Leaving the Kelong

Finally the boat arrived at around 11am and we had to leave. The return trip was going to be another 1.5 hours.




Note the Dredging/Reclamation platform to the left. This was when we were passing Pulau Tekong.






Back at Changi Jetty.

Morning Fishing





With a couple of hours to spare while waiting for the boat to take us back (due around 11am) it was time for some more fishing from the kelong platform. This time it was the younger set who led the way.

Unfortunately we did not have any luck with the fish. We only encountered a couple of mysterious bites which resulted in snapped lines.

Breakfast


Breakfast was porridge served at the Breakfast lounge (also the dinner lounge)

And it was really good being concocted from a rich gumbo of salted fish, squid, fish and more fish! Surprisingly very tasty.

Even so some more fussy members preferred their staple of pack noodles. (note evidence in the photo above)

Morning

As we had some time before breakfast, here are some photos we took of the fish farm section as well as the notorious TOILETS!! Actually the toilets were quite clean - the only feature of note is that of course they emptied directly into the sea below.

The other activity we had the privilege of witnessing was the feeding of the commercial fish under the kelong with the mashed up catch of the previous night (no photos unfortunately).

Dawn

After what seemed like a pretty short night, it was already morning. Ma was willing to get up early enough to try to get some art photography in. Not a bad attempt actually.


We also caught a glimpse of a tour ship gliding by in the distance. We also saw 2 more later in the morning when we were making our way back home to Singapore. The straits is apparently quite well used by these boats - although we did not quite managed to figure out what their purpose was to traverse that part of the channel.

Sleep

After the net raising, it was time to sleep - at least for those under 10 years.

The quarters were quite comfortable and consisted of rooms with curtains for privacy. The beds were just the mattresses.

Some members of the party went on pursuing their activities till much later (the older boys apparently did not sleep that night).

Lifting of the Kelong net

Originally we were told that the main kelong net would only be raised around 1am which was kind of late for the kids.

However, it transpired that the fishermen decided to raise the net at around 11:30pm which was great as it offered us all a chance to observe the catch.

The catch was a bit disappointing as it only consisted of lots of small to medium fish, squid, an octopus ( which slid back into the sea) and lots of puffer fish (which the fishermen left on the side to perish rather than throw them back into the sea as they considered them to be a nuisance).

It merely amounted to about 1 and half pails. This catch by itself was not of commercial value and is ground up and used by the fishermen as fish food for the much larger fish that they were rearing in nets under the kelong.

Supper!!

At around 10:30pm supper was served. Note dinner was at 6pm!!

We were not disappointed. It consisted of sambal fresh fish (some caught by our party), hotdogs, prawns, squid potatoes etc etc. Excellent. Eating on the platform with dark water lapping around us and a constant sea breeze was ..nice...

Dave loved the sambal fish! (and the water melons of course.)Here is what the barbeque area looks like in the day.

After Dinner

After what turned out to be a really sumptuous and over the top (in terms of quantity) dinner, it was again time to relax. A combination of the ever present sea breeze and lack of urban background noise made for an ambience to die for.

But naturally, the tendency to create some noise resulted in the breaking out of the mah jong set. That's what chinese sailors used to do on long sea voyages to pass the time.


Some of us were already getting prepared for...supper barbeque!

Fishing

Meanwhile some of the kids decided to try their hand at line fishing.

Kevin even managed to catch 2 fish!! Amazing feat being his first time.

Will naturally wanted to give it a try too..

Taking it Easy

After the initial excitement of boarding the kelong and observing the catching of our dinner from the fish nets, it was time to relax and take it easy ... and wait for dinner.

Here is what the lounge area of the kelong looks like. Considering we were quite a distance from the nearest shore, the facilities were remarkably sophisticated. And the comfort level was a pleasant surprise.

On the Kelong

Ma, Dave and Will are standing on the fishing platform. This was just after the fishermen completed catching our dinner.

What a great picture!

What is for dinner tonight?

Prawns, fresh fish, crabs, squid and other seafood...

Here we are observing the fishermen on the kelong catching our dinner and supper/barbeque.


We also noticed that there were some sea dogs.

Arrival at the Kelong

After the 15 min plus ride we finally reached the Kelong. Here is the view on approaching the Kelong.

And here we are all getting ready to disembark from the tiny boat and onto our home for the next 20 hours

From Pengerang to Pasir Gogok Kelong

We then boarded another smaller boat that was to take us to the Kelong. This trip took about 30 mins.

Some varied faces....

Arrival at Immigration Check Point at Pengerang




After about 45 mins on the bumboat and after traversing the land reclamation area at Pulau Tekong we finally arrive at the Malaysian Immigration Check Point at Pengerang.

We did encounter some minor confusion at the passport control queuing lanes but we did manage to clear immigration in about 1/2 hr.

Here are some pics at the jetty when we initially landed and the kids were whiling some time away.

Here are Dave and Ma on the boat with half of Seok Tuan. We are on our way to the immigration check point.