Schooners

Here's the old Makassar schooner harbour at Sunda Kelapa, northern Jakarta. They still use these terrific old boats for a lot of the inter-island trade throughout the country.

I got my view from the old Watchtower, which used to be for keeping an eye on all the harbour traffic. I wasn't able to stroll around the harbour for a close-up view this trip. The gates were closed and there were signs prohibiting pedestrians.











When I was here in 1984 it was a different story. I was able to stroll around the place, and on and off several of the vessels via scary narrow gangplanks. Below is one of my pictures from that trip.

A spicy museum with maritime monsters

In Jakarta's north, in the Sunda Kelapa area, is the Museum Bahari, the Maritime Museum. It's a nice place to spend a couple of hours, housed as it is in a series of fine old colonial warehouses.

It tells the story of Batavia and its maritime history, and lots more.

It's even got rooms full of sea monsters, mermaids, and other sea legends from around the world.

And here are a couple of  'English travellers', who passed through Batavia at some stage, looking very imperious.





It was largely spices that made the Dutch East Indies what they were. I particularly liked the spice room. It smelt terrific.