A day on the bay...

Yes, it has been a while.. but we HAVE been busy (not just me being slack. Promise).  I am 16 weeks today and still sick which seems entirely unfair, but I was the same with the last pregnancy.... so fingers crossed any day now I will be glowing and vomit-free.

Home still doesn't feel quite like home - and I feel a bit lost on the weekends - after spending so long doing house/garden stuff on the weekend, in our little apartment with not much furniture I find I get a bit bored.  With the kids around is not the ideal time to work on my current quilt, so we've been trying to find activities to do with the kids that are a bit different from the weekday routine.  Our condo has a Facebook group, which is used for selling or giving away furniture/kids items, updating on local activities, and sharing news (such as the recent theft of mens running shoes from the corridor shoe boxes, and the removal of a - possibly poisonous - snake from one of the lifts recently).  One of the ladies recommended the Watertours boat cruise.  Singapore is one of the worlds busiest ports and not known to be particularly picturesque (being filled with ships - a LOT of ships), but it wasn't too expensive and seemed like something nice and cool we could do without getting wet!

The boat that the tour was on was great - although a reproduction and built in 2005, it is very ornate and when we got to the harbour the kids were very excited to find out that we were going on the fancy boat.  The boat has an audio tour that is played over the speakers - the kids kept talking though, so we missed a lot of it - seemed to be a basic history of Singapore and the development of the area.  Leaving the dock you get a view of the city and the landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer and Marina Sands, and..... a lot of ships!  Coming around Sentosa was not particularly interesting, but the audio track did detail the development of the island which wasn't something I knew much about before.  At that stage morning tea was served (tea and biccies), so the kids were suitably distracted stuffing their face full of cookie crumbs for a while.  You can walk (or in the kids case, run) around the boat throughout the journey, and it was lovely up the front at the bow, just looking out to the sea and feeling the cool breeze.

Ships.  Lots of ships.  At least the sky made it look pretty!

Oscar running around the boat.

Frankie clinging on for dear life.

There is only one stop on the tour, at Kusu Island (also known as Tortoise Island - named after a legend where a magical tortoise turned itself into the island to save two shipwrecked sailors.)   On the island is a Tortoise Sanctury where you can get right up close to the little creatures, several shrines and a small temple.  It would have been nice to have just a little bit longer there, but it is just enough time to dash around and see everything quickly.  The tortoises were very cute - although maybe a bit too accessible as I did have to put on my mum voice and tell some 20-somethings to stop feeding them biscuits!!

 

Devil Tortoises!

Awwwww!

Overall, we had a really lovely day.  It wasn't a mind blowing experience, but no one complained, whined, or said they were bored during the whole trip - which is in my books a good day out : )

x Amelia