1/28/20 Wednesday 5 pm
Arrived safe and sound (about 1:45 pm) and found out our boat had grown 7 feet upon arrival at the marina in Singapore. In 2007 we left the Chinese boatyard with a Diesel Duck model 46′ plus 2′ which is a total of 48 feet. But at the marina in Singapore, measured with a tape measure laid along the pier where we are tied, from our anchor to the far side of our hanging dinghy we are 55 feet so we have to pay for that! You pay by the foot. In Sebana Cove, where we were this morning, we paid for less than 50 feet because our registration papers indicate the boat is less than 50 feet. We can take the dinghy off its hangar and put in onto the boat deck somewhere and get remeasured, but we won’t save much money and the dinghy will be in the way. So we’ll just pay them the more money since it’s their marina and they get to make the rules.
Last night was our last in Sebana Cove so we walked around the docks and said good-bye to our cruising friends. At one point Randal said we’d better stop visiting or our dinner would be really late and he would be really drunk. Everyone offered drinks and chats and it was all very nice. But sad too! In Sebana you have to make your own fun so cruisers have get-togethers at the drop of a hat. And our van trips to Sungai Rengit were little fun outings where you met new people or got to know others better. Here, at OneDegree 15 Marina the attraction for us is Singapore and boat supplies and repair more than social gatherings with other cruisers or sitting by the swimming pool. We are birthed on Delta Dock to avoid the rolling found in other birthing areas and also because we are a visiting boat. Not sure how many of our neighboring boats have live-aboards. Most seem empty. But the marina is big and full so don’t think we are stuck off in an abandoned area somewhere. Lots of security here.
We left Sebana Cove, Malaysia and are now in Sentosa, Singapore. We had to check out of Malaysia yesterday with their immigrations and customs and into Singapore today. To check in here you call Immigration on your VHF radio when you near the Marina at a place called Sisters Islands and they come. You pass them your documents (carefully so they don’t end up in the water.) They stamp your passport, return your papers, carefully, and send you along. They didn’t come onto the boat. We called about noonish and they came about oneish but were very nice. Our regular crew list form that we’ve used everywhere else wasn’t acceptable so the immigration man redid them. Randal had to sign 5 copies of something and the immigration official then had to sign and then they left with 4 copies and we kept one. There was no charge for that, but there was a fee for customs which we paid through the marina when we arrived.
The small Immigrations boat.
You can see the grassy area in front of the tall buildings. That’s Sentosa Island where we are. The tall buildings are Singapore. There is a bus on Sentosa Island that takes you to the mainland. We’ll take the MRT from there into Singapore city.
Tomorrow we’ll start to explore.