To support the local tourism business, the Singapore Government gave all citizens above 18 years old $100 of cash vouchers to spend on local tours, attractions and/or hotels staycation. The cash vouchers had to be utilised and the booked activity had to be completed by 31 December 2021. After a lot of inertia, I finally booked a tour to the Southern Islands of Singapore; namely St John Island, Lazarus Island, Seringat island and Kusu Island.

I was very young when I last visited the Southern Islands so I have absolutely no recollection of the Islands except for the fact that I’ve been there once. As such, I thought I should take this opportunity to enjoy the cash voucher and literally, rediscover Singapore.

Upon arrival at the Marina Bay Ferry Terminal, I realised that it was my first visit there ever. I actually thought it was where the Cruise Terminal was but I was wrong.

Anyway, I booked a tour from Klook but you can also head over to the counter to buy the ferry tickets to the Southern Islands or via their website.

We boarded the 9:00 AM ferry for Lazarus Island and for the first time in almost 2 years, I left the mainland Singapore. LOL. Someone in our group actually asked if we needed to bring our passport. The islands are still Singapore after all; though it did feel a bit surreal to leave the skyscrapers behind. And there was also a security bag scan so it adds on to the “feel”.

St John Island

The ferry ride was about 30 minutes and upon landing at St John Island, we took a small walking tour around the islands. It was definitely quiet compared to the bustle that you get even at East Coast Park.

There were actually quite a lot of crustaceans on the beach and while they are totally edible, know that it is ILLEGAL to take/remove them.

Further down the beach, there are actually corals but the tide is coming in so we didn’t get to see any of them. What a shame!

While on Lazarus Island, we also saw a family of monkeys with 2 cute little babies. They also “put on a show” for us by climbing all over and swinging from tree to tree. Take note that these monkeys are wild and DO NOT FEED THEM OR TRY TO TOUCH THEM!!

Lazarus and Seringat Island

Lazarus and Seringat Islands are connected to St John Island via a causeway:

It’s actually a very nice and easy walk between St John, Lazarus Island and Seringat Island really. Take note that there is only 1 toilet facility on the Lazarus/Seringat side. There are a couple of toilet facilities on the St John Island side with shower facilities as well. In case you want to go for a swim at the beach. There is no food or water for sale on the islands so do bring enough for yourself/group. Do also discard your waste into the various bins provided on the islands and do not litter.

The beach on the Seringat side is actually quite pretty. I was quite surprised to be honest. I didn’t know we had such a nice beach like that in Singapore; where the water is clean and the view is free of ships. The beach is enclosed in a cove so the water is pretty sheltered but I wouldn’t call the waves gentle. Do take note that there are no lifeguards on duty so don’t try anything beyond your capability.

Kusu Island

After St John, Lazarus and Seringat Islands, we took the ferry over to Kusu Island.

Many people know Kusu Island as Tortoise Island with a Chinese Temple there. They were draining the water to build something for some festival the next week from when I was there. Otherwise, the sea water should be filled all the way up to the temple.

PSA: We were warned to disable auto-roaming on our mobile phones as it was possible to roam onto the Indonesian mobile network while on Kusu Island due to the proximity to Batam.

There is also a beach on Kusu Island but it’s a lot smaller than the one on Seringat Island. I also thought that the beach on Kusu Island is not as nice as the one on Seringat Island. The water does look amazing and it is a lot more calm and gentle as it’s facing mainland Singapore. The other side of the island faces Indonesia and the water is quite rough on that side.

In case you didn’t know, the seas around Singapore is known to be rough and not really suitable for swimming even if you are a really strong swimmer. Do always keep to swimming only in designated areas for your own safety.

Final Thoughts

I was initially worried that it’d rain on the day as we’ve been having a bit of a wet spell in Singapore. However, the good new is, apart from a slight drizzle around noon, we had bright sunny weather for the entire day! Which is also why my photos turned out pretty nice.

The bad news is, yeah, I was almost sunburnt. LOL. I was working from home for so many months and I actually no longer had the watch tan shape on my wrist. In fact, when I reached home, I realised that I had a tan in the shape of my mask as well. LOL.

Moral of the story: I should not have been lazy to walk with an open umbrella. The masked-shape tan looked quite ridiculous but fortunately, no one knew about it coz I was wearing the mask when I was outside as well. Hahahaha!!

Anyway, it was quite nice to chill on the island for a while to escape the city bustle. I would definitely recommend a full or half-day trip there to just chill and relax. Will also probably plan to go chill there again in the future at some point.

Finally, if you do go, please conserve and protect the island and wildlife by taking nothing but your trash and leaving nothing behind.