With spectacular scenery and an absorbing history the Spice Islands are filled with mystique
The European colonial powers once fought viciously to rule these islands and control the supply of nutmeg. Today, the region trades in a new kind of treasure – sunset and serenity – and it is best taken in from the deck of a 60m luxury vessel.
Her delicate face is framed by large sunglasses and a black hijab. Despite the tropical humidity, she wears socks with Crocs under her ankle-length skirt. This Muslim singer may dress conservatively, but she wields her microphone like a pro, and, for such a petite woman, she has an impressive set of pipes. As the sun sinks behind the active volcano that looms imperiously over this dusk concert, she suddenly switches from Indonesian ballads to belting out the nightclub anthem I Will Survive.
I am watching this spirited performance by singers, dancers and musicians (including a child gamelan prodigy) from Indonesia’s remote Banda Islands atop the star-shaped 17th-century Fort Belgica.
Before the lead singer can wrap up her disco number, a school group on a lower level of the fort erupts into song. Just as insistently, the evening call to prayer drifts up from a mosque in the bustling town below.
It’s another enchanted if cacophonous evening in the Banda Islands – former epicentre of the spice trade wars – as local folk tunes are overlaid with western disco hits, colonial history and Muslim tradition.
This concert on Banda Neira, 2,000km east of Java, is one of many memorable highlights of my seven-day Spice Islands and Coral Triangle cruise with Aqua Expeditions. Combining on-board luxury with frontier-lite adventures, the company specialises in small-ship tours to remote regions including Eastern Indonesia and the Galapagos Islands.
The Spice Islands tour offers almost daily scuba dives and snorkelling trips to hard-to-reach sites abundant with marine life, alongside expeditions to colonial gravesites, forts, a historic church and one of the world’s oldest nutmeg plantations, in this stunning, under-appreciated region.
There is a lost-in-time quality about the Banda archipelago’s 10 sparsely populated islands, where forests rampage up steep hillsides and the locals still travel by wooden longboats that glide, low and elegant, across stretches of water up to 6km deep. On one island, our guide meets us on a walking path about 1.2m-wide and jokes: “This is the Main Street.” There are very few cars, so on another island a fleet of beaten-up bemos (minivans) take us along the only potholed dirt track that passes for a road. The bemos have rusty floors, loose wiring and a novel but effective form of air conditioning – the doors are kept open while driving.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese, Dutch and English fought, sometimes viciously, to establish a monopoly over the nutmeg that was indigenous to these islands and at one point, worth its weight in gold. Dutch colonists would go on to rule the Bandas until Indonesia declared independence in 1945.
Visiting a nutmeg plantation on Banda Besar, we watch local men and women harvesting the spice with pronged sticks, along with almonds and cinnamon, just as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. Banda Besar and Banda Ai house pretty, neat settlements with brightly painted, storybook cottages that have sheets of nutmeg and pink-red mace (the layer between a nutmeg kernel and its outer husk) drying in their front gardens. Long after the colonists were booted out, cultivating these spices remains integral to village life.
Another local speciality, cinnamon tea, is steeped overnight. I try it at morning tea at the seafront Maulana Hotel on Banda Neira, and am instantly hooked. Run by an Indonesian family for decades, this hotel has an air of gently fading grandeur, mesmerising views and serious celebrity cred: Mick Jagger and Princess Diana once came to visit.
Our vessel, Aqua Blu, is a 60m superyacht with an interesting origin story – it began life as a British naval vessel and was converted to a leisure craft for a family of European aristocrats. It is now a luxury tour ship that accommodates 30 guests across its 15 cabins and five decks.
You can see the yacht’s monied lineage in its brass and ivory-toned décor and attention to detail. Your bare feet sink into the plush, pale silver carpet (shoes are banned on board) and the interior’s woodwork has a golden, Huon pine-like hue. Day-beds near the Jacuzzi are the size of small cars, there are indoor and outdoor bars and dining areas, plus a large lobby lounge and a stylish, cosy library.
On day three, we are up early and clutching our phone cameras as we are treated to a spectacular dawn chorus: kora warriors in two enormous longboats serenade us while racing each other as if their lives depended on it. Clearly, music is part the DNA of this island chain.
On our penultimate night, we head out in the tenders for a cocktail party on a deserted beach that has a stranger-than-fiction history. The beach – perfect for lounging, paddle-boarding and collecting shells – is connected, via a sandbar, to Pulau Run, a bushy speck of an island that is only 3sqkm. Even so, in 1667 the Dutch swapped their New Amsterdam settlement for Run, so desperate were they to get their hands on the island’s nutmeg trees. These spice-obsessed colonists never suspected that New Amsterdam would become New York.
The Banda Sea is an underwater cornucopia of vibrant coral gardens, reefs and thermal springs, and pulses with an astounding array of marine life. Between us, the snorkellers and divers on this cruise spot turtles, hammerhead sharks, a colony of sea snakes, a Napoleon Wrasse and a large octopus that changes colour from dark brown to grey as it goes into camouflage mode.
One afternoon, I am sitting alone on a high deck and spot whales spouting in the distance on both sides of the yacht. This spectacle continues for about 30 minutes: it’s thrilling to think the whales are keeping time with the ship, as if they assume we are part of a loosely related pod.
Meals – curated by consultant Australian chef Benjamin Cross (ex-Ku De Ta, Bali) are consistently delicious and eaten at communal tables. By trip’s end, our party – bankers, a lawyer, car franchise owners, grandmothers – are on first name terms and setting up our own WhatsApp group.
Breakfast is a continental buffet (with a cooked-to-order option), while lunch and dinner are multi-course affairs that include twists on Indonesian classics such as rendang beef short ribs and tuna ceviche with coconut, lime and Indonesian crackers.
Cross’s expertly crafted menu, which draws on fresh local produce and spice trade flavours, also took us on gastronomic side-trips to Spain, Italy and the Middle East.
Aqua Blu’s cabins range from a compact 14sqm twin room to a split-level suite with king bed, desk, sofa and espresso machine. My suite could comfortably fit two adults and a child with its ample storage, sitting and study areas and roomy bathroom. There are limited views through my porthole windows but there are so many other options for taking in the vistas and slow-motion sunsets, it’s not really an issue.
Tourism to the Bandas took a hit following sectarian riots between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku capital, Ambon city, in the late ’90s, but today local guides assure us that tolerance is a hallmark of life in this exquisite island chain. With its marine treasures, fascinating colonial past and chilled pace, the region is ripe for discovery.
Checklist
Getting there: Maluku’s capital Ambon is the embarkation point for the Spice Islands and Coral Triangle cruise. Batik Air and Garuda fly daily from Jakarta to Ambon’s Pattimura Airport. Aqua Expedition’s seven-night Spice Islands & Coral Triangle Expedition departs November 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2026. From $US10,220 ($16,600); aquaexpeditions.com. A 12-night Raja Ampat & Spice Islands Expedition departs Raja Ampat on March 8, 2025. A 12-night Spice Islands & Forgotten Islands expedition departs March 22, 2025, from Ambon. From $US16,800.
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