Banda Islands

We left Debut in the Kei Islands for a short sail over to the Tayunda islands. We expected to have some nice beaches and some decent snorkeling. That's the problem with expectations -- the lower they are the more often that get exceeded... it was not to be.

It was windy and the water was not very clear. We managed to anchor in 43ft of water on a small shelf off the beach and drop back to 65ft (05*35.222, 132*17.409). Kind of deep water compared to what we usually try to anchor in, but that seems to be standard for this part of Indo. We did make it to the small beach at high tide and Chris collected these Sand Rupiahs, otherwise known as Sand Dollars.

You can feel pretty rich when you walk around with a pocket full of Indonesian Rupiah. This 50,000 rupiah bill is easily converted into Australian dollars by just dropping the last four zeros. 5 Australian dollars is about US$3.50.

On the overnight moonless passage we were treated to a really strange phenomenon.  About a 11pm we entered into an area of the Banda Sea that was about 20,000 feet deep, sailing downwind at about 6 knots in small seas. The water around us suddenly developed the eeriest blue-green glow. The sky was dark but the sea seemed lit from within. After awhile, the waves seemed to disappear, we could hear them but not see them, and a blue-green fog appeared to be over the surface of water. We were floating in a sensory deprivation sea.  When I went below and pumped the head I didn't see any glow in the saltwater used in the head, which usually happens when you have typical bio-luminescence. Very strange, kind of creepy. It might push a single handing sailor over the top.

We arrived in the morning under overcast skies with a view of the Banda volcano, Gununga Banda Api. Last time it got serious with the world was in 1988, destroying a village on the far side. The Dutch and English traders and colonizers of the 17th century also saw it spitting from its crater as they were anchored below it. Many of the drawings we have seen from that time shows the volcano spitting.

 Here's another view where you can see the dark lava scree from the last eruption.

The town is nice with the typical small fresh veggies marketplace. There are lots of remnants from the Dutch colonial days: forts, cannons, hurt feelings. The Dutch were particularly brutal to the locals. They made the British seem almost civilized. The Dutch ended up controlling all the islands in the small archipelago of Banda except for one spec of an island with a terrible anchorage, Rhun, which the English managed to hold onto. The reason the Euros wanted Banda so badly was for the nutmeg: these are the famous Spice Islands of Dutch East Indies history and during the colonizing period, the nutmeg spice was worth more than gold by weight. Nutmeg was used to cover-up the taste of terrible British cooking and it was thought to be a medicine effective against the Black Plague. After a multi-year standoff between the Dutch and English the Dutch finally won out. From their strong bargaining position, the Dutch got England to cede all rights to Rhun island, in return the Brits would take New Holland off their hands. The Brits immediately renamed New Holland to New York and started planning the Empire State Building.  The building itself took a few more centuries to actually be built.   If you are interested in a good read covering the history of the Banda and the Spice Islands:

We took a local longboat over to Pulau Batuindang (nearby island) to do a 'spice tour'. This island is still very active in producing nutmeg and mace. The village is well kept with lots of colorful houses. The nutmeg business still provides a decent income.

The nutmeg trees grow among the shade of the tall almond trees. This women is preparing the almond harvest on her front porch.

Not everyone on the island is involved in nutmeg. There are some who are local fishermen. This hollowed out bamboo with a removal top is a bait holder for live fish.

I asked our guide what type of this wood this is that was being dried next to a house. The best answer I could get was teak, but not really teak. They use this wood for the window frames and doors of their houses as it is strong and insect resistant.

The local school kids were dressed up in their school colors on a Saturday to practice marching for the up-coming independence day festivities (August 17th). It certainly looked like they took their job seriously.

The island doesn't have a proper petrol (gasoline) station. The typical transport is a motor scooter that is good for up to 3 people or a quarter of a pickup truck load of goods. This gas station attendant is selling bottles of petrol for the scooters at about usd$0.75/liter in nicely recycled plastic bottles.

We hiked into the forest to see the nutmeg orchards. The trees grow in the shade of these massive wild almond trees and are surrounded by wild cinnamon trees and lemon grass.

This what the nutmeg fruit looks like when it is ripe. The red skin of the inner portion is the spice Mace. Inside the nut is the Nutmeg. The outside fruit is used to make jam and a crystallized candy.

Nutmeg still on the tree.

The 12 or 15 foot long bamboo nutmeg harvesting tool.

Scraping the outer bark to get to the soft, raw cinnamon, another commercial spice from here.

The workers often find relics from the Dutch era. There are many cannons and small artillery all around islands. These are some coins found in the fields. I bought the bottom one. It's dated 1790 and clearly has the VOC logo. The VOC stands for Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or in English The Dutch East India Company. It was founded in 1602 and had an effective monopoly on the spice trade for centuries. 

Tropical kids and plants.

It's not all hard work when you are being a tourist. Sometimes you get to relax on the second floor veranda. The Cilu Bintang Estate hotel is a wonderful historic hotel overlooking the volcano and one of the Dutch forts. It serves really good food. There's also good food at the Delfika Guest House, where we ate lunches on a few occasions. You can eat excellent food here for very little without having to resort to street carts.

Just in case our granddaughter is browsing the web, looks like Curious George was here.

Paul


First night we anchored between the two main islands at 04* 32.47, 129*5.03 in 38feet of water. Second night it was very windy with major current and a couple of boats dragged.

Moved anchorage in main harbor at 04*31.191, 129*53.529 in 58ft of water backing off to 127ft of water. Well protected from SE trades but deep.