SeaTrek the East Indies on a Spice Island Exploration with Dr. Spencer Wells, Indonesia Expert

After settling in on the boat, we will head to the small village of Watublapi, where we will be met with singing and dancing by the local people. Famed for their unique textiles, we will be shown firsthand their ancient techniques of spinning, dyeing, and weaving their famous fabrics. Here we will have the chance to view (and purchase) some of the local textiles, try their betel nut, and brave their locally produced liquor.

Pay a visit to the local village that was abandoned when we will snorkel and watch the sunset over Ile Apé, another active volcano.

Go ashore and meet the villagers of Umapura, a village famed for its weaving and dyeing, where we can see how the local women create their intricate ikat cloth. There is every chance to purchase some as a memento.

We went on some local boats to visit with Mawar, a friendly but wild dugong who lives in the seagrass beds of the nearby bay. We will also get to meet the “local hero”, Pak One, who ensures that Mawar is well protected.

Visit the traditional village of Takpala up in the hills of Alor, where we will be welcomed by the chief and witness a ceremonial war dance in honour of our visit. We will 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.

We do a bit of island hopping over the next few days as we make our way up the Banda Arc, a string of volcanic islands that forms part of the Ring of Fire.

We will visit Wetar and Damar Islands and go ashore to a local 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, snorkelling and exploring, and indulge in a bit of local culture by way of ‘sopi’, a strong alcoholic drink made from a local palm tree.

The crew will set up for a beach BBQ, and we will dance and sing our way into the night before heading off again for an overnight cruise to our next destination.

We will 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 for us how they process the heart of the sago palm into the edible product that sustains them.

We will pass by an uninhabited island that 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 on our approach. If the tide allows, we will go ashore and investigate, and surely have a snorkel.

We will enjoy a full day at sea as we do a long crossing to the legendary Banda Islands – home of nutmeg, mace, and mystery.

By dawn, we should have the Banda Archipelago ‘Spice Islands’ in our sights, original home of the 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. We will visit Pulau Run, England’s very first colony, as well as Pulau Ai where we will visit Fort Revenge, built by the Dutch in the 17th century.

In the capital Banda Neira, with its quaint, characterful streets, a museum, churches, a waterfront market, and forts. Just across the harbour is Banda’s perfect, jungle-clad volcanic cone Gunung Api (‘Fire Mountain).

We will also visit the other small islands of the Banda archipelago – Lonthor, 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.

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

There are some excellent coral reefs here, and we should see some amazing marine life whilst snorkelling. Ironically, in the less-than-pristine waters of the harbour, we have a good chance of seeing (at dusk) arguably the world’s most stunning fish, the small but jewel-like Mandarin Fish.

Leaving Banda, we will 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.