SINGAPORE - Singapore's Southern Islands have seen a wave of interest from locals itching to travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ferry operators have pushed out more boats to meet the rise in demand. Earlier this month, a dozen people were charged with taking part in an excessively large gathering on Lazarus Island. The Sunday Times goes island-hopping to see what the excitement is about.
There is much flora and fauna to discover if you have the patience - marine creatures in the intertidal zone, as well as birds such as the brahminy kite and great- billed heron. Mindless rest and relaxation, however, seems to be the main thing on people's minds. And who can blame them? The area attracts its fair share of water sports enthusiasts, such as free-diving instructor Fu Xingqiang, 36, who was taking a break by the water with his students last week.
I'm intrigued by the diversity at play here. At the keramats, I also spot a devotee throwing a pair of crescent-shaped divination blocks, which are typically used in Taoist temples to find out if a wish will be granted. One thing that catches your eye at the top of the steps is a rocky wall painted in yellow and scribbled with messages left by visitors in English, Chinese and even Vietnamese.
It is neap tide, where the difference between high and low tides is smallest. This means the waters do not recede as far back as they do during the spring tide, which occurs at full moon and new moon. I don't see any fish when I'm there , but am intrigued when nature and water sports enthusiast Adrian Chia, 41, who snorkels in the lagoon, tells me about a blacktip reef shark that once brushed against his leg when he was swimming in the shallows.
I think of T. S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock:"I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." The lagoon waters are cool and inviting and I could linger here all day, polishing idle thoughts against the music of waves on thewaves on the seashells.Coney Island Landlubbers, ahoy! Up north, Coney Island Park beckons - and you don't even have to sail to get there.
In the park, I spot more creatures - a changeable lizard, king crow butterflies, a family of long-tailed macaques and what might have been a dwarf reed snake.