Adventure and culture all in a day's leisurely sail

By Listiana Operananta

Looking for a day-tour with a difference to get away from the bustle of Jakarta? Try going for a sail aboard a phinisi, a traditional wooden Bugis schooner, to the Thousand Islands in Jakarta Bay. Friends of the Sea, which organizes the day trips, invited a group of journalists for a taste of adventure and culture.

JAKARTA (JP): For most Indonesians sailing is a necessity, and for some even a matter of life and death. No Indonesian ethnic group is more famous for its seafaring tradition than the Bugis people from South Sulawesi.

Hundreds of years ago, the Bugis ventured across the high seas aboard phinisi, their twin-masted wooden schooners. Some are known to have ended up, and settled, in Madagascar and the southern part of the Africa.

Now Friends of the Sea, an organization specializing in maritime tourism, is offering a taste of that sailing experience, aboard the Phinisi Nusantara.

Would-be passengers can rest assured of the Phinisi Nusantara's safety.

The schooner sailed to Vancouver in 1986 to take part in an international expo in the Canadian west coast city. The 17,500- kilometer voyage from Jakarta took 69 days.

The 30-meter by six-meter boat, which has six passenger cabins and four bathrooms, was built in early 1986 using teak from carefully selected trees. Traditional rituals were observed to guarantee its safety.

"Besides their strength, the trees were also selected based on which way they fell," crew member Tamudin said.

The vessel, currently docked at Tanjung Priok port, is available for rent for sailing as far as Ujung Kulon at the southwest tip of West Java, although the destination is usually more modest. Visiting islets in the Thousand Islands chain in Jakarta Bay is the standard voyage.

"Passengers determine the destination. We recommend a short trip since long-distance voyages cost more money and take more time," said Sasmiyarsi Katoppo-Sasmoyo of the Friends of the Sea.

The maximum capacity of the green and white schooner -- the colors signify that the owners come from a land of forests -- is 150 passengers, although the average is much less than this.

The crew, including seamen, navigators and a cook, numbers 20 at the most but the full complement is rarely required.

A typical tour would be the 12-hour trip covering the Onrust (Dutch for "always busy"), Bidadari (Angel) and Edam islets, in the Thousand Islands.

Onrust, about 20 hectares and 90 minutes' sail from Tanjung Priok, has a collection of historical ruins, including a fort from the Dutch colonial days.

The island was used by Dutch merchants as a dock in 1615 before the arrival of the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), the Dutch trading company that eventually ruled the region for the next three and a half centuries.

The VOC was granted a charter by the Dutch State General to make war or peace outside Europe and granting monopoly rights to trade with the East.

Archeologist Candrian Attahiyyat said Onrust has a very important historical legacy because it was on this island that Dutch colonialism in the East Indies began.

Early this century, the island was used as a quarantine center for Indonesians before and after going on the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The island was left in a state of neglect after Indonesia gained its independence in 1945. Its destruction was completed in the 1960s when people from Java came and grabbed anything they could lay their hands on, Candrian said.

The ruins are so poorly preserved most visitors would not understand their function or their historical significance without a guide's explanation.

"It would be difficult for people to envisage that over three centuries ago the island was a bustling merchant port," Candrian said.

But help is on its way, he assured visitors.

The Jakarta Museum and Renovation Board plans to turn the island into an archeological park.

The most valuable site on the island is underground, Candrian said. "Underneath the surface, there is a huge building structure from the colonial era and it needs to be explored," he said.

The next stop on the itinerary was Bidadari Island about five minutes sail from Onrust.

In stark contrast to Onrust, Bidadari, which is twice the size of Onrust, is a well developed island with a hotel, a selection of restaurants, and facilities for water sports. Not surprisingly, the island was packed with Jakartan holidaymakers.

After lunch, the Phinisi Nusantara proceeded to its third and last stop: Edam, about 20 minutes away.

Edam, where a lighthouse is the only structure on the island, is a restricted zone and visitors must have permission to visit the 45-hectare island from the Ministry of Transportation.

The lighthouse's five operators are the only people living there. Each works for four months before being transferred to avoid boredom.

Living in isolation appears to be the least of their problems, according to one of the five islanders.

"It's fresh water," said Kusno. Apart from rainwater the only water they get is a weekly delivery from the mainland.

After the passengers climbed the 16 stories to the top of the lighthouse and gazed out at the endless expanse of ocean, the Phinisi Nusantara returned to Tanjung Priok, its course directly into the setting sun.