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A few years ago I took a journey with my son and a few friends to some remote islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. The Bandas today are forgotten tropical islands but several hundred years ago they were the most important islands on earth, the fabled Spice Islands. So important that in the1667 Treaty of Breda with the British, the Dutch willingly exchanged Manhattan for one of the small islands, Run . That's right, this place was more important than New York! We approached the islands in the Banda Sea after an overnight voyage from Ambon on the yacht "Australian Maid", returning from the Darwin to Ambon yacht race. Just after dawn the islands appeared in the south-west (photo above) much as they would have to explorers hundreds of years ago and so began our visit to these small but interesting islands. The Bandas consist of three larger islands - Lonthor, Neira and Gunung Api with its active volcano and several smaller islands including Ai and Run. The three larger islands enclose a harbour and is very scenic. There are many historic sites on the islands mainly old forts, houses and government buildings and climbing the volcano is a rewarding hike with spectacular views.
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