How to Sail Through Indonesia's Most Remote Corners on a 16th-Century Wooden Ship

25.09.2024 - 14:44 / matadornetwork.com / Cruises

As I watched the Indonesian port city of Labuan Bajo fade into the horizon from the aft deck of Katherina, the bars on my phone gradually diminished before vanishing altogether. I’d spend the next 10 days cruising the coasts of Flores, Komodo, and Alor with SeaTrek Sailing Adventures, during which time my iPhone would be no more than a paperweight with a fancy camera.

A week and a half offline initially seemed daunting, but something remarkable happened around the third day of the cruise: the itch to check social media and emails melted away like ice under the tropical sun. The sensory feast I was experiencing — fresh espresso with sunrise views, gin-and-tonics set against pink sunsets, and sweeping views of verdant islands, sea-borne volcanoes, and crystalline water — banished any desires to stare into a handheld screen.

The beaches were some of the most beautiful I’d ever seen. Photo: SeaTrek

Without buzzes and beeps from my pocket, I was fully present for SeaTrek’s daily parade of travel delights. After breakfast spreads of fresh dragon fruit, mangos, bacon, toast, and eggs, I donned snorkeling gear to marvel at fish and coral as vividly colored as a tie-dyed tapestry. Midday most days found me reading in the sun or chatting with crew members and fellow passengers. After lunch, I’d set out on the ship’s tender to explore beaches and villages. And in the evenings, deep sleep washed over me after lively communal dinners and riotously beautiful sunsets. WhenKatharina finally returned to Labuan Bajo, I was half-tempted to throw my phone on airplane mode and extended my OOO notification.

After checking off most experiences on Indonesia’s well-trodden backpacker trail, including Bali’s paradisiacal beaches, Gili Trawangan‘s all-night parties, and Java’s UNESCO-protected temples, I yearned for more remote reaches in the world’s largest archipelago. In the islands east of the Wallace Line (the imaginary line that divides Southeast Asia from Oceania) like Flores and Komodo, flora and fauna more closely resemble the species of Australia than mainland Asia. Indonesian provinces we’d visit, like East Nusa Tenggara, are nearly untouched by tourism and as culturally distinct from Bali as Ireland is from Russia. This uniqueness led me to prioritize the region, as Indonesia is a nation of more than seventeen thousand islands, and would require lifetimes to fully explore.

Locals on one of the Maluku islands, a destination visited on SeaTrek trips. Photo: SeaTrek

SeaTrek voyages, plying the seas around the Spice Islands, Raja Ampat, Borneo, and Flores, were particularly appealing to me for their bugis pisini: traditional wooden watercraft recognized by UNESCO and constructed by hand on the island of Sulawesi. The ships