October 13, 2025
Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.
I helped herd the group onto one of the 7 waiting buses in the Port. Each bus was given a police motorcycle escort! We felt very important! The port of Ternate is the largest on the island and was busy. Right outside the port was the Catholic Basilica. Smartly, the buses split the route to spread the 90 of us out throughout the town. They said to drive the loop would take roughly 2 hours. Our first stop was Fort Tolukko, established by the Portuguese in 1540 to secure their lucrative clove trade. In 1610, the Dutch took over.
On the way to stop # 2 we encountered a slight stumbling block. The locals hold weddings and other special events right outside their homes, on the public streets and they set up large awnings structures. No advance notice given, so our police escort was caught completely unaware and their narrow streets are not built for tour buses! So when we hit the below canopy, there was a quick scramble to see if they could possibly lift the structure, to allow us to pass underneath; but this was quickly abandoned. Our intrepid bus driver, with the help of the police and others, was able to reverse us down the narrow road and find a place to turn us around, to an alternate roadway. Onward to the Magma Rock Field. This area resulted from the largest volcanic eruption, in 1610.
Next we went to Sulumadaha black sand Beach. A popular spot on the North edge of this island for picnics and swimming. The locals were so welcoming, big smiles, they wanted to know where we were from and were eager to be in photos!
Just up the road from the Beach, was our fourth stop Tolire Lake, which has both spring and sea water and is in a crater formed from the 1610 eruption. No Swimming here as there are crocodiles! But the only one we saw was this statue by the overlook restaurant! The re are poster boards of the current mayor( in glasses) and vice mayor all over town. Next we went to the Royal Hotel in Town for our buffet lunch. We tried a variety of items - loved their ice tea, shrimp & rice and corn tofu fritters!
After lunch we were off to Fort Oranje, a 17th Century Dutch Fort. The Christian settlers gave them this bell, but then later replaced it with a replica when they moved the original to the Basilica we saw back at the Port. Rude! The Fort was to defend the precious Spice trade of Nutmeg and Clove. We were lucky enough to meet this musical group of ladies practicing in one of the Fort Buildings. They were so excited to share their talents with us.
Next we were off to meet the Sultan! I played Dire Straits the Sultans of Swing on the bus ride there, to get us all pumped up! i
Last stop was the Marketplace. Here the people really wanted to chat but not about buying stuff which is so rare! they wanted to know where we were from, what we liked and can they pose and get pictures with us. No one asked us to buy anything!! It was so unexpected and lovely - they just wanted us to see them and how happy and lovely they are!!
