Spice Islands cruise onboard MS Caledonian Sky: Regal welcome on remote patch

Outside, after the king and queen have shaken hands with more or less everyone on the ship – all 87 of us – we are greeted by a fleet of becaks, the three-wheeled bicycle taxis popular throughout Indonesia. It's basically organised chaos out here as the drivers jostle for space and the passengers bend double to fit into the (for most of us) cramped seats on the front of the bikes.

Then we're off; a long, staggered convoy of little Indonesian people manfully pedalling large Westerners out of the port and on to the road that runs alongside a bay strewn both with fishing boats and the cheerful locals and their children who line up to smile and wave as we pass by.

At the end of it we are deposited in the local market where grinning stallholders sell fish, vegetables and the many spices for which these islands are known. Cloves are particularly endemic here and great brown patches of them litter the streets and front yards as they dry in the sun.

Toli Toli is new to tourism – this is only the fourth ever visit by a cruise ship (and the third time the Caledonian Sky has been here) – and it shows. This is no bad thing as the result is as far from a sterile cultural experience as you can get. The locals seem as amazed at us as we are at them.
After the market visit we are taken in Polis (police) buses – I notice we are on prisoner transport number 4 – to a local rumah adat, a sort of temple-cum-community hall where a cultural ceremony has been organised.

The king is already here,  of course, along with pretty much everyone in Toli Toli who wasn't at the market. There are cooling coconut drinks and food and singing and speeches and dancing and a group of passengers is singled out to be honoured with special yellow sashes and 'crowns' not unlike the king's.

It is a curious mix of the silly, the sombre and the chaotic. As Jane Wilson, our expedition leader, later puts it: "It might be something quite simple but they'll find a complicated way to do it. You've just got to go with the flow."

And go with the flow we do. Under bright blue skies and a fierce sun we sit in the shade and watch traditional dances, songs and ceremonies put across with a casual joie de vivre that's infectious.

So joyous an occasion is it, so full of colour and screams of laughter and fun, that when it's time to go it's hard to drag people away. It is here that I see my first selfie stick as local girls in brightly coloured headscarves snap themselves beaming away with the passengers and crew. These people, by the way, have great teeth and are not averse to showing them off.

Several of our group are visibly moved by the unabashed friendliness and generosity of spirit shown to them. One woman, beaming from ear to ear but simultaneously brimming with tears, says"I just couldn't get away from the photographs, they took so many. They're such beautiful, happy people."

Later that day, back on board ship, Craig Ward, our resident marine biologist, Zodiac driver and himself no stranger to exotic climes, echoes  the sentiment. He shakes his head as if he can't quite believe what he's witnessed: "What a brilliantly happy, smiley place."

On the way back to the ship the buses divert to the town's only official souvenir shop – part of its effort to improve and encourage tourism. Here you can buy flowers and miniature sailing boats made entirely from cloves. My favourites are the massive cloves made from, er, cloves – a snap at $32 – and the Angry Bird clove lamp ($10). 

It is with pretty much universal regret that we set sail for our next port of call. On the dock a happy band of locals in bright red Hawaiian-style shirts serenades our departure with amazing bamboo instruments, a sort of equatorial oompah band. They, too, are smiling – which must be hard to do around a tuba – and I'm sure I can still see their teeth as Toli Toli slips away over the horizon. 

APT small ship cruises in 2016 include the 17-day Southeast Asia Adventure (June 14-30) from $11,995 a person, twin share. Save $500 per couple when you book by October 31,  2015. Phone 1300 196420, see  aptouring.com.au. 

The writer was a guest of APT.