Category Archives: Singapore

Welcome to Singapore

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Singapore is located at the southern tip of mainland Malaysia, between the Johor and Singapore Straits. It is made up of a main island surrounded by 63 much smaller islands. The total square footage of all the islands combined is only 700 square kilometers.

During the colonial era, the Dutch, Portuguese and English were all vying for Asian trading ports. The English set up a few ports in the general area, including one in Malaysia, China (Hong Kong) and Sumatra (Indonesia). Sir Stamford Raffles, a British lieutenant governor, believed Continue reading →

Scary Singapore Shipping

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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 Continue reading →

Days 2-3 from Karimata, Days 11-12 to Singapore

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Today we hit another huge milestone. We crossed the equator at 11:46 am and are now back in the northern hemisphere. Last time we crossed the equator we skipped the silly ceremonies and celebrated with champagne. This time there was no celebration at all. It was just too rough and we weren’t feeling festive. We simply counted down and then went back to what we were doing once the big moment had passed. Some shellbacks we are.

Sea conditions are Continue reading →

Arriving in Karimata, Indonesia

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Our good attitude about the “miserable” sea conditions didn’t last long. We were still very aware that it could be worse, but the fact of the matter is it is hard to maintain a good attitude when you are in such misery. Human nature. Sea conditions were identical as reported when we left. The good news is neither of us got sea sick, although Continue reading →

Bali to Singapore Days 3-4

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Continued from yesterday”¦ We neared a couple low, flat islands at 1700 (5:00 pm) on Wednesday. We changed course to get closer to them so we could be in more protected waters. Unfortunately, they were not a suitable place to stop, but at least in the lee of the island it was a little bit calmer. Christi’s nausea instantly went away and she ate a big meal. Eric felt less nauseous and managed to eat some crackers and drink some Pedialyte. We looked on the charts and found a suitable place to anchor off an island called Bawean that was 24 hours away. After an hour of idling, we pressed on, heading for the anchorage. Moving on was hard for Eric. He struggled with going out knowing the sickness would return. But he managed to do it.

Literally, the minute we were out in the big waves, Eric’s sea sickness returned. As the night wore on the wind and seas again got bigger. By Thursday morning the wind was at 34 with gusts up to 40 and the waves were 12 14 feet right on our nose (head seas). Surprisingly, Christi physically felt OK, but Continue reading →