For the timing of our entry to Singapore to work out ideally, we needed to cross the main shipping lane at sunrise. It was going to take all day to get to Singapore Harbor, and we wanted to enter the harbor in the day.

Sea conditions had improved slightly by dawn, but conditions were still really miserable. Thanks to slow speeds from adverse wind and currents, we were still miles and miles from the shipping lane. Singapore is a small island just south of the coast of Malaysia. The continental land mass blocks a lot of the wind, so as we got closer and closer to our destination, the waves gradually got smaller, which we were grateful for.

The shipping lane keep traffic separated as it funnels into the port. We could see ships in the lanes ahead hours before we actually reached them. From the distance, it looked like a road on the water, with a consistent flow of huge ships going back and forth in an orderly fashion. The ships were enormous by far the biggest we have ever seen. We have an AIS receiver, which tells us name, length, course, and speed of each large vessel. It seemed most ships were over 200 meters (600 feet), with many over 300 meters (1000 feet). The biggest was 345 meters (1150 feet).

We reached the shipping lane at 13:00 (1:00 pm). We needed to find a gap in the traffic flow and dart across the lane as fast as we could. This is literally like a person trying to run across all ten lanes of a typical San Diego freeway. Just like on the freeway, the big ships have the right of way. Most of these ships were flying along at 20+ knots. The smaller waves had helped our speed some, but we still had the current against us, so we were still going relatively slow at 6.5 knots.

Eric was freaking out. He was exhausted and hungry and running on adrenaline. Christi could see him aging before her eyes as he studied the flow of traffic, constantly ran numbers on the calculator to see if each gap that opened up was going to give us enough time to cross, and debating about giving up and turning back rather than risk it. The ships were constantly chattering on the radio, letting the boats around them know when they were deviating off course to pass another vessel and making sure it wouldn’t affect anyone else.

It didn’t take long for our window to open up. All ahead full! Our speed peaked at 7 knots as we fought the wind and current. Normally we can go 8 to 8.5. This is a shot of the chart with the AIS overlaid on it. We are the black triangle in the center of the shipping lane. If you look carefully, you can see the 20 triangles of the big ships in the lane, many of them coming right at us.

Not too long after crossing the channel, the mainland of Malaysia came into view. We turned and paralleled it. The coastline is uneven, with some very flat areas and a few hills here and there. It was good to see land we were almost there. We thought the worst was behind us, but we were mistaken. It had just begun.

As we neared the harbor, we needed to cross the pilot area that leads to Singapore Harbor. Meaning these huge ships peel off the shipping lane and would be crossing our path. We had huge ships all around us. We were terrified they didn’t see us since we don’t have an AIS transponder and it seemed most of the ships relied on their AIS. The radar was filled with all the AIS triangles and little radar dots. It was overwhelming. The ships got much too close for comfort as they passed us, at least compared to what we are used to. We had thought we were too close to ships doing the Great Barrier Reef. This brought new meaning to the word close. The good new is they had to slow down to approach the area, and we even out ran a couple of the ships.

Interestingly enough, there is an anchorage area along the shipping lane, kind of reminiscent of a large, thin parking lot paralleling a busy street. There were tons and tons of huge ships orderly lined up in straight rows for miles. We are not sure why they anchor out there, but there are a lot of them.

Singapore came into sight around 1800, the tall buildings looking like dark silhouettes behind the clouds. Seeing the city gave us much needed hope like we were nearing the finish line. Then it got dark. We had no moon and no stars. The lights on the shores of Singapore and Malaysia glimmered, making it very difficult to pick out the lights of these enormous ships. One encouraging thing was there were other small boats running around. We were not the only nutty people out here.

We finally pulled into the western working anchorage around 2100 (9:00 pm). We called for immigration. Singapore has 24 hour check in, which we are thankful for. We would have been most unhappy spending a night in the rocky anchorage with all the big boys. The immigration boat pulled up alongside us within a few minutes. We handed them a ziplock bag filled with all the required paperwork to check in. They pulled away from us and did circles near by. A few minutes later, they pulled back up and said we were free to enter Singapore. What a relief. We radioed the marina and let them know we were on our way.

We made our way over to the marina. It is brand new, and isn’t on the charts. The charts do have the cove it is in, though. As we neared the inlet, out of nowhere we were hit with a forceful current that made entry difficult. The channel is well marked, but once again, with so many other lights around, it was hard to pick out the channel marker lights.

Two marina staff were there to help us when we pulled in. The spot was right off the channel and easy to enter. We pulled in nose first, not realizing until it was too late that the spot was much too small for us, even smaller than the slips in Port Douglas and Bali. We should have probably turned around, but we were so exhausted that we didn’t bother. We were just happy to have arrived.

The marina staff that helped us tie up told us the restaurant was about to close. If ever we needed our celebratory meal, it was now! This was by far the worst passage and most difficult entry of all time! To get off the boat, we went out the port (left) door, crawled over to the small ledge on the port side, then jumped to the walkway below. It is a pretty big jump.

The meal was wonderful. The food was great, though expensive. We were ravenous and inhaled our food. We think the staff was shocked at how much food we ate and how fast, though pleased we didn’t keep them too long after closing. Neither of us eat much beef, but we were both craving it. We got a USD $24 wayagu beef burger and a steak.

Back at the boat, we were saddened to find out that the marina is incredibly rocky. We have been in much calmer anchorages. This is disappointing, since one of the things we were looking forward to be a reprieve from the rocking. We passed out shortly after finishing dinner.