Back on the water after 2.5 months

Date: Nov 13, 2016

Trip #20
Weather: Cloudy, then threatening, then clear   
Waters: Slightly choppy, especially off the SLNG terminal
On board: C and A  
New gear on board: DJI Mavic Pro drone

Litle Wanderer sits at the mouth of the Pulau Hantu lagoon at low tide. 
The deep brown patches are seaweed.
Mainland Singapore to the north of this. Photo by the new Mavic drone. 

That's the newspoint of this post, folks! It's a photo we've been wanting for a long time, and now that we've got it, it runs first, ahead of the preliminaries!

Now, the preliminaries: Talk of a long break from boating. It wasn't for the want of trying. Some weeks, we had stuff going on on Saturday, our designated boating day; other weeks, the weather screwed it up for us. Or the tides did.

With J1 still to return from Sydney and J2 in Milan on holiday, it was just the old fogies today. We were looking to fly C's new toy off the boat and getting aerial shots of Little Wanderer sitting amid the blue.

We arrived at the mouth of Pulau Hantu's lagoon to find it awash in seaweed. The tide was very low but just starting to turn. It was just calf deep even at the breakwater, so we cut the engine and floated there.

Fairly clear water. Pulau Bukom in the background. 

Seems to be the sargassum?

A short video of C putting the drone into take-off from the swim platform of the boat:

The skies turned dark as we ended the flight.

We waited it out. There was a thin drizzle, then the skies brightened. We headed for home base, and there, Raffles Marina laid out yet another one of its spectacular sunsets for us. We berthed the boat and C hurriedly assembled the drone again and got this from the dock:

It was so picturesque that a wedding couple were having a photo shoot there.

This was taken a few minutes before the pic above. C at left
at the controls of the drone, and A washing out the icebox.

This was Little Wanderer's 20th outing, and what a great day it was.

Jahblessdawg wrests control of the P. Hantu gym

Date: Aug 27, 2016

Trip #19
Weather: Hazy   
Waters: Choppy most of the way out, calm on return leg
On board: C, A, J2 and R   
New gear on board: Canon EOS 80D 

So Pokemon has landed in Singapore and taken it by storm. We hear of people being warned against trespassing into military airport zones, of vehicles rear-ending the ones in front because of "distraction" and of people talking about stardust, Pokeballs and lures. 

We landed on Pulau Hantu just as the day's low tide was turning, and J2 (a.k.a. Jahblessdawg in the Pokemon universe) found a gym near the island's jetty. He promptly headed there and after five minutes, took control of the gym after beating a big blue bear-like Pokemon called Snorelax with his Exeggutor.  He was thinking that, by virtue of the island's inaccessability (except to daytrippers on ferries or their own boats or dive boats - certainly a smaller constituency than say, East Coast Park), he would reign in the gym for a while. 

Or so he thought. 

We had barely made it back to the comfort of our deck chairs by the lagoon when A reported that Snorelax had recaptured the gym. We reckoned that Snorelax's trainer must be among the few families that looked like they had encamped (somewhat permanently) in the shelters on the island. Ah well, so Jahblessdawg prevailed at this gym for no more than 10 minutes...  

A was plenty pleased that the aqua shoes (bought a few months ago
from Decathlon but used for the first time today) work like a charm.
They keep the sand out and protect the feet from rocks and possibly vicious
sea critters. Little Wanderer has five pairs of these on board. 
At $16 each, a good buy!

One of a dozen craft beers we brought to the island. 

C on anchor duty.

We brought lunch (ayam penyet again, by popular request: see previous entry), and, as usual, wine and some craft beers (we like Thirsty). Chilled on the beach for a while as the tide rose, and A tried out her new Canon EOS 80D. All in, a relaxing afternoon with dear ones, away from the madding crowd on the mainland, and after a hectic work week in which the nation watched as its Prime Minister nearly passed out during the National Day Rally and then took in the death, wake and funeral of a former president.  

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! 

  

The day the marina couldn't launch the boat!

Pizza ordered from Peperoni, check. Beers, chilled, check. Ice to keep said beers chilled, check. Corn chips (Doritos, Nacho Cheesier!), check. Extra change of clothing, check.  Sunblock, check. 

Call put through to Raffles Marina to launch Little Wanderer, DOH!

The huge beeping crane at the marina was on the blink. We were all logistically and mentally prepared for a boat outing, but no go. The marina said they emailed "everybody" to announce that the crane was not working. We were the only ones who didn't get the memo, apparently.

So we hauled our still-warm  pizzas to the East Coast Park, near the Sailing Centre, for a picnic there instead. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

From where we sat, we were treated to a parade of dogs and their humans, en route to the second checkpoint of  The Amazing Inu Race near our picnic spot. Corgis, daschunds, a retriever or two, spaniels and Singapore Specials. 

It was a sunny afternoon at the East Coast Park near the Sailing Centre.
Laid out our chairs, turned on the music and used a discarded
wooden box as a table for our family-size pizza. 

Why climb a tree? Cos it's there. J1 finds it harder
than expected, earns the title of Resident Macaque.

Afloat in a drizzle, two catfish and two other whats-its

Date: June 11, 2016

Trip #17
Weather: Drizzly  
Waters: Choppy
On board: C, A, J2, R, KH, J and ZQ  

The plan was to head out to Pulau Hantu for a picnic and a spot of fishing with KH and family, in an attempt to make up for the disappointment of the last trip, which turned out to be a non-starter because of the weather. (See post here.) 

But Man plans, God laughs, right? 

We arrived at the marina amid grey skies and choppy waters - even in the marina. We sat it out in the rocking boat in the marina, music on. Some of us even ate the delicious pastrami sandwiches that C made.  We tried to move out, but the currents within the marina were sweeping the boat back against the dock. 

A bunch of anglers sat out the choppy waters in the marina as well. They had gone out earlier and returned because of the roughness out there. They told C he was "mad" to try to get to Pulau Hantu in this weather. 

After an hour and a half, the waters seemed calmer, so we moved out (and so did the anglers). But the island landing had to be ditched; we had already lost more than an hour waiting in the marina. So we were going to just float about 1 km from the marina for some fishing. (In case the rain came, it wouldn't be a long trip back.)  This way, 10-year-old ZQ wouldn't have to go home again without an outing! 

We dropped anchor where we had seen some fishing boats on our past outings. ZQ landed two catfish from the stern within 10 minutes of each other, with a rod loaded with pieces of squid. We released the fish, since they probably aren't good for eating. (We think the same fish may have been caught twice, and made jokes about how it wasn't too smart.) 

KH handled this after ZQ landed it, because catfish can sting.

KH tried one of his lures (no bait) from the bow of Little Wanderer, and landed two whatever-fish, silvery with a bluish line along the dorsal fin, each about 10 cm long. These too, were released. 

Look, I got two!

This fish, species unknown, had wicked spines
 just behind its dorsal fin. Here, they are folded
down and not showing.

KH gave it a shot with one of these lures that C had bought online. It's light
metal and in an insane neon orange. In the water, it mimicked a fish
 in distress on the surface of the water - but sigh, no, KH didn't land
anything with this.  

The rest of us who weren't too excited about fishing or who had animal-cruelty issues just chilled, listened to music, drank wine and beer and snacked on lychees, potato chips, raspberry shortbread, marshmallows, gummies... 

ZQ got into the water with C, but the currents were strong,
so they stayed close to the boat. 

June used to be that scorching time of year. What's happened? It was scorching in the morning, but out there today, it was just grey, drizzly and dreary - and even chilly, when the winds whipped around our damp T shirts.  

But it looks like ZQ had a good time. After we got back to the marina, the routine hose-down of the boat became an obvious excuse for him to play with water. 

So when you have a boat, it isn't as if you can go out when you want. There is really only a small sweet spot on any given day when you can go out, perhaps make an island landing for a picnic and head back in time, untrapped by a rapidly receding tide or bad weather.   

A trip aborted due to bad weather

We were to have set out for Pulau Hantu at 11 am on May 21 with KH, J and their son ZQ, but the wind and currents were very strong even in the marina -  amid generally sunny weather -  so C made the call not to go out.

We already knew that weather conditions weren't in our favour, but got the picnic stuff prepared anyway, and met our guests at the marina. The waters in the marina were rippling, and there was an ominous calm in the place - none of the noisy gathering of anglers, wakeboarders and day trippers typical of a Saturday. They must have checked windyty, but unlike us, didn't hope against hope.

A boat with a pair of fishermen headed out - not before having to gun the engine a bit -  in a no-wake zone, mind you -  to overcome the waves that would have pushed their boat towards the dock. They were back in the marina in 30 minutes. The waters out there were choppy, they said.

We had a very disappointed ZQ, who was all set for fishing Saturday. He kept asking if we would go out "later" if it got better.

It wasn't to be. We spent time by the pool at the marina instead.  

An aside: The name of the boat has been put back on both sides of the hull in that Tangier font we chose. The name had been taken out when the boat went on show at the Singapore Yacht Show 2016.

Lazarus Island: The anchor goes on strike ...

Date: May 1, 2016

Trip #16
Weather: Sunny, temps in the 30s!  
Waters: Choppy
On board: C, A, J2 and MH  
New gear on board: 32 fishing lures, courtesy of an overly enthusiastic online shopping session

Question: What happens when the anchor doesn't do its job, and the incoming tide sweeps the boat relentlessly shore-ward?

Answer: One spends a lot of time pushing the boat out towards deeper water, and has a kind of disappointing boating day.

The plan was to head to Lazarus Island and have a picnic on its shore.  We were to arrive at between 1 and 2pm, when the tide was coming in after the day's lowest tide at noon. April had been a really dry month. We went out only once - Little Wanderer had been unavailable because of the boat show - and today was already the first day of May, so we were really looking forward to today.

As we approached the island's lagoon, the first of the day's signs that all was not going to be well confronted us: The lagoon was already bristling with nine other boats, mostly larger than ours, and the shores were crowded with picnickers. Whatever happened to those days when we had the island to ourselves? C said: "Wah, this feels like East Coast Park."

Then it happened. The depth gauge very quickly went from 5 feet to too-shallow. We were beached before we knew it and the waves from the incoming tide were coming in. The other boats all seemed to be comfortably anchored further out, where the water was overhead.

We unloaded the stuff anyway in calf-deep water while the boat pitched about. Picnic mats were laid out and the sausages were put on the grill... but we spent most of the next hour in the water, trying to get the boat to deeper water. The incoming waves would lift her momentarily, only for her to land with a gentle thunk seconds later. She just wouldn't budge. (Cue rising stress meter here.)

Little Wanderer high and dry. Note the hull is missing the boat's name.
 It was removed for the boat show and Eric hadn't put it back on. 

After trying a few times - and considering asking two kayaks full of fit, young men to help - a guy came up and offered us help. It's amazing, the difference an extra pair of hands makes. The boat was pushed off the sand into deeper water.

But it was no good. The anchor just didn't catch on anything in the sandy seabed, so the tide kept sweeping her in.  We made the call to pack up and leave. We had to chuck out four half-cooked sausages. We had hardly had lunch.

The picnic spot looked nice. But we had to share it with angry red ants.

The picnic spot (nice and shady though) was pre-claimed by a bunch of red ants; and the fact that the reputedly pristine waters of Lazarus included blobs of black oil, planks, plastic sheets and assorted litter just added to the misery. We made our way back to the marina, with the deck of the boat smudged with oil from our feet.

I guess, as with the rest of life, there will be good days and bad days. This one wasn't good.

Back at the marina, we applied a lot of elbow grease (and the boat-cleaning detergents, courtesy of another of C's overly-enthusiastic shopping sprees on Amazon) to clean the deck of oil. The detergents worked marvellously. (We recommend Star Brite!) There had to be an upside to such a day, right? Give us that.