Jakarta pics

Our next trawler

Our slip in Jakarta

Foresail

Tug at Jakarta

Ironwood Boat

Entering the Old Port in Jakarta

At the old port in Jakarta

Fisherman at the old port

Going Ashore

Inquiring minds would like to know...

Acres of containers

A family outing - the baby is in the mother's arms

Jakarta

JAKARTA SYNOPSIS
The Jakarta blog is long. For those who are not particularly interested in Jakarta, I offer this synopsis.
Jakarta is big and grubby with a population of 12 million+. It is a city of extremes: abject poverty to great wealth. The infrastructure is totally neglected with some of the main thoroughfares more like dirt roads. The streets are badly congested with cars and motorcycles. Many of the motorcycles carry as many as four people, a mother with her baby at the back, And an older child, who sits in front of the father. In spite of this we were able to find an upscale department store with pleasant clerks. The Indonesian people are very nice. My impression is that politically they are very backward.
I was very glad to say good bye to Jakarta.

PORT AND CITY OF JAKARTA
On Sunday 24th we entered the port of Jakarta, the third largest port in Asia. We were surrounded by thousands of containers, extending as far as the eye could see. So began our Jakarta adventure.
Jakarta started as a small fishing village in the mid fifteenth century.Almost one hundred years later the Dutch conquered it, named it Batavia, and made it a pivotal port of the Dutch east India Company. After world war 11Indonesia gained independence and named it Jakarta.
Immediately after breakfast Mal, and fellow passenger Paul, hired a guide for the day. Immediacy is not a word in the Indonesian language. The immigration office called our Captain and told him, “There has been a death in the office and we are temporarily closed for the funeral.” With only one day to spend in Jakarta we, with the other passengers and off duty crew members, were left to languish until one o’clock. The captain was furious.We were philosophical. Welcome to Indonesia.
When we finally disembarked our faithful guide, accustomed to such delays,was waiting for us. After traversing some dirty, oily muddy ruts dockside we boarded a van with a driver, hired by our guide. After some jolting,rattling and bumping we accessed the main road. I know it was the main road because there were traffic lights at the intersections. However the road surface didn’t change. We rattled, shook and plunged in and out of potholes for most of the day. The roads are also filled with motorcyclists. They flit and dart in and out of traffic like dragonflies. At the intersections they weave their way to the front of the traffic and, when the light turns green, they burst out in a cloud of exhaust and speed away……Totally unnerving.
Outside the port the streets are lined with small flea market style stores hawking everything from mobile phones to groceries. Our road traveled along a canal filled with floating detritus. On the opposite bank is a,“cardboard city”, a huge slum of homeless people. Their water supply has to be from the dirty canal, and I dread to think about their sanitation arrangements. The smell tells the story. This is one of many such slums throughout the city. Our guide explained that there is no employment for these people in the rural areas. They migrate to the cities where life is,unfortunately, equally harsh. The population of Jakarta is over 12 million,and there is no welfare system as we know it. Next to these slums are tall modern buildings with signage reading Toyota, Nikon and Sony etc. There is no transitional area. Even wealthy residential areas stop and start just as abruptly. Jakarta is a large sprawling mess. Periodically a large,colorful, windowless building, (an enclosed mall), or a large white edifice,(a modern hotel), rise out of the grey, dirty, concrete jungle, isolated from their surroundings by their height. There are no glass fronted retail stores as we would know them, only a multitude of small, grubby open fronted stores. Interspersed between these stores is every variety of Western fast food restaurants. Even McDonald’s looks shabby. We drove past a Starbucks café on one of the corners of a major intersection. Little do the people of Jakarta know how many more are on the way!
Our first sight seeing stop was the old port. Our literature describes this as restored, but, like everything else in Jakarta, we found it dilapidated and dirty. The boats, however, are fascinating. Made of iron wood, they are direct descendants of the original sailing ships. They are still being built at a cost of $250,000 per boat and still continue to carry a token foresail. Nowadays they are powered by a diesel engine. With a captain and crew of 16 they transport rice and cement to Borneo and the Indonesian islands. All the crew members come from one island and are called Bogeymen.They are responsible for sailing and maintaining the boat. Cargo is loaded by hand by stevedores who run up and down a plank. The boats carry 1.5meters of free board when fully loaded. Not a happy place to be in a storm.
Next we stopped at an antique flea market comprised of block after block of small shops 20 feet deep and 10 feet wide. Paul, who claims to be knowledgeable about maritime antiques, commented that the prices were very reasonable, but I had a little echo behind me that kept repeating,“Remember, no more stuff!” I looked but didn’t buy.
Finally we decided to do some shopping. Mal wanted to buy an inexpensive printer. Our guide shunned the large colorful malls and took us to one that had a large upscale department store instead. Here we saw another side of Jakarta. It was clean and the store clerks were delightful. The stationary department, which sold office equipment, was on the sixth floor. Mal purchased a H.P printer for $70. This floor also housed the bathrooms which, like the rest of the store, were also spotlessly clean with lots of running water, soap and a hand dryer. The first toilet I entered had no toilet paper. In the next toilet the toilet bowl was on the floor! The next toilet was normal but I now realized that there were no toilet paper dispensers. Mercifully I was not in a hurry and was able to purchase some tissues in the stationary department. I assume Indonesian women know to carry this indispensable item with them.
It was time to eat. After a few false starts we found a restaurant where the food was excellent, the price reasonable, and we were able to wash it down with pitchers of locally brewed Carlsburg beer, chilled to perfection and served in iced mugs.
Later in the evening Mal and I shared a nightcap with Heiner, another passenger. Heiner and I both agreed that we would be very happy if we never returned to Jakarta.
We sailed for Singapore the next morning.

Pirates MV Jakarta style...

Pirates

On February 15th, we exited the Red Sea and entered the waters between Yemen and Somalia - pirate territory. We knew that this was a risk when we booked passage. The reality of the situation was brought home when the Captain announced that all outside doors would be locked overnight, and that extra crew members would be assigned to "lookout" duty on the bridge. Then he gathered the passengers together to discuss the subject of pirates.
Should the ship be boarded we would offer no resistance. The locked doors would slow the pirates down, but not stop them. He explained that their countries were very poor and that they would take everything that wasn't nailed down. The Chief Engineer had been on a ship boarded by pirates, and they took all the bedding, including the mattresses, leaving the crew in only their underwear. Fortunately high jacking has not been successful fort hem. On one ship that they commandeered they demanded a ransom of $ 1million. The price was eventually reduced to $250,000. This was no bargain,however, because the pirates had already inflicted millions of dollars of damage to the ship. On another ship the crew fought off the pirates,killing some in the fray. Two years later, in spite of the fact that thes hip had been sold and traveled with a different crew, the ship was attacked again. This time, everyone in the crew was murdered. "This", the Captain explained, "is why we offer no resistance. The commercial shipping world has no desire to enter armed warfare with the pirates. Everybody would lose."
Interesting fact: Israeli and Russian ships are never attacked!
After all these "war stories," and an uncomfortable rise in my adrenalin level, the Captain then assured us the we are an unlikely candidate for attack. We have a very high freeboard, travel comparatively fast, 18-19knots, and don't have an attractive cargo.
Still - I was happy to enter the Indian Ocean.

The Suez Canal and the Red Sea

The Suez Canal is full of surprises. It joins two large bodies of water and so I assumed that there would be a lock. Wrong! There is just over one meter difference between both ends.
Second surprise, it is a one way system, a consequence of increasingly larger cargo vessels. At a speed of 5 to 6 knots it takes about 12 hours to transit the full length of the canal. This is broken into two six hour passages. Northbound and southbound traffic start at the same time and meetin the middle of the canal where there is a series of small lakes. Both convoys stop here and regroup before proceeding with their journey. There are two convoys each way twice daily.
At 5:30 A.M. on Thursday 11th. February Mal and I found ourselves on the bridge listening to Port Said traffic controllers communicating, in English,with ships at anchor waiting to transit the canal. We had watched the Jakarta glide to a halt and drop anchor earlier. At 6:30 A.M. we we redirected to pass buoy 8 behind the container ship Ym Tianjin and in front of the bulk carrier Daewoo Ace and thus we became part of the long convoy traveling south along the canal. Daewoo Ace was in such a hurry to join the queue that he set off our "imminent collision" alarm causing a little early morning cardiac exercise. I wondered if he perhaps thought he was in New York harbor where I understand that right of way belongs to the helmsman with the most guts! So began our long trek south.
We followed a long seawall into Port Said harbor where we were met with frenzy of activity. Ferries of all shapes and sizes traversed the harbor,at seemingly reckless speeds, with little regard for the freighters in their midst. It was at this point that Mal and I became spectators to a strange custom. It happens to every ship that passes through the canal. A small motor boat with three men pulled along side our ship. A line was thrown from the ship which was tied off to the boat. This line was gradually played out until the boat was opposite the poop deck and traveling at the exact same speed as our ship. The hook of our aft crane was then lifted out of its cradle and lowered until it hovered just over the boat. A loop from the boat was passed over the hook. The crane then lifted the boat out of the water to the level of the poop deck. Three men with large sacks disembarked from the boat. We had instant bazaar, everything from plastic pyramids to cheap perfume. These boatmen, as they are known as, stayed with us for the entire duration of our trip through the canal.
Eventually we passed out of Port Said and into the canal. The East bank quickly gave way to an undulating dessert which remained with us for almost the entire journey. A deserted dirt road separated it from the canal.Occasionally we would spot army personnel in fatigues and helmets, carrying very serious looking guns. I suspect that the canal is under surveillance at all times. Think for a moment how important it is to global commerce.The west bank of the canal was much livelier. Here a super highway with toll booths paralleled us. Had the bill boards not been written in Egyptian we could have been anywhere in the civilized world. We passed green cultivated fields, shanty towns, houses beautifully landscaped and even towns and cities. Finally we reached....a bridge! This is surprise number three. There are only two bridges that cross the canal in its entire length, and one is a railway bridge. At the end of the first leg we passed under the Japan-Egypt Friendship Bridge, the only road connection between the African and Asian continents. This helps to explain the frenzy of harbor traffic at Port Said.
Shortly after passing the bridge the canal divided. Here the convoy stopped. Linesmen in boats took our lines and tied us off to the port side embankment. It was 2:00 P.M., six hours after we entered the canal. The northbound convoy now proceeded to enter the canal. There were a lot of ships and it was 8:30 PM before we cast off and continued our journey south through the lakes and back into the canal. Again there was desert to the east, but the west bank also became less populated. At 3:00 A.M. we reached Suez. Our boatmen left us, no doubt to hitch a lift north on the next convoy. Finally we passed into the Red sea.
What can I say about the Red Sea. It's not red, it's very wide and it's very long. The shipping lane is in the middle so we only caught occasional glimpses of land and suddenly we were in the Gulf of Aden, pirate territory.

About the MV Jakarta....

MV Jakarta
This is a happy boat. Everybody smiles. The crew is a mixture of Romanian(Captain and Chief Officer as well as ship's carpenter), Sri Lankan(Cadets, training for eventual positions as ship's officers, who alternate between crew duties on deck and classroom training with the Chief Officer)and Filipinos, who serve as Mates and crew. The Filipinos, especially, are a happy lot. The have a great sense of humor and a sense of fun as well.They love to party and to sing. Parties on board the ship are usually on a Saturday, held in the Blue bar, and are open to everyone. Good food, beer,booze, music and singing are the order of the night.
The ship itself is one of nine, the Pearl String, owned by Rickmers LinieGmb & De KG that continuously circles the globe. It is 600 feet long (two football fields) and 86 feet wide. Equipped with four Superflex heavy duty cranes it is built to handle heavy, out-of-gauge cargo. The two middle cranes lift 320 metric tons each and, when combined, can lift more than the weight of a fully loaded 747. Cargo can be stored above or below deck, but the below deck area is ventilated and dehumidified. This allows us to carry extraordinary cargo not suited to container ships or roll on/roll offs.
As you might expect, maintenance is an ongoing chore for the crew. Saltwater + Metal = Rust. The noise of wire brushes and the smell of fresh paint are constant companions.
The aft section of the ship, known as the bridge house, has eight decks:main, poop, A,B,C and D decks (the living quarters), pilot deck (home of the Blue bar), and the bridge. The Blue bar is furnished as a bar but is really only used when there is a party. There is no elevator. We were well warned, prior to booking our passage, that we would need to be comfortable ascending and descending at least five flights of stairs regularly. We are housed in the owner's suite in the middle of D deck. The Officers Mess is on the A deck. At this point I can safely say that Mal and I are developing"buns of steel"!!
The food is excellent. Our chef worked on a large cruise ship prior to joining us. Breakfasts are cooked to order, anything from Eggs Benedict to cereal. Lunch and dinner consist of soup, salad, main course and dessert.The cuisine is best described as eclectic. It includes food from all nations, is always delicious and is beautifully presented. Dessert today was Crepes Suzettes.
The working bridge takes up the entire top story of the bridge house. It contains all the charts and instruments, a bathroom and a small kitchen.Bridge policy is left to the individual captain of each ship. Our captain allows us on the bridge at any time as long as we don't interfere with the operation of the ship. This is a wonderful privilege. The instruments are similar in concept to those on a small boat so Mal and I have no difficulty reading and understanding them. An exciting moment was watching the latitude drop to 00.00.
Our days pass quickly here, even when in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Our fellow passengers are interesting and entertaining and so far our adventure is proving to be very successful.

X marks our room - Third porthole from the Left top row below green stripe 2-10-2008 3-21-27 PM