We cruised in overnight and made anchor before discovering Banda Neira. Banda is an extraordinary place with a rich history as it was the centre of the spice trade for thousands of years. Today we even learnt that archaeologists may have found evidence of villages from long before Dutch rule, where Bahasa Tana (language of the Earth) may have been spoken. It is a sacred language that isn’t uttered in public and only sung in rituals. Sadly much of that tradition was lost after the genocide at the hands of the Dutch East India company. This was the first time the islands were forgotten. The second time was more recently, following civil war in Indonesia in the late 1990s. The islands are beginning to recover their lost charm.
Lava flow
Our first snorkel/dive of the day was at Lava Flow. This site is located just outside the Banda Neira harbour. It’s where Gunung Api erupted in about 1985 and sent lava into the coral reef.
The incredible regrowth of staghorn and plate corals has occurred since then. The diversity isn’t as great as some coral reefs but it shows that it can recover. It may take a few hundred more years to build up to what nearby sites are like. Places like this are a portent for the resilienceReferring to an ecosystem’s ability to maintain a steady stable-state. The need to build resilience is entirely anthropocentric and symptomatic of ecosystems that are damaged or declining, leading to loss of ecosystem services on which humans depend. More of some reefs.
Lighthouse
Our second snorkel/dive was at Lighthouse which offers a comparison with the lava flow. This place has slower growing corals and a greater variety of fish life. Here we find huge clouds of Red-toothed Triggerfish. Snorkelers even got to see a number of reef sharks. Meanwhile, the divers poked around for sea slugs and moray eels.
Banda Neira tour
In the afternoon we took a tour onto the island. The history is bloody and traumatic, although locals take this in their stride.
We met at the famous Maulana Hotel and enjoyed spiced mocktails. Mita is the granddaughter of the hotel’s founder Des Alwi. He was given the honoray title ‘king of Banda’ and Mita regaled us with stories of him and her family’s history.
We visited the museum her grandfather set up and toured Fort Belgica, the centre of Dutch rule for hundreds of years. Their slaughter and subsequent enslavement of of the people enabled them to build Europe’s wealth from nutmeg, a spice worth more than gold.
Des Alwi
Des Alwi has a Wikipedia page set up and the Jakarta Post had this to say in his obituary in 2010 when he died at the age of 82:
Alwi was born on November 17, 1927, on Banda Neira, the most populous of the Banda Islands in the Moluccas.[1] He first met Mohammad Hatta, as well as Indonesian intellectual Sutan Sjahrir, while Hatta was in internal exile on Banda Neira. Hatta adopted Alwi as his son.As a teenager he participated in the battle for Surabaya, East Java in 1945.
As a diplomat, Alwi served tenures in several embassies, including in Bern, Vienna and Manila. He became disillusioned with Sukarno’s dictatorial tendencies. He controversially settled in Kuala Lumpur at the height of Indonesia’s “Konfrontasi” with Malaysia where he engaged, using a pseudonym, in a broadcast to lambaste Sukarno. Alwi played a role in easing political tensions between Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1960s by approaching then Malaysian prime minister Tun Abdul Razak.
In the latter stages of his life, he focused much attention and personal investment on his beloved Banda. Des managed a hotel and resort in Banda Naira, with a guest list featuring Princess Diana, rock star Mick Jagger and Sarah Ferguson. He co-authored a book “Turbulent Times Past in Ternate and Tidore” together with Willard A Hanna on the history of Maluku and Banda Naira. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/13/obituary-des-alwi-boy-banda.html
Rhun Island & Blue Whales
Our day began at dawn with a cruise in the direction of Rhun – the famous island that was swapped by the British for Manhattan Island. That trade ‘The Manhattan Transfer’ in 1667, ended the Anglo-Dutch war.
On the way to Rhun we encountered many Blue Whales. Enough to simply chance upon some coming very close to Pindito. In fact, we had one surface with an audible exhalation. It was so close, we had to steer the ship away from its course.
There was still a slight southeast trade wind blowing, though not enough to cause any swell. Just enough, perhaps, to keep the upwellings rolling. By this time of the season, Blue Whales may be finding it harder to feed. Those that remain and haven’t migrated yet, move close to the coast and over seamounts, mopping up the last scraps of planktonA soup of micro-organisms. Usually refers to all the zooplankton and algae in the ocean but can also be used to describe tiny insects in the atmosphere (see aerial plankton). More. The whales we saw today looked well fed. Often by the time they reach southern Australia, you can see the ribs and spine, as they burn calories on their long journey south.
Cookie-cutter shark bites cover the backs of the whales. These fist-sized lumps of flesh are eaten by sharks about two foot long that live in the deep and hunt at night.
Rhun snorkel
Our first snorkel/dive was off the west tip of Rhun. It was a spectacular site with very clear water and abundant fish. Such as large school of barracuda. There was upwelling in the shallows with large Oriental Snapper, swarming Red-toothed Triggerfish, Sergeant Majors and abundant fusiliers. Napoleon Wrasse were a trea for snorklers.
The site was so good we decided to do it a second time before proceeding to our final destination for the day, Suanggi Island.
Suanggi
Suanggi is sometimes called little Manuk. It’s a seabird breeding island about 20 miles north of Banda Neira.
It’s surrounded by open ocean and is the kind of place where Hammerhead Sharks are seen. No luck for us today unfortunately.
The snorkelers saw a school of large Bumphead Parrotfish and the divers spent the hour at depth surrounded by a tornado of fish life, including several enormous Giant Trevally. By the time we finished it was nearly sunset and everyone was tired. Dinner and early to bed was called for!
