Originally published in the November issue of Robb Report as “Phinisi Fantasies”

Silolona Sojourns’ sailing expeditions through Indonesia uncover a wondrous world of whale hunters, dragons, and volcanoes. 

I am standing on the edge of Batu Tara, an isolated volcano that rises straight out of the Flores Sea in Indonesia’s Lesser Sunda Islands, when I feel the first rumble. “Scott!” a voice cries out behind me. “Get on the boat!” 

One hundred feet offshore, Patti Seery—my guide and the owner o…