Embrace the seafaring life aboard this luxury vessel.

At the harbour in the village of Bira, in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, the sailors will tell you of remote and mysterious islands. And they will inevitably mention Antolaut, the spirit of the sea.

Those sailors are the last descendants of the Bugis, a people of navigators, merchants and pirates. From the village of Bira and the port of Makassar, they once traded in the entire archipelago and beyond.

Their sailing vessels with a scimitar-shaped bow, the phinisi, built using the islands’ tough wood, were able to tackle the sudden violence of the ocean.

Their extensive knowledge of the sea had plotted courses from Papua to Borneo, Sumatra to the Strait of Malacca and the sea off the Andaman Islands. Thanks to flourishing trade links with Arab and Chinese merchants, coconuts and spices reached the marketplaces of the Middle Kingdom and Europe.

Today, few Bugis are sea traders and the phinisi are used for coasting. But their stories can still be experienced in part, on board a vessel such as the Tiger Blue, a modern 34-metre schooner version of the phinisi.

Of course, it may seem hard to immerse yourself in the Bugis adventures of old on what is, to all intents and purposes, a luxury yacht, with spacious, comfortable air-conditioned cabins, fully kitted out with all mod cons and safety systems.

But the routes, among tiny islands hard to spot on the map, are the same as ever. The voyage takes in deserted beaches, ecosystems that have escaped the attentions of mass tourism, and villages hidden by palm trees, where the babies nap in hammocks to accustom them to the rolling seas and the children are told the legends of the spirits of the sea.

Above all, once on board the Tiger Blue, a group of friends can share the spirit of sea adventures.

The time is spent diving (some of which is demanding) down to the untouched seabed to view submerged landscapes that drop away to underwater cliffs, fishing, or even wakeboarding.

Between adventures you can meet on deck for a glass of beer or rum, barbecue your catch, laugh, joke and share stories much like the characters in Joseph Conrad novels.

May Antolaut be blessed.