Sitting on Moyo Island as the sun drops over the horizon with our ride for the next three weeks silhouetted against the end of the day brings an enormous sense of excitement. The final preparations on Amandira are almost complete for our 1,200 nautical mile journey through some of the most remote parts of Indonesia. Knowing we will be diving in some of the worlds richest oceans while immersing ourselves in the romantic but bloody history of the spice trades, sailing through the Banda Sea and the Moluccas, finishing on the western shores of New Guinea just a shade south of the Equator – stimulates the adventurer in me.

Already the stories of remote villages we will visit and diving with Sperm and Blue whales in seven thousand metres of water during the crossing are being tossed about in casual conversation by the crew; like its normal! The volcanos we will sail past, the Hammerhead sharks we will dive with, the sunsets shared with Spice Islands inspired cocktails in historic Dutch East India Company forts – spice it up baby, 24 hours until we we sail.