We enjoyed a relaxing day at sea while heading southward in the South China Sea a short ways off the coast of Borneo. Sea conditions were excellent, and some interesting marine life was sighted, including bottlenose dolphins. The ship maintained a distance of about 12 to 14 nautical miles offshore for the most part, which was a legal requirement, but it was far enough to keep the island just out of our range of view. It was also interesting to observe how important this region must be to the fishing industry of Indonesia, because we spent much of the time dodging both individual fishing boats and small, close-knit fleets. At least some boats appeared to be dragging nets, while others were difficult to determine what type of fishing was being done. One small fleet that we passed early in the morning was at anchor, which was surprising until a look at the chart showed that the waters under our course were only 25 to 30 meters (80 – 100 feet) deep. These boats had banks of lights erected on overhead stands, and we suspected they were squid fishing boats that had completed a nighttime fishing foray and were now resting and recuperating. This suspicion was verified when we passed another group of similar boats after sunset, and we were very impressed with the incredibly bright lights now illuminated in order to attract squid up to the surface near the boats where they could be caught with jigs.
Almost exactly at noon, we crossed the Equator and entered the Southern Hemisphere. As expected, we had to undergo a different sort of immigration clearance procedure here, when His Royal Majesty King Neptune came aboard to check us out. He brought with him his scallywag henchman Davey Jones, and his pet grouper (groper to Australians) named Gladys. The king was happy to see that nearly half of the guests actually reside here in the Southern Hemisphere, and that nearly everyone else had already crossed the Equator at some point in his or her lifetime…except for our two youngest guests. After these two “Pollywogs” bowed to King Neptune, kissed Gladys, and drank a vile, foul, intestinal cleanser (they actually seemed to like it!), our ship was cleared and we were granted permission to continue on her way.
Throughout the day, we continued with the lecture program…our favorite form of onboard entertainment. First up, Brian Skerry told us about his search for the Soul of the Sea, and illustrated it with his wonderful underwater photographs. Later, Lawrence Blair amazed us with stories about some of the truly bizarre and scary creatures found in this part of the world. In the afternoon, we heard from Biruté Galdikas, who told us about the great apes and described her important life’s work with helping to save the orangutans of Borneo. In the late afternoon, I described the importance of spices and the role they played in the history of world exploration during the Renaissance.
