On Mar 9, 2024 we anchored in the harbor of Banda Neira, Indonesia, and tendered to shore. Banda Neira is one of ten small volcanic islands located in the Banda Sea about 1,250 miles East of Java. These islands were the original, and until the mid-19th century, the only source of nutmeg and mace in the world. A Portuguese explorer stumbled onto the island archipelago in 1511. They became a critical part of the so-called “spice islands” of Indonesia, a violently contested resource for the colonial powers of the Portuguese, Dutch and English.

The island of Banda Neira is small so we went on a walking excursion of the island. When we emerged from our tender, we were greeted by local dancers and musicians, and Nancy was chosen to be gifted with a welcoming lei and a hand woven basket.

Our guide then led us through the streets of the small town where we were able to see some local houses and shops, as well as some of the old Dutch government buildings.

We then went up a hill to the ruins of Fort Belgica, which was a large and imposing fort built centuries ago by the Dutch to consolidate their control of the nutmeg trade and defend against British and Portuguese competitors. The nutmeg trade was the most valuable spice trade in the world at the time, serving as the basis for the vast Dutch East Indies Company, which was the most valuable company in the world. From the fort we had some beautiful views of the island and waters below.

On our way to the fort, we went through a nutmeg orchard. Some of the trees in the orchard were hundreds of years old. Our guide picked a few ripe nutmeg pods from a tree and showed us how the nutmeg is cracked open. The insides of the pods contain a coating that is used to produce brown sugar, and then the nut itself, which consists of a small ball with a red coating. The red coating is removed and is mace, and the remaining ball is ground to produce nutmeg.

We then headed back to the harbor passing a market and saying farewell to our guide, Man-Ali, and his two assistants, Hessanah and Yasir.

Our day in Banda Neira was very hot and extremely humid, but very enjoyable. It was exactly the type of small town and atmosphere that we expected to see in Indonesia. The town was relatively small with narrow roads (we only saw one car, but many motor scooters), and it was clean and well kept, despite being very poor.