ms Amsterdam and Pirates...

At this writing we are 12 hours south of Bali, in the Indian Ocean heading into the Java Sea. After we leave Bali we head north to Brunei on the Island of Borneo, in The South China Sea. Do you remember 'Terry and The Pirates', that comic book hero of the 1940's? Well, we are in his home waters.

Yes, there are still pirates, but instead of sailing ships and cutlasses they have high-speed power boats and machine guns. While we did our morning deck-walk today there were a few new additions on deck. They have positioned three high-power searchlights with a high-pitched noise deterrent, one on each side and the stern.


There are two security guards on the deck, and will be 24 hours a day until we are out of this threat, if it is that. They also had fire-hoses unravelled and ready to turn on, they looked a bit of a tripping hazard to me and may not be laid out any more. All of this is in aid of detecting and then repelling would-be-boarders. No cruise ship has been successfully boarded to my knowledge. However, wouldn't Holland America look silly if some hair-brained attempt to throw a line on board and climb up on deck was attempted in the middle of the night, and no security was around?

I believe it is not uncommon for small ships plying these waters to be boarded and give some sort of incentive to these bandits to go away. There was an incident off of Somalia some few years ago when such a boat did fire on a passing cruise ship. It merely adds to the excitement, however some people do not like that sort of drama.