Phinisi Boat: What It Is and Why the KLM Teman Is One

By Salah Teman · 7 August 2026

A phinisi is a traditional Indonesian sailing vessel, and the KLM Teman is one. Not a converted dive boat, not a steel motor yacht with sails bolted on — a wooden phinisi handbuilt by Konjo boatbuilders in Tanah Beru, South Sulawesi, and launched in 2017.

What is a phinisi boat?

Phinisi are two-masted wooden ships, built without formal plans by the Konjo and Bugis shipwrights of South Sulawesi using techniques handed down through generations. The hull goes together plank-first and the frame is fitted afterwards — the reverse of European boatbuilding. UNESCO recognises the art of Sulawesi boatbuilding on its intangible cultural heritage list.

Historically they were cargo traders working the archipelago. Today the same yards build them for charter, which is why a phinisi charter in Indonesia feels different from any other liveaboard: you are on a working piece of maritime tradition rather than a production vessel.

The KLM Teman

Thirty-six metres, built in wood in 2017 and renovated in 2021. Twelve guests in five ensuite cabins, with a crew of ten and a Cruise Director. That ratio — ten crew to twelve guests — is the practical difference between a phinisi charter and a larger liveaboard carrying twenty or more.

Cabins are ensuite. Meals are full board, cooked aboard. Snorkelling equipment is included, diving is available for certified guests, and there is Starlink Wi-Fi if you need it.

Why a phinisi rather than a dive boat

Most Indonesian liveaboards are built around the dive deck, and the rest of the vessel is accommodation between dives. A phinisi is built around being aboard. The deck space, the shade, the sailing rig and the timber matter as much as the diving — which is why our guests are as often couples and families as they are divers.

If you do not dive, you lose nothing. Snorkelling in Raja Ampat is exceptional, Komodo has Padar and the dragons, and the boat itself is a large part of the experience.

Where the Teman sails

Komodo National Park, June to September, from Labuan Bajo. Raja Ampat, November to April, from Sorong. Between seasons she runs Banda Sea and Ring of Fire crossings, plus Alor, Flores and Sumbawa.

Luxury phinisi charter in Indonesia

The whole boat can be taken as a private charter for a family or group of up to twelve, or you can join a scheduled departure and share with other guests. Both run the same itineraries with the same crew.

See the boat and the dates

Full specifications and the story of her build are on the KLM Teman page. Live availability with cabin-by-cabin detail is on our booking schedule. For destinations, see where to sail month by month.

Salah Teman

Salah writes for Teman Liveaboard, the owner-operator of the KLM Teman. The Teman is a 36-metre Indonesian phinisi, handbuilt in Sulawesi and launched in 2017, carrying 12 guests in 5 ensuite cabins with a permanent crew of 10 and a Cruise Director. The team behind her has more than 20 years sailing the Indonesian archipelago. The boat works Komodo National Park from June to September out of Labuan Bajo, Raja Ampat from November to April out of Sorong, and runs Banda Sea and Ring of Fire crossings between the two seasons. The dive site guides on this blog are written from the operator's own logs and itineraries, with conditions, seasons and equipment guidance checked against the dive team who work these sites every week. Where a detail depends on the day — depth on a given tide, or where a current will take you — we say so rather than guess, because that is a briefing the Cruise Director gives on the boat, not something a web page can promise.

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