Islands at the northern entrance to the fabled Strait of Malacca - first land since Oman.
This was the spice route - mace, nutmeg and cloves - shortest sea passage between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The 16th Century Portuguese writer Tomé Pires declared, "Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice". Nowadays, spices by the ton travel in containers and not, more precious than gems, in locked wooden chests.
A common garden bulker butts into the strait, once preserve of East Indiamen and men o' war as Dutch, English and Portuguese fought to control the spice trade.
A box boat below one of the mountains overlooking Banda Aceh, where 170,000 people died in the 2004 tsunami.
The strait is still strategic: "More than 50,000 vessels ply the 621-mile Malacca Strait each year, carrying half of the world's oil shipments carried by sea." (UPI.com)
As in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, pirates sometimes pose as fishermen and then approach ships that are easier to board.
There's been piracy here since there were cargos worth plundering, but an effort by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore has reduced the threat. The narrow strait makes policing more feasible than in the Indian Ocean. Piracy is a concern, although less than before.
For vessels Amber's size, fishermen are more an irritation, blithely nipping between ships, across bows and bouncing through wakes. The captain says they're hoping we'll will scare up some fish
