Could a boating day get any hotter??

Date: Feb 9, 2019 

Trip #19 (#39)
Weather: Blisteringly sunny, bright 
Waters: North of the SAF firing range, flat, but choppy on return leg 
On board: C, A, J1, J2, R, K, Grandma and Pudding

The mercury climbed well into the high 30s on this Saturday afternoon, and it was the hottest anyone in the crew could remember a boating Saturday to be, and even those individuals prone to thinking themselves immune from sunburn obediently slathered on the Banana Boat (and laughed at the pointlessness of any SPF beyond 30). 

But the sunniness made for great photos. The colors popped. Sample this: 

Pudding with his consorts, R and K
(first-time on Little Wanderer II, welcome, K!)

Yes, the sky was that blue. What's with the weather these days? Isn't it supposed to be cooler at the start and end of each year?

Only J1, A, Grandma and Pudding stayed out of
the water, which was relatively clear. The currents were strong, though. 

Grandma a trooper in the heat, though she too sought
 the comfort of the below-deck space to rest.

The heat was really front and centre, to the point it was uncomfortable. And nobody showed this more than the resident canine, who chewed on ice and looked for every bit of shade, especially below deck.

We had the air-conditioning turned on, and
Pudding knew where he preferred to be - below deck!
I guess it is no joke wearing a fur coat he can't
ever take off and having no option to sweat to cool down.

We hadn't even expected to be out on this day, but our calendar suddenly cleared when a family gathering was cancelled, and the weather and tides were in our favour. What with so few trips having been made especially in the last half of 2018, we jumped at the chance. After all, berthing the boat  still incurs costs even if we don't go out, so we would really head out to the water more if we could. If only work and other obligations didn't get in the way so often.

[Cue here C and A's refrain: 'It's time to retire.']

Extreme heat aside, there's something pleasurable about powering up the stretch west of Tuas, and then dropping anchor in our usual spot. There is the fenced-in greenery north of the Singapore Armed Forces' training area, where we have spotted macaques and an occasional wild boar, the Lim Chu Kang fish farms to one side and Johor's Puteri Cove further south; the waters, out of which we have seen frightened fish leap in arcs to escape predator fish; and overhead, flocks of smaller birds and the occasional Brahminy kite. 

[Today, however, the birds disappeared. We imagined them wilting in the shade of the trees and trying not to fall off their perches.]   

Pudding revels in a scritch from J1. What a change
 from the dog that came on board for his maiden trip,
tail between his legs and shivering in fear.
But he still won't dive into the water.  

We have to agree that trips out on the boat have become even better with Pudding on board; it's as if we are viewing the experience through his eyes, whether he is going from one person to the next in search of ice cube, treat or a pet, or enjoying  a quieter moment with his Grandpa at the bow (after getting a helping shove to his butt to climb up there).

Here's to more boating Saturdays in 2019. 

We keep this blog as a log book for our trips. Sigh, and from checking the stats, A reckons that readership isn't very high. Time for some research into SEO - search-engine optimisation.