This is our fifth time on this magnificent boat. We are thrilled to be going with co-owners Simon and Eira Day and some friends of theirs, Julian and Leah, making up a good British contingent. In fact we are lucky in that the majority of our fellow passengers are delightful and fun; we are specially thrilled to be with Janusz and Alicja Draminski, renowned underwater photographers, despite being in their 80s!

Clockwise: Leah & Julian; Simon, master of all he surveys; Eira & Julian; Simon again; Alicja and Janusz on her 80th birthday!

It’s a schlepp to get to our start point, Ambon. A night in Abu Dhabi, a night in Jakarta and a night in Ambon before we finally board! Once on board it reassuring to see so many friendly faces amongst the crew. Plus a few new ones including our fantastic dive guide, Tamrin, who picks us up from the Natsepa Resort on our first day. 

Clockwise: us with Tamrin, ready to jump; Tamrin with Ambon city in the background; Ross listening to Yan giving the briefing; Aurelie (cruise director) and Steven, who we have dived with twice; the crew putting the sails up and taking a rest; briefing in session

We have avoided staying in Ambon proper, as it’s just another Indonesian town with sky scrapers and huge hotels, and opted for a beach-front ‘resort’ to get a whiff of the sea. Mostly occupied by a few Dutch tourists (it’s low season) and a delightful group of Indonesian students who quizzed us by the pool, as we sipped illicit gin and a Bintang. The taste of things to come!

We specially chose this cruise as we wanted to avoid Raja Ampat, which is now rather over-subscribed with boats. Our route takes us from Ambon via Banda Neira, where the spice trade began after the discovery of the value of nutmeg as a commodity,  with first Portuguese and then Dutch colonists from 1529, then past the island of Run which the British traded for Manhattan in 1667 after the second Anglo Dutch War. As the Brits took away the precious nutmeg seeds and planted them in Grenada and Ceylon, this was an appalling deal for the Dutch.

We take time out from the boat to explore the ancient Fort Belgica, bult by the Dutch in 1611, to control the local ruling tribe. They were terrible colonists and the Banda Massacre of 1611 began a genocide of the local inhabitants, later aided by the presence of imported Samurai warriors. There are gruesome paintings depicting all of this in the Banda Neira Museum. The fort is quite magnificent as you can see – and we are guided by a friendly local cat who also insisted on being in the photo with the Indonesian students!

We also visit a nutmeg plantation and are treated to local nutmeg delicacies before we buy nutmeg and mace to take home. Banda Neira is rather charming, with its old hotel on the seafront, and colourful buildings. It was home to exiles during the anti-Dutch political unrest in the 40s, and below you see some tribute graffiti.

Clockwise: Our American guest gave sweets to these girls (very bad form, the one thing you should never give – but they were pleased); Ross trying a nutmeg delicacy; the pandanus rolls were rather delicious but very sweet; our guide showing us nutmeg and mace inside the outer casing; the sales pitch; the graffiti; volcanos are everywhere;

Our route then takes us up towards Raja Ampat via Misool, home of the best diving in the area. Sadly for us it rains a lot, leaving the underwater light a bit murky, but nevertheless we have some spectacular diving.

Lots of pictures of me in action; notable fish are frog fish; clown fish with special red anemone; bargibanti pygmy seahorse; giant cuttlefish; conversation with a large moray

Our expedition to the heart-shaped lagoon, which we visited on our last trip, has to be curtailed to a boat trip and a swim, as the steps up are deemed too slippy (quite a relief tbh). Julian enjoys impersonating a dolphin to great amusement!  The Tik Tok brigade are in full-swing mode…

Talking of which we have some magnificent dolphin and pilot whale sightings – pods of at least 100 of each, circling our boat with interest.

The days pass in a haze of sleep, eat,  dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat and finally sleep – although Ross goes on several night dives and even I do one! When it’s fine, we read on the deck, sip G&T or Bintang, and chat to Leah, Julian, Simon and Eira and enjoy giggles with our Canadian influencer Edina, who knows how to party! The after-dive shoulder rubs are a treat! The food is, as ever, delicious, under the supervision of Hendricks, the major domo.

Relaxing; last shot is dancing wildly at Alicja’s party (with Edina of course)

And so our trip ends back at Sorong in Papua, and we head off to Jakarta to catch our flight to Medan and Sumatra where our next adventure with orangutangs awaits.

Here are some atmospheric pics of land, sea and sunsets!

It’s always such a wonderful trip – the underwater world provides balm to the troubled soul and affords time to think about things while shutting out the noise all around. We will certainly be back!