Pudding definitely has his sea legs (but not for swimming)

Date: Dec 29, 2018 

Trip #18 (#38)
Weather: Cloudy mostly, occasionally sunny 
Waters: North of the SAF firing range, flat 
On board: C, A, J1, J2, R, L and Pudding
New gear on board: Leica DX7, Fujifilm X-T100 (Christmas presents!)  

Wow, it's been three months since our last outing. A combination of having this or that commitment on our designated boating Saturdays, or bad weather, or both, has seen to that. Just life getting in the way, in other words. We were thus looking forward to being on the water again as the year draws to a close. 

L (left) is a dive master and marine biologist. 

L the marine biologist joined us on this outing, but no, there was no chance of her showing us sea critters and telling us about them. The waters north of the SAF firing range looked clean enough, but weren't clear.  Seems it's too much to ask for when you are talking about Singapore waters. 

And I say emphatically Singapore waters, because the Malaysians have unilaterally decided in recent weeks that these waters are theirs. A couple of their vessels have been recalcitrantly dropping anchor in these parts, triggering a war of words between the two states through the media.  On this Saturday though, we didn't see any Malaysian-flagged vessels there. A Singapore Coast Guard boat made its appearance once (as they usually do in our outings), but only to tell us to drop anchor 50 m further north because we were technically still in the live firing area. 

What a dramatic international diplomatic incident it would have been if one of those Malaysian boats detained this Singapore family for their "incursion" into "Malaysian waters". But nah, it didn't happen. 

Meanwhile, Lord Pudding seemed really happy to be on the boat this time. He moved from spot to spot on board, with none of the fear he had on his first two outings. It got a tad hot for him though. 

#dogsonboats

However, he is still fearful of water. This pic says it all: 

He was curious, but appeared to take their word for it that the water was
lovely. Not even a liver-flavoured treat could lure him in. 

Looks like a few more swimming sessions at The Naked Pet are in order for us to be the owners of a doggo that would take a flying leap into the blue beyond. Friends have suggested that we just chuck him in (which in itself is getting to be a challenge since he now weighs 28 kg or so), but we don't want to traumatise him.