The empty nesters head out for a trip

Date: Oct 27, 2019
Weather: Sunny and hot
Waters: Choppy, especially on the return leg; anchored off St John's Island
On board: C, A and Pudding 

With J1 and J2 spending time with their girlfriend and wife respectively, we (C and A) found ourselves with an empty nest this long Deepavali weekend. Well, OK, we still had the dog, who has come to expect outings every weekend, so why not head out on the water with him, right? 

Neither of us wanted to let this long weekend go to waste, sitting catatonic in front of the TV and binge-watching Netflix series. And since we can wake up earlier, it seemed to make sense to try for an earlier start - seemingly impossible when young people are on board - and head out towards the Southern Islands. This is a route Little Wanderer 2 hasn't taken in a while, not since September 2017, when a trip was made to the waters off Pulau Bukom. Thanks to J1's chronic seasickness and the family's habitually late starts at noon, this longer route has been ditched in favour of going west towards the SAF live-firing area instead.  

And so on this sunny Sunday, after a little over an hour hugging Singapore's western coast, rounding The Elbow near Jurong Island and going down Sinki Fairway, we found ourselves floating in a calm lagoon (pic below) just about 100m off the causeway linking St John's and Lazarus islands. The dog was by then panting under his fur coat and nervous from the much-longer, bumpy trip. 

 

The plan had been to anchor the boat just off one of Sentosa's beaches, but when we got to just off the Tanjong Beach Club (scene of the Wedding of the Year in July), the waters just outside the floater lines cordoning off the lagoon were choppy and over 20m deep at that - too much anchor line would have to be paid out. St John's became Plan B.   

Hot dog being cooled down with a wet chamois. 

At the place where we anchored, there were two other pleasure craft; on the shore, a surprising number of day trippers were walking or using their PMDs (no escaping these nuisances on two wheels) between Lazarus and St John's islands. Not many swimmers on this scorcher of a day.  

Lazarus Island to the left and St John's to the right, and
the causeway, dotted with people, in between.

It was much quieter today on board as we floated there, and I was reminded that we are going through that rite of passage that many, many couples undertake - to try to reconnect with each other after the children have grown and go out to make their own lives, on their own time. For many years, the logistics and the effort of raising children typically consumes both halves of couples, who would also be navigating through their careers. Then when this time rolls around and they have only each other (most of the time anyway), what do they do together or say to each other? After 20-some years in marriage, there's not that much that's new to report anyway. Are they going to find an activity to share? Live separate lives while chasing disparate hobbies? And what about financial security and health? Will they remember (and celebrate) day to day the reasons they came together right at the beginning of their story? This leaves couples hoping that the intervening years haven't changed either of them too much that they are practically strangers to each other in their later years. Or, at the very least, they would hope that if they did change a lot, then the people they have become would still be tolerable!

Anyway, wine was drunk and Dire Straits and the Allman Brothers Band crooned. At around 3pm, we hoisted the anchor and made tracks for home, tanned some shades darker (C) and sunburnt (A). 

The return leg was even choppier and the boat captain had to slow down to a sedate 18 knots and even nearly stop at times. 

Once more, the dog was afraid, and planted himself
on A's lap pretty much all the way home. You know he's
 nervous when he refused the offer of a treat.

Pudding (check out his Instagram feed @pudding_thegoldengod)
happily accepted treats again back on terra firma at the marina.
He will be two years old in less than a month, and now weighs 32 kg. 

 One thought that struck us on this trip: How will boating change for us when Singapore's busy port starts operations at Tuas? The waters will be busier for sure, and making our way down the west coast and towards the Southern Islands will become a little more dangerous, with our small boat ducking around the massive container ships. Or we might have to swing out wider to avoid all this traffic, which will certainly add to travel time. 

The time might well have come to consider moving to another marina, the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club nearer Sentosa, for one. We have come to like Raffles Marina a lot, the long east-to-west drive for us notwithstanding. The marina is home base to many anglers, and though we don't quite "get" the joy of fishing, we like the laid-back, unpretentious atmosphere there. 

The downside to Raffles (aside from its location near the future Tuas megaport) is that it's anti-dog... which we have discovered only in the last year and a half that Pudding has come to join our family. We take him from car park to the boat and back, slinking around the edge of the marina, unable to go enjoy beers at the Discovery Pub or to have a meal at the bistro. We have offered to take tables far from other club patrons, and the dog - always leashed - is quiet and doesn't bark.

However, we have consistently received a "Rules are rules" response from the wait staff... 

Boating, the great outdoors... and dogs. They just "go" together. But a member of our family, sadly, isn't welcome here.