Introduction
The Maluku chapter was written by
David Sills who went to Ambon, Banda and Seram from 6 till 18 December 1998. If anyone knows a better travelguide on the web about the Mollucas, please let me know. I'm pretty sure there isn't any.
Warning 3/99
There have been clashes between Christians and Muslims on the Moluccas. Many people were killed and houses were burned. These clashes are still not finished at the time of writing, so avoid the place for the moment.
Getting there
By plane-
Ambon City and, to a lesser extent,
Ternate are the
main ports of entry into Maluku. Travellers in Singapore, Jakarta, Denpasar, or other points in western Indonesia can get to Ambon most quickly and directly via Ujung Pandang, from where there are direct flights (Mandala is one of the airlines that covers this route and is more reliable then Merpati). Price for the Ujung Pandang-Ambon stretch with Mandala is 802.000 Rp (1/99). You can also fly via Manado. Merpati flies twice per week from Manado to Ambon via Ternate (more details below).
-
Flights are pretty expensive, and the Merpati flight from Manado to Ternate (twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays) and vice versa (on tuesday and Friday but check this first) is
often cancelled. This is often due to wheather conditions, since the airports in Manado and Ternate don't have a radar. So if the sight is bad, there's no flight. Price from Ambon to Manado was 947.000 Rp (12/98, high season price).
By boatVarious
Pelni boats loop through Maluku either from the North via Bitung (Manado), or from the South via Nusa Tenggara. Bitung to Ternate is a short seven hour cruise over the Molucca Sea.
Have a look at J
ohan Rotsaert's Unofficial Pelni timetable site for schedules, or at
www.pelni.com.
It's best to book your ticket 3 days before departure. We met travellers who could not get a ticket 1 day before departure.
Price for the
Bitung - Ambon trip vary according to which class you are travelling in:
- 1st class: > 300.000 Rp pp, this gives you a private room for 2
- 2nd class A: 147.000 Rp pp , this gives you a bunk with 6 beds, big lockers and 2nd class washrooms and dining room which were both OK.
- 2nd class B: bunk with 8 beds, just a bit cheaper.
- 3rd and 4th class.
- Ekonomi: these passengers tend to camp in the stairways.
The pelni covering this stretch is the
Lambelu. We reached
Ternate around sunset – the approach was beautiful as we glided between the volcanic cones of Hiri and Ternate, bending south to catch a glimpse of Tidore as well. We remained docked only two hours at Ternate, not really enough time to make it worthwhile to fight through the crowds to get off (and again to get back on), especially on a rainy night. Looking forward to visiting Ternate on my next visit to Maluku.
We reached
Namlea (Buru) mid morning the next day, anchoring off shore for an hour as passengers and cargo were ferried to and from the shore in a variety of small motley craft. One of the main "industries" on Buru is the distillation of eucalyptus oil ("minyak air putih"). There was a frenzy of activity on board during the Namlea stop, as a hoard of sellers came on board either with bottles and jars of various sizes, or with big plastic jugs with spigots from which they’d fill the container of your choice. There was no shortage of eager customers.
There were no other stops, and we reached Ambon on schedule at 3:00 PM that afternoon.
Weather
rong>Introduction
Probably the safest generalization you can make about weather in Maluku is that it’s unpredictable, both day to day, and thanks largely to El Nino and La Nina, seasons are unpredictable as well. You’d be wise to expect that you could get a tropical downpour or light rain any day of the year. 
