Thursday, December 17, 2020

Just the two of us

Date: Dec 16, 2020
Weather: Sunny, then cloudy. Rain to the starboard on the way back. 
Waters: Fairly flat, peak of high tide
On board: C and A  

C and A, being the only two in the family who have begun their year-end vacation, headed out today. The younger people had plans of their own. 

 It was cloudy up east where we live, but actually sunny at the marina. 

C picks the music. A snaps a wefie. 

Still, we did expect it to rain buckets at some point, especially in the mid-afternoon; this has been the weather pattern for the past month. This was why we set out earlier than usual - and also, without the younger people with us, we were actually able to do that. If not for the crappy weather, we might have even taken a longer trip, say, to Lazarus island. 

Rain crimps plans, limits options. (It also makes us wary that fresh leaks may be springing in the basement of our home.) 

We dropped anchor and just chilled to a bottle of prosecco, and put Aretha's Christmas carols on. It was mercifully quiet today, except for Gloria In Excelsis Dio

We had only one sighting of a Brahminy kite swooping down to fish, missing the mark, and then flying back to a tree in the army training ground nearby, as C watched the action on the binoculars. 




No decorating of the boat with baubles and tinsel this year. We didn't do it last year either. It feels like we have run out of time to do it. (We did it in 2017 and 2018.) 

It really feels like time is speeding up, like we are barrelling towards Christmas, even though we began our annual leave at the end of the first week of December. A has realised that attending mass through the year, and especially during Advent, is way of marking out the passage of time. It gives structure to the weeks. It's been nearly a year of mass-less Sundays, and this season, we are already in the third week of Advent. Without witnessing the lighting of the Advent wreath a month ahead of Christmas (starting with a purple candle in the first week, another in the second, a pink candle in the third and a final purple candle a week before Christmas), Advent feels amorphous, without structure. It's the same with the rest of the year, when one would mark the start of the week by attending Sunday mass. Watching streamed proceedings just isn't the same.

As we head towards the end of one Very Strange Year, we take count of the ways life has changed. A year (OK, 10 months for A, and about nine for C) of working from home has saved us time commuting to work and preparing to go to work. We've slummed comfortably in home clothes. Where did the time we saved from commuting and getting dressed for work go? More TV, and with that, lots more snacking. 

We have one home-cooked meal each day at dinner. Lunch has mostly been ordered and delivered by GrabFood or Deliveroo or some such. It is expensive this way, as we have found!  In normal times, we would all have lunched separately, as a break midway through work in the office. 

The dog can't believe his good luck. Scritches and pets on tap all day, every day. 

We have to count our blessings, in that we don't seem in immediate danger of losing our jobs. 

After two hours on this day near the Lim Chu Kang fish farms, the sky began turning dark, so we left our spot. It began raining to starboard, where Puteri Cove, Johor Baru is, and also over Forest City, that mega mixed development built on a man-made island off south-western Johor. 

What torrential rain looks like from out at sea. 
We were dry where we were, though the tiniest 
of droplets could be felt. Puteri Cove.

   
Forest City being pelted.

After this trip, the boat goes in for some fixing. The risers need to be fixed. We turned on the AC below deck to check on it, and it seems to be working fine, despite having been on the blink on the previous trip out.  

Monday, October 26, 2020

Air conditioning on the blink

Date: Oct 24, 2020
Weather: Cloudy, then blazing hot 
Waters: Flat
On board: C, A, J2, R, Pudding and a guest, C2 

It was a late start, near 1pm, so we went for our default destination near the Yio Chu Kang fish farms instead of the longer trip to Lazarus Island. After we dropped anchor and through the afternoon, a hired boat which had set out from Raffles Marina with wakeboarders shattered the peace of our spot and sent us bobbing in its wake repeatedly. A nuisance. 

It was a smooth ride out and the waters off Tuas were otherwise like glass. Today, we had C2 on board, the older brother of D, who joined us on the last trip out. C2 is 15, skinny and restless, talks fast and jabs frenetically at his iPhone. He asked lots of questions too, about the features of the boat, and also why other boaters waved at us. A told him it is a maritime tradition. More about that here

At our anchored destination, his keyed-up energy found release in leaping and somersaulting off Little Wanderer's bow and swimming around her. 

C2 catches up with his aunt, R.  

The cool, cloudy day turned into a broiler soon enough, and Pudding responded by retreating below deck. We wanted the air-conditioning on but ... nothing happened. A short consult by phone with Eric of SGBoating later, C got instructions to open the hatch below the rear seats to do some trouble-shooting. Turns out the air-conditioner was low on coolant - either from neglect by the marina maintenance crew, or a leak, which could mean another bill to pay! (Repairs were done in July for separate problems. See entry here.)

Pudding had to lean in for a look
 to see what was wrong too.  

Back at the marina later, Capt C roped in C2 for the after-trip ablutions. It's become a sort of tradition on board Little Wanderer 2: Her young guests are asked to help hose down the deck to clean away the dirty footprints, spilled beer or random globs of doggo saliva. As Capt C says: "You've had fun at sea, now get to work. There's no such thing as a free lunch."  

And so C2, like the young guests before him, obliged. He had no option, actually. In truth though, our little "tradition" is a recognition of the fact that kids like to play with water. So this bit of "child labour" is actually fun for them.  



After the boat was hoisted out of the water (below), C was reminded that it was time to book this year's grooming. Dry berthing has spared us the curse of barnacles, but the hull needs protection from a polish with glazing so that stains don't stick.  

LW2 is a little over three years old. 
 
The wake by LW2 on the way back to the marina,
just below the Tuas Checkpoint (Second Link).
A fine Saturday to be out at sea.  



Sunday, September 27, 2020

Two guests on board

Date: Sept 26, 2020
Weather: Cloudy, slightly overcast, cool and windy 
Waters: Choppy (after a morning of threatened rain)
On board: C, A, J2, R, Pudding, and our guests, M and his grandson, D

The entire week has been rainy, so even on the morning of this supposed outing, we weren't sure if it would happen. This intended trip had been planned for last week, but was cancelled then because of threatened rain. In the end, the rain didn't come, but it was too late to head out already. Call it arse luck. 

R's dad, M, had been invited last week, so when we decided to bite the bullet and go today, he was asked again and he could make it, and brought D, one of his five grandchildren. 

The waters in the marina and just outside it were an uninviting brown and choppy. Without the usually-seasick J1 with us today, we had planned on a longer trip, to Lazarus, perhaps, but with it being so choppy and windy, we chose safety and headed for our usual place near the fish farms.

M, we were told, isn't a big fan of doggos. R says Pudding
probably sensed this and deliberately planted himself close. 😜  


With the weather so cool, the dog seemed a lot happier. He spent most of the time with us on deck. As usual, he whimpered when J2, R and D leapt off the swim platform into the water, but this time, he barked for good measure as well. We have often wondered what his whimpers mean. Is it that he was transferring his dislike/fear of the water onto his humans and concerned for their safety? 

This Web site here suggests it may be so. 

C pointed out, though, that the doggo seemed really excited (in a good way)  - his tail was wagging happily as he barked and whimpered, and as he alternated between clambering on the seat and going to the swim platform for a better view of what was going on in the water. 

The "Yacht Rock" playlist was on, beers and wine were drunk, and conversation was had. 

R catches up with her nephew, D. He and his
siblings miss R, now that she doesn't live with them. 







 

 

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Dead fish... and rain

Date: Aug 15, 2020
Weather: Sunny, then rainy, and then clear
Waters: Slightly choppy, but looked clean - except for the fish kill
On board: C, A, J1, J2, R, P and the dog 

Hundreds of milkfish flashed their bellies of silver on the surface of the water as we approached our usual mooring spot north of the SAF firing range. 

What happened? The water looked fine today, quite clean and clear, so if it was some kind of algae bloom that sopped up the oxygen from the water and killed them, it wasn't apparent. We were wondering about the fish in the floating fish farms just 80m from where we dropped anchor. 

A similar thing happened in May 2019. Here's the news report

We used our boat hook to bring a fish on board for a closer look, and Pudding was curious, his nose probably in overdrive. Our human noses, however, didn't pick up any odour. After J1's droll idea of bringing them back for dinner was roundly rejected, the sport of fish flinging (using the boat hook) gave no more than a few minutes' amusement. Now you know why it's not going to make it as an Olympic sport... 

Nobody was going to swim in these waters today; memories of a resident croc and box jellyfish provided other good reasons not to.

 
 
We don't know when these fish died. Their bodies were beginning to bloat. 
There were fewer of these where we dropped anchor, perhaps about 100
 near the boat. Most were further south, nearer the Second Link.  

The day's outing had begun in sunny weather, but about an hour after we dropped anchor, the skies above distant Johor Bahru turned gloomy. It began pouring there and the skyscrapers disappeared. Soon enough, a drizzle began where we were. 

J1, P and the dog had retreated below deck by then. Only C, A, J2 and R stayed out, with J2 giving his Very Expensive Raincoat, a Musto, a try. By appointment to Her Majesty, The Queen, and also to the Duke of Edinburgh, he sniffed, reading its label out.  

A video of the stormlight just before the rain came. 



Those awesome Orlebar Brown shorts.

Fresh from repairs to flush a choked manifold, the boat purred today. 



The journey back was uneventful. 

Friday, July 31, 2020

Sea trial after repairs

Date: July 31, 2020
Weather: Cloudy
Waters: Slightly choppy, absolutely filthy and brown-foamy within the marina 
On board: C, A, Rodriz (the repair technician) and Eric of SG Boating 

Little Wanderer 2 has been giving off really loud warning beeps when the speed hits 22 knots in the last few trips, though it hasn't given any serious mechanical problems. It's not like we've been stranded at sea or anything... 

So into the repair shop it went. Turns out the manifold on the starboard side needed to be chemically flushed because it was choked, and water couldn't flow through it. Result: an overheated engine which tripped the sensor, hence the beeps. 

The portion that was choked (arrowed).




The repairs turned out like the worst nightmare for any hypochondriac who goes to see a doctor for Problem A, and finds in the course of scans and checks that there's also Problems B and C: The repairman also found the two batteries on board in bad shape, literally so - their sides were bulging out. They will need replacing. 

There was also an issue with the risers. They will need replacing, perhaps in six months or so. The replacing is in itself a two-hour job. It's the process of ordering the parts and waiting for them to arrive that takes a while, no thanks to Covid-19 disrupting shipping and delivery lines. So we made arrangements to get the parts ordered now, before replacing these parts become a matter of urgency.  Sounds like a kerchinggg business, what with manifold + batteries + risers. 

After today's fixings were done with the manifold, Eric took the wheel and we went out for a spin. He hit 22 knots and beyond in the waters outside the marina and things looked fine. 

All A did was sit out back for a Friday wind-in-her-hair ride. 

From left: C, Rodriz and Eric at the wheel,
gunning the engine in the waters
just outside the marina. 

A gets a Friday afternoon boat ride.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

First outing since Singapore's lockdown - and the batt is flat

Date: July 18, 2020
Weather: Gloomy, slightly drizzly, then sunny
Waters: Flat off Tuas
On board: C, A,  J1, J2, R, P and Pudding
New gear on board: C's stylish swim shorts by Orlebar Brown, haha.   

A marine crocodile poked its snout out of the water just off the Yio Chu Kang fish farms, where we were anchored,  and caused a bit of a tizzy on board Little Wanderer 2. We have hung out at this peaceful spot so many times in the last couple of years, but this is the first time we have seen anything beyond a Brahminy kite up in the sky, terrified fish leaping out of the water, chased by some predator, and wild boar by the water's edge. 

The croc didn't seem too large, but we were so excited that nobody thought to whip out a phone camera or the binoculars. So, no pic, sorry. There was some general musing about whether it would be safe to swim in these waters - this afternoon, or ever again... 

And crocs aren't the only problem, apparently. Box jellyfish have been reported in Singapore waters too.  

We had been late getting to the marina, as usual, because of the usual tardiness. Then when we got to Raffles Marina, another delay awaited us: The marina staff who have been keeping the boat's batteries juiced up forgot to turn off the batt after the last top-up of power earlier this week, so every last bit had drained out. 

It was a sinking feeling as the ignition was turned and the boat didn't power up. It reminded us of our old (fifth-hand or something!) boat, which broke down with alarming frequency, disappointing the kiddie-versions of J1 and J2, who were swim-suited and goggled, and all ready for a ride out and picnic on the beach of some Southern island.  

I guess we have to be thankful that today, it was just a flat battery, not some mechanical problem. All we had to do was wait until spare batteries were installed on board, and our flat ones were sent to be charged in the dockmaster's office while we were out. 

This is our first outing since the circuit breaker was lifted, although with some conditions, such as masking up, keeping a metre apart and gathering in groups of no more than five. As Singapore emerges cautiously from that partial lockdown, owners of private pleasure craft are allowed to have a maximum of five guests on board, excluding the boat captain, in our case, C. So we were five plus le capitan, and the dog. 

We spent a couple of hours out at our usual spot north of the SAF firing range, just chilling. On the ride out, we were met with a fine drizzle. We were just on the edge of a rain cloud, which quickly blew Malaysia-ward. It got blazingly hot after that. 


Le Capitan with his swank swim shorts. 

J1 and P

J2 with R
#dogsonboats

Photo by P
And so this was the Saturday that was. Good grief, it was only the second outing in 2020, and it is already past mid-July! No thanks to the coronavirus, which shut down the marina. 

How about playing catchup with outings for the rest of this year?

Sunday, April 05, 2020

Coronavirus 2020: First outing for the year ... and the last (for a while)

Date: April 4, 2020
Weather: Hot and sunny
Waters: Flat off Tuas
On board: C, A,  J1, J2, R, P and Pudding
New gear on board: Collapsible cooler for the beers  

This modern-day scourge, the novel coronavirus or Covid-19, is sweeping the world and making its presence felt in every last sphere of human activity. Most governments have imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of the flu-like illness (fatal for the aged or the immune-compromised) within the community. 

In Singapore, the number of cases is still rising. There is still no total lockdown, although the government has announced a near-total one, effective Tuesday, April 7. All schools will be shut, and workplaces have only newly been told now - get all your staff to work from home with very few exceptions. Only supermarkets, wet markets and essential services will remain open. Restaurants can stay open as well, but only to offer takeaway or food delivery services. 

Meanwhile, the following words and phrases have been heard often these days: Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. Social distancing. Work from home. Flatten the curve... (Singapore's curve has yet to flatten, and C and A believe it's the direct result of the government's super-calibrated (too calibrated?) series of moves to limit people fraternising. The schools, for instance, have gone from staying open to okayy, one day of home-based learning a week, to (and only two days ago), okayy, we'll shut the schools.  

Marinas... of course, aren't "essential" amenities, so with Raffles Marina being shut from Tuesday, the family took the chance for one last outing (at least for a while). This also happened to be the very first outing for the year 2020. I can't exactly remember why we haven't  been out - we just haven't. Our last was on Dec 30, 2019. Read that log here

We went to our usual spot in the waters just north of the Sungei Gedong military-firing area, and saw at least two Police Coast Guard boats there, ever ready to tell us to move away from the area. 




The dog didn't seem too nervous, despite the long layoff since the last outing. (See video of him with P, on her second outing on Little Wanderer 2.) If it hasn't been mentioned before, this doge has his own Instagram feed. Find him at @pudding_thegoldengod.)

As usual, we dropped anchor, broke open the beers, turned up the music and let the sun bake a new shade of tan into our skin. 


Pudding, as usual, getting in the way of
the main event, opening of the beers.
All pix and video shot on iPhone X.


Pudding dons a lei for the holiday vibe.
A lot of people say he's handsome, and we agree.
(The vet has pronounced him overweight though,
 at 33.1kg. A diet of reduced kibble portions
is ongoing, and treats have been greatly cut down.)   

 
The first three in the water, which was clear of flotsam,
but looking uninvitingly olive green and opaque.
 From left, P, J1 and R. Filter by Pixlr


From left, P (in water), J1 and R (on the swim platform)
and J2, half-in, half-out. Filter courtesy of Pixlr.

Fair is fair. Everyone on board on this
sunny Saturday is pictured here. 

A with Puddng. Shot taken by P.