Everyone has heard of Charles Darwin as being the discoverer of natural selection as the mechanism behind evolution. Some people have not heard of the co-discoverer, Alfred Russel Wallace, though they may have heard of the Wallace Line, which runs between Bali and Lombok, and marks the separation between two major ecosystems, with tigers and elephants on the western side of the line, and marsupials on the eastern side.
The Wallace line
Darwin had his insights in the Galapagos Islands in September and October of 1835. He dithered about publishing his ideas, partly because he knew that they would upset the prevailing religious orthodoxies of the time. Wallace was a specimen collector who first worked in the Amazon area, but lost most of his notes and specimens in a ship fire in the Atlantic in 1852. He survived, and went on to collect in the Malay Archipelago (now Indonesia). He had his insights into evolution in a village called Dodinga while in a malarial delirium. He wrote an essay about his theory and sent it to Darwin in 1858, who was apparently horrified that his scientific priority had been threatened. The dilemma was resolved by a meeting being held in London on 1st July 1858 at which both Darwin's and Wallace's papers were presented.
We heard of a cruise to follow Wallace's wake in 2020, and planned to go on it with two other couples. But the trip was cancelled by Covid. So with the pandemic easing, and after hearing good reports of the trip, we signed up again, with our friends Brian and Meredith, who are both psychiatrists.
George was an excellent teacher, who gave us periodic lectures about Wallace and his travels.
I did some research on the trip before we came away. You can read it here.
Cruise on Ombak Putih. Official plan, with illustrations added.
Getting to the start was less than simple and easy. We flew to Singapore, back to Jakarta, and after two nights in the Jakarta Airport Sheraton, took a red-eye flight to Ternate.
Indonesia
Jakarta Sheraton, similar to the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast.
Ternate is one of the main 'Spice Islands' which have an interesting history. Read all about it here.
The History of the Spice Islands
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Ombak Putih
Several of the other passengers on Ombak Putih were there, so it was a good pre-party. It turned out that we had 14 passengers and 16 crew. The Ombak Putih is 120 tons, a wooden sailing pinisi or traditional Indonesian sailing vessel. In practice we actually motored on the cruise, using sails only for a photo opportunity.
Small boat cruising comes with some advantages and some risks. In particular there is always a possibility of having some passengers that one might want limited contact with. In this case we were lucky; the rest of the passengers were an interesting and pleasant lot, well educated and easy to get along with. It was a happy ship. The lectures about Wallace were interesting and informative. We did treks to see some of the birds of paradise, and quite a lot of snorkelling to see the amazing underwater life. Raja Ampat is renowned for being one of the top dive areas in the world.
On our first day, we wandered around Ternate and were struck by the friendliness of the locals. Our hotel was close to the university.
Medical students
Med students statue
View from our verandah
Islamic electrical work
No signs of tourism fatigue!
The behaviour of women was a surprise to me. The muslim women look suppressed and distant dressed in their hijabs, but their behaviour towards me was quite different. In the west, young attractive women send out a signal that I read as: 'NO, I am not coming on to you!' But these muslim women were effusively friendly and apparently flirtatious.
So much rubbish!
Saturday October 4th, we were collected and transferred to the boat. We were taken on a tour of Ternate.
The Ombak Putih passengers outside the sultan's palace
The sultan's coach
The Portuguese Fort Tolukko
George Beccaloni talking at a Wallace memorial
Fish market
Hills of Halmahera, a large island east of Ternate.
Mace covering of nutmeg
George Beccaloni at the site of Wallace's insights in Dodinga.
Sunday October 5th. We sailed down the coast to the Guraici Archipelago and did our first snorkel from a beach.
Clownfish
A tunicate (aka Sea Squirt)
These two women approached me to sit beside a westerner and get their photo taken.
The happy recipient of some reading glasses we donated
Meredith anthropologizing
Separating the raw fruit from nutmegs and mace
Ombak Putih framed
Monday October 6th
After an overnight sail further down the coast to Bacan we had a 4am start to climb a jungle path up to see a display of Wallace's Standardwing Birds of Paradise.
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Standardwing Bird of Paradise (not my photo)
Bill Bailey, the comedian/musician, is another Wallace enthusiast. Here he is searching for the Standardwing Bird of Paradise.
We were then driven to a butterfly 'ranch' and shown Wallace's Golden Birdwing Butterfly.
George Beccaloni sporting a Golden Birdwing.
Golden Birdwing caterpillar
Ombak Putih
Sea fan
Pink Clownfish
Lettuce coral
Tuesday - Thursday 7th - 9th October.
A couple of over-night trips, split by a day at a tiny island called Pisang.
Misool is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat area in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. We had a number of excursions involving plenty of snorkelling, and some boat trips to places of interest.
Tunicates. Also known as Sea Squirts. They are part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with notochords (including vertebrates like humans). Brilliant colours.
Scorpionfish.
Lionfish. Pretty but poisonous.
Lionfish and crinoids
George swimming towards the sunbrollies
George snorkelling
Blue starfish
Coral
Crinoid swimming
Soft coral
Featherstar
Crinoids
Hermit crab and Christmas-tree worm
Christmas-tree worm
I'm watching you! (Another tunicate)
Trips to explore in one of the RIBs.
Heart lagoon at Karawapop in Misool Island
Friday October 10th.
We were taken to a freshwater lake called Lenmakana to swim with stingless jellyfish.
Catfish
Hooning off in a RIB to see some cave paintings
Cave paintings
Stilthouses
Climbing cliff
The wheelhouse
Giant clam
Neon damselfish
Reflections of a sunset
Sunday 12th October
A leg of the trip to Marandan Weser on Batanta Island, where preparations had been made for the local kids to put on a performance for us.
George being welcomed
Granny minding kids outside the local shop.
Sea fan
Moorish Idol
Dion, our trusty tour leader
David Attenborough finding the Wilson's Bird of Paradise. We trekked up a path to a hide to watch the same show. A limited view, but I got this photo.
Giant clam
Giant clam
Yellowtail Coris and Parrotfish
School of Teira Batfish
Snorkelling under the Arborek jetty
Josh, the phtographer
Let's do some sailing!
We met Louis Margot from Switzerland, who had rowed from Peru!
All in all, a wonderful experience and highly recommended!
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