Cultural Exploration in Sarawak, Borneo
June 9 - July 5, 2001

This was to be a beautiful voyage that started with a lot of sweat and muscle, fixing a popped hydraulic line on the winch to enable raising the anchor on our scheduled day of departure and raising the mainsail by hand to spare the winch any excess strain - a lot of heaving and huffing and puffing.  Dolphins helped set the eastward course, the half moon rose in a bloody blaze and the sea was perfectly ladylike in her stillness.

Excerpt from the log of third mate on 12-4 watch:

'Last night the ocean cast me under it spell, again.  It lured me slowly into a quiet sleep as it stirred and eventually woke the rigging above me, bringing ropes and sails back to life after long weeks of silent slumber.  As they creaked and stretched and yawned during their limbering up, the sky enveloped me in a soft duvet of lambent stars and planets.

'The lapping movement of the water as it kissed the bow began to form sweet notes of a lullaby.  As the ship rippled from its tip to its toe, I became a baby in a cradle once more and was soon rocked lovingly into dreamland.  In my dreams I caught falling stars and hid them in secret places where they could remain until the day I would need them again.  I flew through water and went into orbit inside the ocean.  And I glided above its surface like an ice skater but the sea beneath me kept moving.

'At midnight I left my unconscious world and resumed consciousness on the stern but somehow a remnant of the sensation of dreaming stayed with me.  The ocean, as determinedly as it had seduced me into sleep, now revived me, all of me - my mind and body were instantly alert, alive.  I scoured the mirrored surface surrounding us for signs of movement, for companionship in these unusual hours from something in the water, listening intently for a blow, a splash, a spout.  I convinced myself that there was a mass of life almost right beside me, waiting patiently for the perfect moment to alert me to its presence.  My vision became panoptic - my movements almost imperceptible but my physical stillness belied my racing mind, until I remembered once more that of course there were life masses beneath me and around me, of course I could sense a living breathing biological presence - every drop of the ocean lives and breathes, I was surrounded by life, by living water, the essence of all our lives.

'The bright lights of travelling cities did their best to shake me from my dreaming coccoon but the glow about the muslin-wrapped moon and the dancing shimmers on the waters around refused to release me entirely.  Ships came, ships went, the ships we passed in the night but for a precious while we were alone, the ocean and I, and I could indulge in the wildest moments of my dreams.

'Last night the ocean cast a spell on me.  For four hours of pure magic I continued to dream and yet I've never felt more awake.'

After five days of perfect serenity, the Heraclitus arrived in Kuching, anchoring up river on the Sungai Sarawak, but unable to anchor close to the city since they built a bridge to eliminate shipís traffic.  So instead of the bustle of the riverside markets and the sampans ferrying from the city to the Malay kampongs across river, the ship was overlooked by a small kampong of pastel-painted houses where the two muezzins would compete at each call to prayer, their songs becoming more theatrical every day.  Irrawaddy dolphins passed the ship daily as they follow the tides in and out.  They have become oblivious to the large ships that have invaded their territory, ignoring the passing container ships, barges carrying small mountains of shale and large patches of forest in the form of logs.

The crew took it in turns to take time off the ship and explore the landscape and people of Sarawak, some venturing to the Niah Caves in the east of the state, others moving south to the longhouses on the river Skrang, most spending a day or two at Bako National Park near Kuching.  Here, the rare proboscis monkey is immune to gawking onlookers and allowed close observation for the patient.

Some of the crew spent time with the Iban people.  They continue to live in longhouses along the riverbanks.  Although the traditional thatched rooves and wooden frames may be replaced by more modern materials, the sense of community that is provided by the layout of these house-villages is definitely not waning.  And signs of their past practices are still evident - blowpipes and kriss hang on the walls, a basket of human skulls hovers over the main entrance to the longhouse, 'for the memory' they say.  On the graves of their dead, on the hill nestled in the middle of a pepper plantation, they leave cans of beer and cigarettes for the spirits of their ancestors.  They incorporate dancing into every evening and are great promoters of their home-brewed rice wine.  They use gongs and a drum to make music.  All their food comes from the river or the gardens they tend carefully and they like to eat - there is a call for 'makai, makai' whenever you cross the threshold of a longhouse.

After two weeks of expeditions, the Heraclitus left Sarawak and after three and a half months, a farewell to Malaysia.  Next stop Singapore - the ship needs to come out of the water for hull maintenance and repairs, and Raffles Marina have invited the black ship Heraclitus and her crew of pirates to help celebrate their seventh birthday.  The voyage back across the lower edges of the South China Sea were filled with full moons, lunar eclipses, fireball suns at dusk and dawn and good winds which ensured plenty of sailing.

On July 10th, the Heraclitus docked at Raffles Marina, Singapore.