It has been a very interesting journey so far from a historical
viewpoint. From Cape of good Hope via Western Australia to Indonesia is
exactly the same route as the ships of the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) used to follow to the Dutch colony on Java. The route is littered
with shipwrecks and one of the highlights if the stopover in Geraldton
was to find out about the infamous Batavia shipwreck and to actually see
the wreck site from the air. Now almost 500 years later I can probably
say that I am experiencing the same as the people on board the VOC ships
who were on their own adventure, looking for trade opportunities or
settling in the colony. We (me now and they 500years ago) are all far
away from home in strange waters and in a different climate, travelling
into the unknown or unfamiliar. They must have felt the same relief as
wind picks up and the vessel starts making decent progress or when
heavy rain refreshes and replenishes water stocks (in our case an
opportunity for a natural shower). They must have enjoyed the colourful
tropical fish that accompany the boat and may even have tasted them.
Then comes the encounter with new land with a different mountainous
landscape and different smells and the then possibly steaming volcanoes
sticking up out of the sea. Very different from everything we see from
sea back at at home. Even though it was dark when we passed through the
strait between Sumatra and Java the hillsides seemed lush green and so
different from the Dutch dykes and dunes and sandy beaches and the
smells from shore were definitely very different from what I am used to
and the charts mention volcanic activity instead of shifting sands.
It is very special to be travelling here by sea and by force of the wind
only and to realise that apart from navigational marks and oil rigs not
much has changed at sea in the last 500 years. The VOC ships turned to
starboard right after Sunda Strait to go into Batavia (now Jakarta), we
press on to Singapore! Another small difference between then and now: I
managed to pick up a mobile network signal and speak to my father who
was waiting to go through the Suez Canal.Technology can be great at
times! ;-)
