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Editorial

Who writes this, and how

Edited by Saoirse Sorensen, a destination travel editor covering eastern Indonesia's small-island routes — the kind of places where the ferry timetable matters more than the hotel star rating.

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Independent
No operator or hotel owns this: IDR first
Prices quoted in rupiah: 1 day
Typical reply to a correction

This is an independent planning guide to Banda Neira and the wider Banda Islands — not owned by a boat operator, a hotel or a tour company.

Recommendations are conditional: they say who something is for.
Where a schedule is volatile, the guide says so rather than printing it.
Corrections are welcome and get made.

The process

How the guides are researched

Every page on this site follows the same four rules.

Schedules against sources

Pelni sailings shift with the season and the small-aircraft flights from Ambon run on limited days. Where a schedule is volatile the guide says so rather than printing a timetable that will be wrong by the time you read it.

Rupiah first

Dollar conversions are recalculated as rates move, and package prices are ranges — Banda operators quote per boat rather than per person for most charters.

Sourced, not embellished

The VOC conquest, the nutmeg monopoly, the 1621 massacre, the Run-for-Manhattan exchange. Published scholarship, and no romanticising of events that do not deserve it.

Conditional recommendations

A dive operator that suits an experienced diver chasing hammerheads in October is the wrong call for a family snorkelling off Pulau Ai in March. The guides say who something is for, not just that it exists.

Island logistics change quickly — boats are rescheduled, guesthouses change hands, fees go up. If something here is out of date, send the page link to [email protected].

Enquiries

Answered by a person

Trip questions sent through WhatsApp or the contact page are answered personally, typically within a day allowing for the time difference with eastern Indonesia.

There is no call centre and no automated quote engine. You get a direct answer about routes, dates and realistic budgets — and an honest "do not go that week" when the crossing is likely to be rough.