A relaxing time on Hantu

Date: Aug 6, 2016

Trip #18
Weather: Sunny  
Waters: Calm on way out, choppier on return leg
On board: C and A   
New gear on board: ONAGOfly drone

With most of the family out of the country, it was just C and A today, a beautifully sunny day, with the waters fairly calm. This was the first day of our four-day National Day weekend! 

We headed for Pulau Hantu, our default landing stop. The island had some folks on it - a couple of anglers, a group of Caucasians who berthed their big boat outside the lagoon and made for the island on a rubber dinghy with their two dogs, and a group of local divers. 

The waters in the lagoon were cleaner and clearer than usual. Yay! The tide was high when we landed at 1.30pm or so, but going down.

It was chill time. Chairs laid out, ice box, music and beer. 

We were out of gas canisters, so cooking a meal was out. No matter. We bought ayam penyet with rice from the Bedok Corner food centre - a decidedly unhealthy but delicious meal. The token nods to health were represented by a leaf of lettuce, huge slice of cucumber and four cherry tomatoes, haha. 

Ayam penyet

It was peaceful on the island. We just sat and chilled. And drank some pretty good beers (going by C's beer app): 

C took his ONAGOfly drone (built through an American crowdfunding exercise) on its maiden flight after lunch. This palm-sized gadget replaces his now-busted, way-more-expensive Phantom drone. The cute little thing flew credibly well, but C didn't fly it for long; he was spooked by the thought of losing it to the water just 10 metres away!  

He didn't shoot any stills or video with it because he hadn't yet bought the micro SD card that it needed. 

I piloted Little Wanderer for about 15 minutes on the return leg and thought it a stressful thing to do. One has to keep on eye on the depth, the water surface for bits of junk and choppiness, keep a lookout for other vessels... while wrestling with direction and the stiff steering. Too much to tend to!