A friend found an open sailing trip for a Sunday in September, so we decided to check it out. We met up early in the morning at the old Batavia port of Jakarta and got on a sailboat. Angie grew up sailing with her dad and was eager to try it out here in Indonesia. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what we expected.
We had been promised a sail and then snorkeling and picnic lunch on one of the Thousand Islands, which are easily reached from Jakarta in a couple of hours. We motored out of the port… and continued to motor the rest of the way to the island. The captain said it was because the wind was coming from the direction of the island, and we thought he didn’t want to zigzag back and forth. Later, it seemed to be the case that he and the guy who was the crew member maybe didn’t really know how to sail the boat very well. We did reach the island which, like so many of Indonesia’s islands, was covered in trash. There was a little beach, but when we asked about where we should snorkel the guide with us just said, “Wherever. The coral is all dead anyway.” So we hung out on the beach and in the water to beat the heat. We tried to snorkel, but the only thing to see was sea urchins. The one good thing was that lunch was actually very nice. And there was a lighthouse to climb.
After lunch and a bit of a rest we packed up to head back to Jakarta. The captain was feeling the surliness of his passengers and elected to fly the jib. And with some prodding from the Italian onboard, also the mainsail. Luckily, we had two experienced sailors on board – the Italian and our friend Joyce – who helped with raising and lowering the sail. It felt a bit touch and go, but we did get that nice quiet feeling of riding with the wind back to Jakarta.
