Island Hopping through Nusa Tenggara
Introduction
In
1990, I escorted a group of travel agents on a sea journey across
the Lesser Sunda Islands of the Nusa Tenggara archipelago of 
Indonesia. Commencing
in Bali, the journey took us to the islands of Sumbawa, Komodo,
Flores, Lembata (Lomblen) and West Timor. The vessel was a large motor catamaran, which
had once plied between Cairns & Green Island (in Australia) in its former
life as the "Coral Cat". It gave us the unique
opportunity to visit remote coastal villages which would otherwise
be very difficult to get to by road.
The Operator
These journeys were operated by P&O under the name Spice Island Cruises, and were considered a bit of an experiment even by P&O executives themselves. P&O had bought out an existing operator of these services which had been doing poorly, revamped the 
catamarans to more luxurious standards, and marketted the trips globally to the well-heeled but adventurous traveller. The full route of the journey ran eastwards from Bali across the northern side of the Lesser Sunda islands to West Timor (which is the journey covered here), and then returned along the southern side on the way back. There were two catamarans operating, named the M.V. Island Explorer and the M.V. Spice Islander. [Ours was the latter - seen in the distance in the photograph above, from the top of an extinct volcano]. They were scheduled in such a way that they started at opposite ends of the archipelago and met near Komodo Island half way through their respective journeys. Where the two catamarans met, a huge lunchtime banquet was given to all passengers from both vessels at a deserted beach nearby (away from the lizards!).
Facilities
On board were included scuba gear for diving enthusiasts, game fishing gear, a well-stocked library of books relevant to the journey we were taking, a world-class chef who prepared superb freshly-caught seafood meals, and a pair of lecturers who gave dinnertime seminars on both cultural and geographical aspects of what the day ahead had in store for us.
A licensed scuba instructer was on board to provide lessons for the uninitiated, and plenty of snorkelling gear for the less daring (like me) was available. They even had water-skis onboard which could be used with one of the two dinghies.
Shortlived
It was truly an excellent idea, but regrettably it appears that the market didn't support this expensive operation, and they ceased operating Spice Island Cruises within a year or two after my own journey. No doubt the tsunami that hit Flores in 1992 would have finished off the journies even if they'd lasted that long, as much of northern Flores was affected. To my knowledge, there is no equivalent service operating today.
That was Then, But This is Now
So, why should you want to read about something that no longer exists? Well, for a start, the islands and people haven't gone anywhere. There are many alternative ways of doing a journey like this one - perhaps not as well-organised, but possibly even more fun for that very reason. For a slower-paced journey, there are even traditional schooners plying at least part of this same route. The major destinations we visited can even be reached by air; you may not get to the same tiny fishing villages we did, but nothing is impossible. On that note, I do feel sorry for some of the little villages like Robek and Jontana, which used to receive regular visits from these catamarans. P&O were the only vessels coming to them, and their disappearance must have dealt a real blow to their economies.
This Website
The journey described in these pages is split into five parts, representing each of the islands visited along the way. Follow the 'next' link at the bottom of each page to progress.