![]() ![]() But the moon had done something funky to currents, and the water was too rough. We were scheduled that day to swim with reef manta rays in “Manta Alley,” off Komodo's southern tip. At sunrise I was awakened by a pod of dolphins splashing by the bow as sunrise painted the horizon in cotton candy hues. That night I slipped out of my cabin to sleep under the full moon. Vela’s spacious owner’s suite has a private terrace with 180-degree views. That means way less fuel dependence-and a lot more romance. And while most other motorized phinisis have nonfunctioning masts without sails, Vela is fully rigged. On board, guests will find only glass bottles and handcrafted ceramics palm-oil-free, reef-safe toiletries and sunscreen and drinking water that has been reverse-osmosis-filtered. They sourced all of the boat's custom teak furniture from sustainable forests in Java managed by the Indonesian government and partnered with the global charity One Tree Planted, committing to plant two trees for each one used in the construction of the phinisi. They shaped Vela's handcrafted ironwood hull in a way that would optimize fuel-efficiency while motoring. “Even though Vela is an Indonesian boat with an almost entirely Indonesian crew,” Portier told me, “we recognize that we are still guests in these waters.” This is one reason the pair sought to keep its footprint small. Tran and Portier took the same sustainable approach to luxury with Vela as they did with Nirjhara, an eco-resort they opened in Tabanan Regency, an administrative district in southern Bali, in 2020. Crew members fit two of the eight sails on the double-masted Vela.
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