Paddling to Singapore's very own Blue Lagoon! (Lazarus Island)

This is a long overdue post from my trip back in early January. Starting off from Sentosa with a bunch of sea scouts, we set off towards Lazarus Island to enjoy some time in the famous Blue Lagoon.

 

As we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I spotted this peacock up in a tree! A good omen to start off the day.

It was a nice sunny day with emerald green water. Conditions were pretty decent, nothing too difficult to handle.

Its the process, not the result

Heading to Pasir Panjang Terminal

I helped "lead" an overnight kayak expedition from West Coast Park to Pulau Hantu over the weekend. The teacher of the group was Yong Hui, who wanted his students to execute the expedition plan. Being new, there were cock ups and delays which meant we only got into the water at 4pm.
Long story short, we never made it to the island and were still paddling past sunset. Most of the students had to be put onto the powerboats and driven to the island. We only arrived at 8.30pm.

The next day we encountered a freaking storm 45min after setting off while we were crossing Sinki Fairway. With almost no visibility and ridiculously strong drift, we tied ourselves to the South Cardinal mark around Cyrene reef where we waited for about 3hrs.

The teachers

Losing sight of land

We never made it to the destination on both days, but it was one hell of an experience. I also took home a few lessons from this trip. It was nice and refreshin that the focus for this trip was the journey, rather than the destination.

1. Always study the plan beforehand
I was in Kota Tinggi when the route was released and only managed to see it the night before the expedition. I could not lead effectively because I was unsure of the route and was not familiar with the conditions.

2. Always have lights and a compass handy
My light was tucked away in my aft hatch, I could not access it when it got dark. I also didnt bring my compass. Being able to keep a bearing would have helped if we needed to continue paddling in the low viz during the thunderstorm.

3. Too many indian chiefs causes confusion
Having more than 1 person yelling instructions when there is chaos just makes things worse. Just let the 1st instructor who gives instructions take control. Having an arguement admist the chaos is not a good idea.
4. I still cant stand working with chihuahuas
People who try to have street cred, try too hard, have the sun shining out their ass or move around with some self inflicted sense of urgency like a chihuahua really bug me. The annoyance of this chihuahua effect doubles, when on the water.

Rest of the photos here

Its about exploring

Kevin came to the trip today with this in mind "Its not about speed or distance, its about exploring". I quite like this quote.
This was his first time paddling to the southern islands and he was quite excited about it. We actually started off about 1hr late but it was to be a day of leisure paddling, so it didnt really matter.
From Labrador park, with kayaks rented from Kayakasia. We paddled along Sentosa, passing by Siloso beach till we reached the Sentosa Beacon near what I think is Sentosa Cove.
From here, we crossed over to Pulau Tekukor. Paddling along the left of Pulau Tekukor, we beached up at St. John's Island for lunch.

Ziyang with the beacon

St. John's Island

Starfish on St. John's

After lunch we decided to take a short cut and went under the bridge between Pulau Seringat and St. John's Island. After paddling around a corner, we went to Kusu Island and beached up for a while to let Kevin explore. Unfortunately, he got stung by something while swimming in the lagoon.

The aftermath

We were supposed to carry on to Sisters' Island, but my shoulder was hurting and I starting showing symptoms of a runny nose which made paddling really uncomfortable. We then decided to cut the trip short and headed back instead. Still, we managed to cover a reasonable distance of 18km and enjoyed some good surfing between Seringat and Kusu.

My body is screwed up, but it was still a good day.

As usual, more pics can be found on my facebook album

Kayak Camping

Finally have something postworthy to write about after a month! I just came back from a wonderful kayak camping trip with 11 other paddlers.

Labrador Park

We set off from Labrador Park most using kayaks provided by Kayak Asia. Cher Huey was at Labrador Park on Saturday morning, but I didnt recognise him at first! Its the first time I've seen him out of the water.

Feathercrafts on Sisters Island

We paddled to Sisters Island and stayed the night. Great paddling with lots of waves to surf and the emerald green water was just beautiful.. Simply awesome. The kayak handled well and I was confident enough not to put on the spray cover while paddle for both days. Some water did enter the kayak, but it was minimal and I didnt think it affected much.
This trip also tested my kayak in the surfing department. Im glad to say it passed! I was happily surfing along during both days, reaching some incredible speeds. Although the creaking sounds didnt really help to boost my confidence at first.
The safety aspect could have been better, but Im assuming it was the organiser's first time leading a trip in these waters.
I definitely need to organise my own private trips to Sisters Island with friends in the future.

Feel free to view the rest of the pictures in my Facebook album