FEATURES
warm and hospitable a truly Muslim community can be. The
ambience is quite delightful—just grit your teeth through the
4.00am Mezzuin. True, fifteen years ago the Moluccas were
racked by dreadful retaliatory cycles of violence between
their Christian and Muslim communities, and there have
been some subsequent outbreaks. But it is amazing how
quickly those wounds have healed, and Moluccans now
refer to this period as ‘the mistake’, stirred up by outsiders.
There is still rivalry between the two communities, which now
most noticeably take the form of amplified sound. In some
locations you’re as likely to be woken by songs of joy as by
calls to prayer.
On a rally you will have lots of company, perhaps a surfeit
of it. Although most rally members are thoroughly pleasant,
the rallies do seem to attract a few misfits, who possess a
rare flair for creating disharmony amongst fellow yachties
and locals alike. Post-rally members we’ve met expend a
lot of energy describing their antics in lavish detail. Whereas
the independent yachties we’ve met tend to be, well—very
independent, and often very admirable. Take Dutchman Aldert
Hesseling on his expedition yacht Necton for example. (www.
necton.nl) He’d just been round the Horn, done a side trip to
Antarctica, and will head up to make an attempt on the NW
passage next summer. Or Shane and Maggie Granger on their
grand 120-year-old Norwegian-built H/V Vega (www.sailvega.
com). Every year they do a circuit of the archipelago delivering
up to 20 tonnes of donated tools and medical and educational
supplies to some of the most isolated communities. Or the
rather gorgeous looking young French Surilo family on Ilo 2
(www.levoyagedilo.com). The videos they’ve made along the
way are both heart warming and thoroughly professional. They
even have a