A phinisi sailing between the islands of eastern Indonesia

Expedition · Long Voyages

10 to 14-Day Indonesian Expedition Cruises: What Long Voyages Require

A fortnight through the Banda Sea forgives nothing. There is no fuel dock at Manuk and no chandlery at Koon — so the ship has to carry its own margin.

12,000 L
Fuel aboard: 22,000 L
Fresh water: 2 × 70 kVA
Generators, redundant: 80 places
Liferafts, for 26 guests

Self-Sufficiency

A Long Voyage Is a Logistics Problem First

Volcanic islands rising from open water in the Banda Sea — Short charters forgive a lot — a two-night Komodo trip is never more than hours from Labuan Bajo. Out here the nearest hospital is a long way from a volcano with no airstrip.

A 10–14 day Indonesian expedition is a self-sufficiency problem before it is a holiday. The vessel has to carry its own fuel, water, power, communications and safety margin for days beyond the nearest harbour. LASHA carries 12,000 litres of fuel, 22,000 litres of fresh water, twin 70 kVA generators and 80 liferaft places against a maximum of 26 guests.

Short charters forgive a lot. A two-night Komodo trip is never more than a few hours from Labuan Bajo, so a shortage of water or a failed generator is an inconvenience. A fortnight through the Banda Sea forgives nothing: there is no fuel dock at Manuk, no chandlery at Koon, and the nearest hospital is a long way from a volcano with no airstrip. This page sets out what a long voyage actually requires, from the ship and from the guests.

The Inventory

What the Ship Has to Carry

Deck plans of LASHA across her four decks — Four decks, ten ensuite cabins, a dedicated dive deck and the tankage to keep all of it running a fortnight from resupply.

Long-voyage capability — LASHA's published inventory
Requirement	Aboard LASHA	Why it matters on a 10–14 day voyage
Fuel	12,000 L	Range for open-water legs of 18–24 hours with no bunkering point en route
Fresh water	22,000 L	Ten ensuite cabins with rain showers, two jacuzzi bathtubs, galley and crew, days from resupply
Propulsion	Weichai X6170, 750 Hp	Enough power to hold schedule against current in the Banda and Seram Seas
Power	2 × Mitsubishi 6D22, 70 kVA	Redundancy — a single generator failure does not end the voyage
Navigation	Garmin GPS, Samyung AIS, radar with SART	Night passages and shipping traffic in open ocean
Distress	Samyung EPIRB, iCom radio	The only realistic call for help when there is no mobile signal
Survival craft	2 lifeboats, 4 × 20-person liferafts (80 places)	Roughly three times the maximum of 26 guests plus crew
Fire and buoyancy	30 extinguishers, 75 life jackets, 12 ring buoys	A wooden hull demands a serious fire inventory
Security	54-channel CCTV	Standard on a vessel carrying 26 guests and their equipment

Figures are from LASHA's published specification sheet. Medical provision varies by route and guest list; confirm it for your specific voyage with the charter desk.

Banda Neira harbour beneath Gunung Api — Landfall after two days at sea changes what a small spice town feels like.

The Rhythm

What a Fortnight Actually Feels Like

The honest picture: roughly two to three nights of a Komodo–Raja Ampat crossing are open-ocean passages where the ship runs through the dark. The other eleven or twelve are anchorages — Alor's straits, the Banda Islands, Misool's karst — where the day is dives, walks, swims and long meals. A 10.3-metre beam on 466 gross tonnes rolls slowly, which helps, but no wooden phinisi is a stabilised motor yacht and anyone who tells you otherwise has not crossed the Banda Sea.

The ship's four-deck layout does more for a fortnight than any single piece of equipment. Sleep on the lower and main decks; the dive deck at water level; the Lounge & Resto, chill area and alfresco table on the upper deck; and a sun deck with an open-air jacuzzi above everything. On day eleven, with 26 people aboard, that separation is what keeps a charter civil.

A Junior Suite aboard LASHA with its private balcony — Ten ensuite cabins. On a fortnight, cabin quality stops being a luxury question and becomes an endurance one.

Guest Kit

What Guests Have to Bring

Medication for the whole trip plus a margin. There is no pharmacy between Alor and Sorong worth relying on.
Motion-sickness management started early. Most remedies work best before the sea state changes, not after.
Honest dive credentials. Certification card and a realistic account of recent dives. The Banda seamounts and Misool's Magic Mountain are current-driven sites where an optimistic logbook is a genuine hazard.
Declared dietary requirements, in advance. Provisioning for fourteen days happens ashore before departure.
Reef-safe sun protection and a hat. Equatorial sun on an open deck for two weeks is relentless.
Realistic expectations about connectivity. Signal comes and goes with the towns; the Banda Sea has none.

Weather Windows

Why the Calendar Is Not Negotiable

Map of the eastern sea route from Labuan Bajo to Sorong — The monsoons, not the calendar, decide when a long voyage sails. Two windows a year, and they are not negotiable.

Long Indonesian voyages exist in windows. The Banda Sea section of any Komodo–Raja Ampat crossing is run in the inter-monsoon periods — roughly March–April and September–November — because the northwest monsoon from December to March and the southeast monsoon from June to September make open-ocean legs unpleasant at best. Raja Ampat's own high season runs roughly October to April, with water at 28–30°C year-round.

The commercial consequence is scarcity: a vessel runs far fewer long-range charters than short ones, and the good fortnights are taken early. If a specific school holiday or festive window matters to your group, say so in the first message rather than the third. Groups with flexible dates get the more valuable answer — which fortnight the sea actually favours.

Sunset over open water in eastern Indonesia — The expedition band, five-night minimum — priced whole boat, never per cabin.

Rates

What It Costs

Long voyages price on the expedition band: from USD 11,600 per night for the whole boat on a leisure programme and USD 12,400 with diving, five-night minimum, rising through the published ladder to USD 18,200 and USD 17,600 at 22 paying guests — with four free-of-charge places at that size. Marine park and regency charges are billed separately at USD 25 per guest per night, and Raja Ampat's own entry charges total IDR 1,700,000 for foreign visitors and IDR 650,000 for Indonesians. The complete tables sit on the expedition rates page and the vessel's own 2026–2027 rates page.

For travellers still mapping a region to a month, see the Raja Ampat expedition planner, then read the route detail on the Banda Sea crossing or open the expedition FAQ hub.

Two Weeks of Water

Where a Fortnight Actually Goes

A long voyage buys access to anchorages that no fly-in itinerary can reach — because reaching them takes days, not hours.

**Komodo**The departure. Padar, the dragons and the last mobile signal for a while.

**Alor**Cold upwellings, muck and wall diving — the first serious water east of Flores.

**Banda Neira**Nutmeg groves, Dutch forts and a volcano whose 1988 lava is now a hard-coral garden.

**Manuk & Koon**Sea-snake island and one of the fishiest reefs in the east, both far from any harbour.

**Misool**Enclosed lagoons and soft-coral walls at the eastern end of the Banda run.

**Wayag**The northern karst — where a fortnight of open water finally pays out.

Medical provision varies by route and by the guest list. Tell the desk about conditions, allergies and medication at the quotation stage, not at boarding.

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a vessel capable of a 10–14 day expedition?

Four things: fuel range, fresh-water capacity, power redundancy and communications. LASHA carries 12,000 litres of fuel and 22,000 litres of fresh water, runs two Mitsubishi 6D22 70 kVA generators, and carries radar with SART, Samyung AIS, an EPIRB and iCom radio.

How much fresh water does a ship this size need per day?

Ten ensuite cabins with rain showers, two in-suite jacuzzi bathtubs, a galley and a crew consume a great deal. A 22,000-litre tank is what allows several days between resupply points; the crew still manages consumption on the longest legs, and guests are asked to be sensible rather than to ration.

Is there a doctor on board?

Ask the charter desk what medical provision travels on your specific voyage — it depends on the route and the group. What is fixed is the safety inventory: two lifeboats, four 20-person liferafts giving 80 covered places, 75 life jackets and 30 fire extinguishers.

Is there internet and mobile signal?

Not reliably, and that is the nature of the destination. Signal exists near towns such as Labuan Bajo, Banda Neira and Sorong, and disappears across the Banda Sea. Confirm current connectivity arrangements with the desk before you promise anybody a video call.

How many days of a 14-day voyage are spent at sea with no stop?

Typically two to three on a Komodo–Raja Ampat crossing, concentrated in the Banda Sea legs. The rest of the itinerary can be broken by anchorages.

What should guests bring for a long expedition?

Prescription medication for the full trip plus a margin, motion-sickness remedies started before the first open leg, reef-safe sun protection, and a certification card plus honest logbook if you dive. Resupply opportunities on a long voyage are limited to a handful of small towns.

Can dietary requirements be handled for two weeks?

Yes, when they are declared before departure rather than at the first dinner. Provisioning for a fortnight is done ashore before the ship leaves, and there is no supermarket in the Banda Sea.

What happens if the weather turns?

The itinerary changes. On a long-range voyage the captain reads the forecast and moves the plan around it — that is the reason to sail in the inter-monsoon windows in the first place. A good expedition boat treats the itinerary as a framework, not a contract.

Where These Numbers Come From

Vessel dimensions, tank capacities, safety inventory and cabin numbers are taken from LASHA's own published specification sheet on the yacht page. Charter figures are the published 2026–2027 rate band on the rates page — the same file the Komodo Luxury charter desk quotes from. Government fees are cited to their source in the text. Where a figure is an operational estimate rather than a published number, it is labelled as such on this page. LASHA begins her maiden public season on 17 August 2026, so there are no guest reviews to quote yet and none are invented here.

Plan a long voyage

Long-range dates are limited to two windows a year. Every LASHA Phinisi Cruise reservation is handled end-to-end by Komodo Luxury, the vessel's official marketing and booking partner — an operator working Indonesian waters since 2015 and part of Juara Holding Group. Send your month, guest count and how many of them dive, and the charter desk returns a written quotation with the rate band, the free-of-charge ladder and every separately billed fee itemised before any money moves.

WhatsApp +62 811 3823 875 [email protected]

For a sense of how ten days are actually spent once you arrive, this 10-day Raja Ampat explorer itinerary maps the northern and southern loops day by day.