We took up membership at Raffles Marina formally yesterday.
Since we bought the boat from SGBoating, we have used the marina for berthing and refuelling, and even had refreshments at its bistro, but all this was a courtesy extended by Eric for a limited period. We knew we would have to make a decision sooner than later on a permanent home for Little Wanderer, for to continue being berthed at the marina, one has to be a member.
In the past few weeks, we have attempted to check out other marinas, seeing how Raffles Marina - which we have come to like a lot - is really a bit far from Singapore's Southern Islands. It takes half an hour (on flat water) just to make it to what Eric of SGBoating calls "The Corner", and from there, it is at least another 45 minutes, we figure, before we get to Sisters' Island or Lazarus/St John's Island.
Those islands are really the reason we bought the boat. We have enjoyed landing on them, having picnics on their shores and even staying overnight.
Eric has said that Raffles Marina is near Puteri Cove in Johor, if we like the idea of landing somewhere, as opposed to bobbing out at sea, fishing from the boat or doing water sports. Nice as the place sounds, we aren't really keen on staying in a hotel on a boat outing...
We have since visited the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (RSYC) - a rather nice-looking place and in a much more central location - but were told its dry berths were full. Wet berthing is out of the question for us, since we haven't got much leisure time to do all the maintenance work for a boat that is left on water. Two weeks is all it takes for barnacles to form on the hull, never mind the staining from other gunk in the water.
RSYC told us to leave our name and contact number with them, because they were in the process of "rationalising" their berthing spaces. They said if a berth became available, they would call.
Radio silence ensued over the next several weeks. We had to send them a "So how?" email, and even then, they didn't seem to interested to take us in. They went no further than to say they could take vessels only up to 2.9m in height or something like that. Since they didn't even ask us to bring Little Wanderer in to see if it could fit, we haven't bothered them again. (Little Wanderer might just make that height limit if its canopy were folded down.)
We used to berth our previous boats at Keppel Marina (now called Marina at Keppel Bay), but we hear that it's now only a wet-berthing-only facility. One Degree 15 Marina looks like it's only for millionaires who own luxury superyachts. Marina Country Club (in Punggol) would be just as far out in the boonies as Raffles is...
So Raffles Marina it is. It may be a 35-minute drive from our home in the Upper East Coast, and a bit of a run out to the Southern Islands, but the place has a rustic, unpretentious feel to it, and time seems to run a little slower there. (Add to that, Eric's helpfulness!)
It also doesn't hurt that the laksa at the bistro is more than decent. And the sunsets at the marina are the best, Eric says. C and the boys can already imagine chilling in the bistro and catching a Liverpool game on big-screen TV after a day out on the water. It'll be a good kind of tiredness.
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