Singapore

Sea Fever Journal

By Wendy Catlin

11 January 1999

I write from the Raffles Marina which is located on the north east side of Singapore Island. It has been quite some time since I have written in my journal; since November, we have been mostly land-based rather that sea-based!

I last wrote from Kumai, Kalimatan (Borneo) where we had visited the Orangutans, which was a fantastic experience and one we will remember for quite some time!

We anchored in the Kumai River just off the town of Kumai. Industry there is gold mining, timber felling and fishing. The River has a lot of traffic carrying goods of all sorts. Very frontier feeling about it.

After having a raft of illegal logs wrap around our boat and drag us up the river for a mile, we did not feel it safe to leave the boat here while Rob returned to Australia to lead a natural history trip. We decided that I go to Australia to lead the trip and Rob take the boat on up to Batam Island (just off Singapore).

We recruited three people to crew for this leg, one Australian and two Indonesians that we had met while here, so Rob had plenty of help for the voyage. During this voyage they experienced 0 to 50 knot winds. They arrived safely at Nongsa Point Marina (Batam Island) after ten days travel for a well-deserved rest and relaxation.

In the meantime, I took off to Australia to meet a group of six adventure travelers from Natural Habitat Adventures; a Colorado based company. Really a great group of people! It was a pleasure showing them the best of Queensland’s rainforest, outback, mangrove and reef environments. All were very keen photographers so we went at a really nice pace. We were very fortunate to observe much of the wildlife that Australia has to offer.

The trip ended in Sydney at the end of November. Rob gave me a birthday surprise meeting me in Sydney with champagne, chocolate mints, balloons and flowers!!! A perfect birthday present package!

After saying goodbye to my group and an extra day in Sydney, Rob and I flew to Melbourne to visit his family. We had a nice week of catching up with everyone. Rob really enjoyed his time with his father Frank, the two of them taking walks together and having good long chats.

Rob’s brother Victor and wife Barbara have an absolutely beautiful garden. It was a pleasure to luxuriate in the colors and scents that pervaded the air. There are not too many roses and other beautiful flowers to enjoy at sea! Melbourne is very close to Tasmania, so we decided to fly over to Tasmania, Australia’s largest island, for a 5-day look around.

Our first stop in Tassi was Cradle Mountain…a spectacular jagged outcrop of granite rising to around 1500 meters. At the base is a lovely lake that we walked around admiring the views, fresh air and exercise. Many people take treks to the top of the mountain for go for multi day treks…not for us this time!

We continued exploring different parts of the island (we had a rental car) and staying in traditional and heritage listed bed and breakfast accommodation.

Tasmania is very quaint, historical and scenic. Most of the forests are very tall Eucalyptus with gray, green reddish hue to them. The rolling hills are very green reminding me of Sonoma County in February. The people are very friendly and helpful. There are lots of sheep in the fields, but tourism is the main industry here. The locals tell us that many of the young people have been leaving Tasmania, as there is just not much choice of job opportunities available which provide a decent wage.

Our last couple of days brings us to Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, located in the southern part of the island. As we round the corner, you see this lovely city and you cannot help but think…Oh, so this is where everyone is! Lots of bays, inlets with many traditional sailing boats at anchor. It is obvious that sailing is a big pastime here. Of course we explore many of these places, admiring yachts and manage to do some shopping for Sea Fever at a local chandlery.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Tasmania, but Rob and I are both feeling anxious to get back to the boat and continue on our way…We return to Melbourne, waiting for our flights. Rob returns via Singapore, I via Bali. We leave on different dates.

I have never been to Melbourne before and it is quite an impressive city! The city center was all decked out for Christmas looking attractive with highly creative window displays.. Lots of hip and well-dressed people walking around with mobile phones. Melbourne has a fantastic art and cultural center as well as beautiful parks and a good transportation system.

Rob and I both make it back to Sea Fever which has been berthed at Nongsa Point Marina, Batam Island, Indonesia. You can see the skyline of Singapore across the bay. This marina is very nice, quite beautifully done, good facilities, but no one is here. Quite a shame really. Not sure how they stay "afloat".

After getting the boat ready to go across to Singapore, we study the charts quite carefully. Getting across this channel will be quite a challenge. We are crossing a major shipping route here and at any given time you can see large freighters all around you. I counted 25 ships at one point. Fortunately, some are at anchor.

We felt really small as we threaded our way through the freighters and passed by huge container ports with giant cranes and equipment. The Singapore skyline is the backdrop for all of this.

We arrive at Raffles Marina on Christmas Eve Day. This is the country club of marinas, I must say. Beautiful facilities…swimming pool(s), work out room, restaurant, pub, first class toilet/shower & locker room. As new "residents" we get membership privileges which means discounts at the restaurants, use of all the facilities and a newspaper delivered to the boat every morning!!!

Here at Raffles, we catch up with other yachties. We learn that everyone is getting together on Christmas morning for a champagne breakfast. Sounds good to us! So Christmas morning we catch up on the news of the yachtie circuit, tales of woe and tales of success.

We planned on being here at Raffles for about a week. But, we have now been here nearly three weeks. Rob decided to make sure everything on Sea Fever is working at optimum level before we head off to cross the Indian Ocean. While here in Singapore, we have the resources to get everything we need. This is the time and the place as we will not be in a major city until we arrive in Israel, several months from now.

Raffles Marina is a fair distance from the city center, so to get there, we must first take a bus, then the MRT (mass transit system) to whatever part of the city we want. It is all very efficient and cheap. Personally I cannot understand why the USA, particularly northern California, cannot get it together to put a system in place.

Downtown it is all go! The Christmas lights at Orchard Road (one of the main shopping areas) were absolutely spectacular. Now everything is getting ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year which will happen in February.

Singapore is a city of mixed peoples, mobile phones and cultures, which makes it a very exciting and interesting place to be. The majority of the population is Chinese, with many Indian, Malaysian, and Indonesians. Almost everyone speaks English, which makes daily life easier for us. Shopping is the thing…huge shopping complexes everywhere and they are always full of people! One can spend a lot of money here!

We plan to leave on Wednesday 13 January and head up the Malaysian coast to Langkawi Island. We hope to travel around Langkawi a bit, as it looks quite beautiful. We will then head to the Nicobar Islands to explore there for 10 days before crossing the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka.

I finish this part of my journal on 11 January, 99.