Crossing the Straits 2
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Crossing the Straits toward Singapore
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Hai Soon came out of the city anchorage and was heading straight toward the rear Beez as we were nearing Raffles Lighthouse, looming fast. I was just about to turn out of her way when she must have spotted us on AIS and swerved right. She then overtook us putting herself between us and the lighthouse and headed into the further anchorage. How sweet was that, giving way to Beez Neez..........
Approaching Raffles Lighthouse was simply a gleeful moment for both of us.
Through the gap just before Raffles Lighthouse we can see the next anchorage with loads of chums resting quietly.
Raffles Lighthouse, built in memory of Sir Stamford Raffles (6th of July 1781- 5th July 1826), was constructed in 1855. Located at Singapore’s southernmost island of Pulau Satumu, which is loosely translated as ‘One Tree Island’, it is planted right at the southernmost point in Singapore. Instead of using a kerosene-based lantern, Raffles lighthouse now uses an electricity-based light, giving off three white flashes every twenty seconds. There are two lighthouse keepers on duty at any given time, with each keeping an alternating twelve hour shift for ten days - they spend ten days at the lighthouse, and then ten days off on the mainland, before the cycle repeats. Syed Hassan, the oldest lighthouse keeper in Singapore, currently resides in Raffles lighthouse. Also, there are holiday chalets within the lighthouse compound which are specially reserved for Ministers, should they need a short getaway. Line us up for a holiday there..........can you imagine sitting in an old fashioned deck chair watching the chums go by...........fantastic.
The present Raffles Lighthouse equipment consists of a main and standby rotating beacon, each producing 117,000 candelas with a nominal range of twenty nautical miles. A radar beacon (racon) was also installed at the lighthouse which provides additional navigational information to ships by emitting a Morse code on the ship's radar screen. In 2005, an Aids to Navigation Automatic Identification System (AIS) was installed to broadcast additional positioning information to ships.
This fire girl came roaring up and waved cheekily.
She weaved, swerved and spun on the spot creating a huge amount of wake but we didn’t mind because she put a wonderful private show for us. Another cheeky wave and she was gone.
Our fire girl friend did her final pass in front of a giant called Armada Olombendo – our first FPSO, a little later we saw the brand new Armada Kraken, they had to have their very own blog.
We passed a laden Black Marlin, she’ll have to have her own blog.
A brand new chum, under construction.
A serious crane at the shipyard.
Rigs under construction.
Bear doesn’t fancy being shot out the back of this rig in the three safety pods.
We saw much activity on the reclamation front. (Singapore has grown 25% and loads more to come).
Huge warehouses being built.
Another visit from El Persistent.
At the corner we turn right into the river and leave the chums behind. What a fantastic experience, I forgot lipstick and lipsalve both = sore lips. We both forgot beak juice aka thirty factor for our noses = both look like Rudolph – do we care. Not one jot. Another hour and we will pull into Puteri Marina.
ALL IN ALL JUST WONDERFUL QUIETER THAN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL BUT GREAT FUN
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