Cruising notes Singapore

Compiled by Nick Thomas on board “Tokomaru 2” a Westerly Conway, 11m LOA and 1.8m draft. January 2005
 

Formalities

Checking in is very simple. Call whichever marina: Raffles or Republic of Singapore yachtclub, you intend to stay at in advance and they will arrange for immigration to come to the marina office to interview each crew member and issue a 2 week pass when you arrive. The cost at Raffles was $50 (Singapore) this could be shared between boats if more than one arrives at the same time. Customs does not appear to get involved unless you are carrying guns. The 2 week pass can be extended in 2 week lots by visiting the immigration office in town. You then have to take the ships papers to the Port Authority office in town. Leaving the boat in Singapore is straight forward but you have to sign off with immigration. The marina staff will help you with this. It would, I think, be considered very outlandish to try to anchor a yacht in Singapore.

Raffles marina (01°20’ N, 103° 38’ E)

You need an up to date charts to reach this. You are likely to find solid land with tower blocks where once was water according to older charts.

We thought this establishment was very good value at £90 per 10 days for an 11 metre boat. (This is 10 days for the price of 7 at the daily rate). This includes all the facilities you could ever wish for: swimming pool with towel provided, newspaper delivered to the boat. On site there are 3 bar/restaurants, internet and wifi (which can sometimes reach as far as your boat), air conditioned lounge to work in and a chandlery. No convenience stores unfortunately. The marina runs a shuttle bus to the nearest metro station where there are also banks and shops.

The staff here are exceptionally friendly and helpful. The briefing given by manager Phil Blake on cruising the Malacca straits was very informative.

The easiest way to get round Singapore we found was by MRT and bus using an "ezlink" card. This functions like London's "oyster" card; and can be used on both trains and the bus which stops outside the marina gates. 

Just about anything can be obtained in Singapore. Motion-Smith is a big chart agent with Admiralty charts of the entire world. They are situated near the Harbour office. They can also order Malaysian government charts which are cheaper but they are not keen to do so for unknown reasons. We also managed to obtain a new epirb battery from the Jotron agent at half the price quoted in UK.