round island canoeing

ours was the second group to circumnavigate the waters around the island of singapore. but ours was the first group to use fibre glass canoes; the group ahead of us actually used wooden sampans.

there were 18 of us, all teachers who had attended the 10-day ttc camp and the 21-day outward bound course. we pushed off from the right side of the causeway - if you are facing johor - at around 10pm. by early morning we had made our first stop at the reclaimed beach of marine parade.

the toughest part was the stretch of water near sentosa - in those days, called pulau belakang mati. we struggled against the waves and the strong currents. that there were other craft around did not help us at all.

if i remember correctly, we spent some time trying to catch some sleep when we stopped at pasir panjang. after that, we pushed on towards tuas, kranji and finally, the other side of the causeway.

nowadays, a round island by canoes is no big deal. even school boys and school girls are doing it.