All at sea on gain from coast build
DRAGONS, pirates, tropical islands, sails slapping in the trade winds, rigging squealing against timber, the sun blazing down and dolphins splashing in the water beneath you . . .
Nothing comes close to sailing on the open sea in a tall ship, especially a giant four-master, 16sail clipper wending through the Indonesian archipelago, all polished brass, teak decks and gleaming staterooms.
I’m still buzzing after an extraordinary week in Asia, immersed in the old seafarer’s lifestyle on the heaving waters around Bali, Lombok, Satonda, the Gili islands and Komodo.
Volcanoes, marine parks, exquisite underwater life and coral reefs, terrifying 150kg dragons, turtle sanctuaries, temples, sacred springs, tales of black magic — all this and much, much more is on offer. And it is absolutely captivating.
It all got me very excited but also very saddened when I saw just how much rubbish this beautiful part of the world is spoiled by. It’s staggering and it’s appalling. I can’t figure why the government, or some big corporate body, hasn’t taken on a cleanup as a major project.
But I have to say, lying in netting with dolphins crashing through the waves underneath had me thinking Russell Crowe in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — without the sea battle, thanks.
Setting sail with Russian music in the background set me back a couple of hundred years. I felt like I could have been sailing with Columbus or Cook or Flinders. Maybe Blackbeard.
It would have been great being a pirate. But I reckon they’d have had me walking the plank for my blue hair and pink sunglasses — and my golden abs sunburnt like a lobster.
I reckon the real treasure to the pirate’s life was just living on the boat. It’s fantastic. But there are pirates still about in Asia, such as off Somalia, and there’s nothing nice about them. Luckily, we didn’t get anywhere near them.
Doesn’t mean there’s not a bit of mischief goes on on-board. The captain told me about a wealthy, drunken Russian passenger who insisted on swimming stark naked in the main pool every night after dinner, in full view of horrified diners quaffing ports and brandies on the other side of the glass.
The skipper warned him a couple of times but the Russian wasn’t having a bar of it. So each night there he was in all his corpulent glory, splashing about like a boozed walrus. The diners kept up a barrage of complaints from the piano bar.
When the crew pulled in a metre-long shark one day, the captain had them drop it in the pool as the bleary-eyed Russian flailed around on his evening skinny-dip.
When he spotted the old Noah’s ark, the Russian showed an unexpected ability to just about walk on water. He tore out of the pool like he’d been bitten, and didn’t return for the rest of the trip.
His wife later thanked the captain, telling him her husband had changed his ways, giving up the drink and his nude swimming.
I felt I was going back in time with no TV and only occasional Wi-Fi. We visited different islands, went snorkelling and swimming, fell asleep to the sound of the ocean.
At dinner, people talked to each other. No phones. It was bizarre but it was terrific too. People came from all walks of life and all sorts of countries — China, Greece, Holland, Germany, Australia, all over Asia, 30 all up — and showed how easy it is to all get along.
Some of them had big money to spend, which I couldn’t help thinking might have been spent in Australia — maybe in Geelong — if we didn’t have so many vested interests stopping a new pier being built on our waterfront.
It’s amazing that this city, which was built as a port and which has had its key trade often going through that port, is ignoring the new wave of cruise ship tourism boosting economies around the world.
The lack of vision and ambition by Geelong’s leaders is pitiful. Service industries such as tourism are this city’s big hope.
We have an incredible coastline, the best sailing bay in the southern hemisphere — that’s from no less than Sir James Hardy — but what the hell is going on? Nothing. That’s the problem.
Just look at Tassie — it’s booming with apples, beer and a rude art gallery.
Geelong’s oceans are our bountiful garden and offering jobs and prosperity for the future.
Someone has to wake up to this seafaring tourism potential. I desperately tried to encourage it but met with so many barriers, so much resentment and hostility.
We have to stop the vested interests, the big end of town, the do-nothing politicians and bureaucrats holding Geelong tourism back and reclaim the opportunities staring us in the face.