Mount Colo (Gunung Colo), is only 500m above sea level, but in 1983 it wiped out the whole island. The islands 7000 residents were evacuated by the indonesian navy, with zero deaths from the eruption. 700,000 coconut trees were not so lucky with devastating pyroclastic flows and lava covering 90% of the island, wiping out all eight villages. The island remained virtually uninhabited for decades. People only slowly began returning in the late 1990s to rebuild. These days the volcano is a popular trek and we were able to walk right inside the active crater.
But it’s a bit of a deal to get there with a 45 minute daredevil motorbike ride through jungle, along the beach and up the lava flow. Then it’s a 45 minute walk, constantly jumping over a very hot stream to get to the crater.
Now we are back on the boat and out of the Marina, its time to do some rough planning so that we can see as much as possible in the time we have left on our visas.
We need to get out of Indonesia by 8th October as this is when our visas are up.
So we have broken our plans down into 10 Legs, 2500 ish nm in 158 days.
We left Manado on May 2 and plan to arrive in Singapore around October 7, sailing south along the East Coast of Sulawesi to Flores, Komodo, Lombok, the Gili Islands, Bali, East Java, Borneo and then Singapore.
The legs are roughly as follows:
Leg 1
206 nm
9 nights
Manado to Togean Islands
Arrive 2026 May 11
Stopover 14 nights in Togean Islands
Leg 2
307 nm
23 nights
Togean Islands to Buton Island /Wakatobi
Depart 2026 May 25 Mon
Arrive 2026 Jun 17 Wed
Leg 3
240 nm
9 nights
Depart 2026 Jun 16 Tue
Buton Island to Komodo
Arrive 2026 Jun 25 Thu
Stopover 8 nights in Komodo
Leg 4
203 nm
1 overnight (may need more for a weather window)
From Komodo to Lombok
Depart 2026 Jul 4 Sat and arrive on 5th July
Stopover 7 nights in Lombok
Leg 5
22 nm
1 day
Depart 2026 Jul 12 Sun from Lombok
Arrive 2026 Jul 13 Mon in Gili Islands
Stopover 11 nights in Gili Islands
Leg 6
53 nm
3 days (for a suitable weather window)
Depart 2026 Jul 24 Fri
Arrive 2026 Jul 27 Mon in Sanur, Bali
Stopover 18 nights in Bali
Leg 7
61 nm
3 days
Depart 2026 Aug 14 Fri
Arrive 2026 Aug 17 Mon in Banyuwangi East Java
Stopover 27 nights touring around Java (boat in Marina)
Leg 8
351 nm
4 nights
Depart 2026 Sep 13 Sun from East Java
Arrive 2026 Sep 17 Thu in Kuwai
Stopover 6 nights to do river cruise to see Orangutans
Muck diving is a little different from our usual modus operandi diving amongst coral reef systems. It’s all about spotting the weird and wonderful on a black sand bottom. And Lembeh Strait is the ants pants when it comes to “Muck Diving”. This narrow waterway running between Sulawesi and Lembeh Island adjacent to the large port city of Bitung is a drawcard for macro fanatics and underwater photographers. With dive resorts everywhere, we were spoilt for choice. We weren’t really set up for macro but we gave it our best shot.
With a few cruising friends a year behind us, I’ve been trying to ensure they don’t miss out on one of the best and most unique cruising grounds in the world, namely the Kimberley region. It’s remote, wild, challenging and spectacular.
Last September, I did my third trip there to show Dee what I’d been raving about all these years and to get one last dose myself.
As we were heading to Indonesia, we decided to leave and return from Darwin and take the whole month of September to see both the Kimberley and Scott Reef (300kms off the Kimberley coast).
A lot of people turn right at Darwin and miss the Kimberley completely. What a shame. Even if you take a week or so to explore the King George River and/or the Berkeley River, you will not be disappointed. Those unfortunate people who don’t own a cruising boat pay anywhere between $10K and $25K to experience half of what we did on Voila.
Our first dives in Misool, Raja Ampat. We went with Lalelkai Homestay, 25nm in their dive boat out to the famous Magic Mountain dive site. Our second dive was at Boo Window. Lots of pelagics but no Oceanic Mantas unfortunately.
In between and after the dives, we stopped off at a couple of nice beaches.
After exploring the surprising spectacular Triton Bay and all its beautiful anchorages and underwater life, it was time to start chasing waterfalls. First stop was a 50nm sail away at Karawawi. It was quite a challenging hike through a swift running river, over slippery rocks and logs, and along rock ledges. We were ably helped by 18 villages who came along as guides.
We are looking for some company to sail around Misool in Raja Ampat.
Anchoring there is deep and complicated so quite often we will need to run lines from the boat to shore. Whilst Dee and I have done this ourselves in places like Turkey, it is so much easier with a third.
But its ultra spectacular and every bit worth it. We expect to spend most of December there, up to just before Xmas when we will sail to Sorong where the airport is.
There’s a couple of options as to where you join us. You can make your way to Triton Bay by mid November to dive with the whales sharks, or later at Fak Fak to see some Birds of Paradise.
For Triton Bay, you would need to take a domestic flight to Kaimana (KNG). This often involves an overnight flight to cities like Sorong or Manokwari, followed by a short connecting flight to Kaimana.
For Fakfak, there is a short flight from Sorong. Sorong has flights from both Bali and Jakarta.
I know it’s a bit off the beaten track, but hey how often these days can you get off the path trodden by hordes of tourists.
If you want to know more about Misool and Triton Bay then hop on YouTube and search on Misool Sailing and Triton Bay Sailing.
What an awesome experience, diving with the Bull, Lemon and Nurse Sharks at Beqa Lagoon with AquaTrek. We had two dives where we went down to 17m and sat behind a wall with plenty of dive masters armed with long poles to keep the sharks away when they came a little too close. At the end of the dive, we swam over to a nice wreck with some nice coral.
A Little Bit of Mischief 