UBIN SERIES 2: Waterways and shores of Pulau Ubin

In our 2nd Part Series of our Pulau Ubin Series, we focus on the waterways of Pulau Ubin, in particular its various rivers.

In 2017, after an overnight camp at Jelutong campsite, we set sail again on our kayak to explore Sungei Puaka (Seen in GPS pins below).

If we look at the picture above from google maps,

The area with the red circle shows some of the waterways at Pulau Ubin

If we see the picture above from Google Maps, we can see that there are alot of waterways for kayaking at Pulau Ubin. And we did just that! Explore the area!

Start of the Kayak Thru the Mangroves (2017)

The Kayak thru the Mangroves were an experience in itself. Some areas hosted huge areas we could kayak easily, others had lots of branches making it difficult to kayak. Some areas, because there were bridges which were roads transversing Pulau Ubin, we had to drag the Kayaks up to the island and then down to the other side of the river as we could not cross under the bridge.

Enjoy the pics

The squeeze to line up to move ahead (2017)

Most of the time were spend trying to avoid branches that were hitting us! (2017)

The Blue points show how we traveled!

--

Sungei Puaka nonetheless was not the only river in Pulau Ubin. In Jul 2021, we kayaked again but this time hitting Sungei Besar and Sungei Jelutong! This route can only be done during Spring High Tide!

This time, our route was as follow:

Top half of the route (Openstreetmap, 2021)

Bottom Half of the route(Openstreetmap, 2021). Southern most point aka Tg Jelutong

In short, we travelled down from Noordin Beach through Sungei Besar to Jelutong Bridge and continue south through Sungei Jelutong till the South of Ubin. 

The north of ubin was as usual interesting where we saw kelongs with bus stops etc. But this will be covered in the another part of our blog "Environs of Pulau Ubin". 

Before entering Sungei Besar, we stopped by Noordin Beach next to the closed Noordin campsite. Managed to capture a video below. (Video mentioned Mamam beach but actually Noordin Beach). 

As we can see during hightide, it is possible for a powerboat to go thru the high wire fences.

Sungei Besar is an extremely wide river. Guess thats where the name "Besar" comes from. Though it slowly tapers down to become narrower. Tide was about 2.7m at this time.

Wide river of Sungei Besar at High Tide (Jul 2021)

Sungei Besar (Jul 2021)

During the kayak through Sungei Besar, we spotted thick mangroves. And lots of Seed!

Lots of hanging Seeds (not sure whats this but heard its easy to grow into a large tree!)

Soon, we arrived at Jelutong Bridge. A sign that we should portage the kayak over from Sungei Besar to Sungei Jelutong

Jelutong Bridge (Jul 2021)

Structures of old prawn farms along Sungei Jelutong

Around Sungei Jelutong (in fact also the case for S.Puaka or S. Khatib Bongsu) there are alot of these structures. It is said that in the past, these were mini dams. So when the tide was high, the dam would be opened so water and thus fishes and prawns would come in. Then the dam would be closed during low tide thus allowing the fishermen to easily harvest the prawns.

Nearing the southern part of Sungei Jelutong, as the river got wider, we spotted the Ubin boat repair shed. The Ubin boat repair shed is said to be the place where Ubin bumboat operators bring their boat for repairs as the only alternative place is jurong which is very far away.

The boat shed was larger than expected.

Boat Repair Shed (Jul 21)

Boat being tied to a pole enabling hull cleaning and repairs (Jul 21)

Another Picture (Jul 21)

Beside the boat shed, there was an area where old boats were seemingly abandoned.

Coming out of Sungei Jelutong to the south, a pile is spotted.

Pile with P.Ketam on the right side of the photo (Jul 21)

As we know Ubin is a boomerang shaped, the southern most point of Ubin is marked by a lonely tree.

Lonely Tree marking Tg Jelutong, Southernmost point of Ubin (Jul 21)

Near the jetty, we also sighted a small pier sticking out with garbage receptacles on it. This is near the Ubin main jetty area. guess thats the area where garbage is being picked up and transferred back to Singapore mainland.

Garbage Collection Point (Jul 21)

--

Apart from kayaking, we also managed to catch a glimpse of Ubin from offshore from a boat from time to time!

Route of one of our Northern Shore trip

So from time to time, we explore the north of Pulau Ubin. North of Pulau Ubin has always been a place that I always wanted to go because I have never been there before and heard it is really peaceful and untouched. It is also not easy to get a chance to go there. These pictures are taken between Sep 20 and Jun 21.

Pity the shores were really shallow, otherwise we could go closer to the shorelines.

The North of Pulau Ubin is generally marked by the island natural shorelines, fences to stop illegal entry and kelongs.

For every picture, I invite readers to open the picture up and zoom in.

OBS Campsite seen off West Ubin (Jun 21)

The West of Ubin is Tanjong Tajam marked by Tajam Beacon (Jun 21)

As we may know Tanjong means cape. So if a place has a name with Tanjong, we can expect it is at the tip of the shoreline. The West of P.Ubin is a place called Tanjong Tajam. This place is marked by Tajam Beacon as well as a Shrine near it.

Zoom in towards Tg Tajam with Shrine beside the Beacon (Jun 21)

Tanjong Tajam (Jun 21)

Nautical map from Navionics showcasing the shallows of  Pulau Ubin at Sep 2020.