the local market, explore the neighbourhoods, the sultan’s palace, and the Maleo bird egg museum, and all from our fleet of brightly-coloured motor rickshaws, which will be on the dock awaiting our arrival.

The last of the day’s highlights will be a snorkel on a local reef where we will see the most elegant, but very threatened, Banggai Cardinal Fish – a darling of saltwater aquarium lovers worldwide. We will snorkel on one of the local reefs around a Bajau “sea gypsy” community whose famous as Southeast Asia’s nomadic cultures.

We spend time in the Wakatobi National Park, a very hard to reach archipelago filled with fascinating culture and also one of Indonesia’s best national parks, with outstanding underwater life natural beauty.

You will enjoy a personalised tour of the island of Wangi-Wangi, with highlights that include a seaweed farm, meeting with a traditional weaving community, and the ruins of a centuries’ old Dutch fort, a relic of the ancient Spice Trade.

We drop anchor at an uninhabited atoll where guests have the chance to beach-comb, snorkel, paddleboard, or kayak.

We visit a famous local blacksmith where the local craftsmen use hand-operated bellows on the furnace in the blacksmith’s shop to produce machetes and knives that are highly sought-after right across Indonesia.

Stop by an uninhabited sea mount in the middle of the Flores Sea that is home to tens of thousands of seabirds. It’s rich in upwelling nutrients and a perfect habitat for fishing and raising their young.

Bonerate is rarely visited by tourists outside of SeaTrek, and seeing this open-air boatyard is an experience to be savoured. We will walk amongst the hulls and hulks of a huge unlaunched flotilla of pinisi ships being built on a remote island archipelago. We will meet the shipwrights and discover their age-old traditions of shipbuilding that they have practiced for centuries.

Giants will loom large in your day-to-day: Komodo dragons, flying foxes, and manta rays, three of the biggest and most impressive animals in Indonesia.

Entering the Komodo National Park, you will have a hands-on experience at a coral conservation project on Hatamin Island, where you will learn about the work and get a chance to create your own coral rack and place it in the sea.

As the sun starts to set, we will gather on the deck and be witness to a most spectacular event as thousands of flying foxes leave their mangrove forest homes en masse on their nightly fruit-foraging missions.

We have the chance to hike a scenic route of Gili Lawa Darat, or you can stretch your legs on the beautiful white-sandy beach. After the hike, we will be back on board for a mission: to count how many turtles we can spot with our own eyes in Siaba Besar island, which is famous as turtle heaven.

We will take you for a privately arranged, ranger-led walk around the island of Rinca, where we will see not only Komodo dragons, but also their preferred menu of prey – monkeys, deer, pigs, and buffaloes.

The crew will prepare a beach BBQ for us as we all feast, sing and dance the night away by a roaring fire under the stars.

On our final day, we will wake as the boat is cruising slowly, making its way to the town of Labuan Bajo. After a final Indonesian breakfast on the boat, we will say farewell to our crew, who have looked after us so well for the past sixteen days, and transfer to Komodo airport for our flight and our onward journey.