JUN 21, 2002

FORGET about visiting the beaches at Bintan or Phuket, or taking a ferry to Desaru for a suntan.

Civilisation remains in the distance at Sisters' Island, on which only sounds to be heard are those of birds chirping and the occasional passing oil tanker. There are no regular ferries to the two near-identical islands and you have to charter your own bumboat.

Leave your passport behind, avoid the hassle of clearing immigration and just hop onto a bumboat to one of Singapore's Southern Islands.

Just 40 minutes away by sea, this sprinkling of pristine islands have been left untouched by the authorities and forgotten by Singaporeans.

There are more than 30 islands of varying shapes and sizes located south of the main island of Singapore. Some, such as St John's, Seringat and Lazarus, are being developed into island resorts or nature parks.

The others, such as Sisters' Island and Pulau Hantu, are being left as they are.

Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) manages and maintains nine of them, but of these, only four - Kusu, St John's, Sisters' and Pulau Hantu - are open to visitors.

There are ferry services to Kusu and St John's, but if you want privacy, then it is Pulau Hantu and Sisters' Island you should head for, like The Straits Times did.

The islands' only inhabitants are always on hand to greet you and, hopefully, some of your snacks.

Both are about 40 minutes' away by bumboat.

Jetties and basic amenities have been set up on both to encourage more to drop in. But you will have to bring your own food and drinks, as there are no shops at either.

SDC has installed two toilets, lots of park benches, dustbins, barbecue pits and shelters on each. It also cleans them up regularly and maintains the islands' green spots and water supply for the toilets. There may even be a regular ferry service to Sisters' soon.

One person who has visited Sisters' is Ms Janice Wong, 31, a marketing manager. She went there with a group of friends about two months ago.

She said: 'The place is so peaceful and tranquil, it's hard to imagine it's part of Singapore. It seems like a deserted island.'

The only way out to the pair, apparently named because of the legend about two sisters drowning at sea years ago, is to rent a bumboat - which seats 12 - for a day from the boatmen at Clifford Pier. Most are old men and can be found near the Customs checkpoint at the pier.

Agree on a price for the two-way trip before jumping onto a vessel.

The mudflats on Pulau Hantu may seem devoid of life but are teeming with it - if you look closely enough.

It should be about $160 for a full day.

The journey takes you past Pulau Brani, Sentosa, Kusu and St John's islands.

Your destination is clear, even from a distance, as the islands sit side by side, bearing a striking resemblance to each other. The larger is called Pulau Subar Laut, and the smaller Pulau Subar Darat. Each has its own jetty.

Their only permanent inhabitants: A large group of monkeys, which invariably greet all visitors, and loiter around the dustbins, near the toilets and on the beach. But they generally leave people alone.

Do not feed them, as the many signs request, as it will make the animals dependent on humans for food.

They subsist on berries and small fruit growing in the secondary forest that covers most of the bigger of the two islands.

The dense collection of plants, made up mostly of casuarina trees and sea hibiscus that sough softly when a breeze blows, has a forbidding look, but the SDC assures visitors that there are no snakes there.

So if you have the inclination, you could explore the area.

The islands cover an area of 7.9 ha altogether, and half an hour is about all the time a visitor needs to circle the whole of the bigger one, which has a paved walkway.

For some respite from the sun, you could take shelter in one of the 19 roofed huts made of wood dotting both islands.

The picnic sets comprise two long seats and an attached table top, so eating a meal can be done comfortably here, just like at the Pasir Ris and East Coast beaches.

 

BASIC AMENITIES: Shelters with benches (top) provide a shady respite from the heat on Sisters' Island, while the toilets (below) are amazingly clean. -- HOW HWEE YOUNG

They are also perfect for those wanting to stretch out for a snooze, but trying to avoid lying on the ground.

Take your pick of one of four lagoons to swim in and lounge around at.

The beaches have clean, light brown sand, and lots of place for basking, while the water is mostly clear, save for the odd coconut husk.

Barbecue pits are installed near the lagoons, and there are taps near them too, making cleaning up after a meal convenient.

There is fish aplenty in the water, and you may spot some shrimp and crabs too. The only sounds to interrupt a visit there are the birds chirping and the occasional growl from a passing oil tanker.

The two toilets on the islands have showers attached and are amazingly clean, perhaps because they are seldom used. You will even find toilet paper in each cubicle.

Administration assistant Wilson Lee has spent time at the beach there with his family. He said: 'It's convenient because of the basic amenities. The kids like it because they can swim and barbecue.'

You have two islands again at Pulau Hantu - Pulau Hantu Besar and Pulau Hantu Kechil, which sit across from each other. These are slightly bigger than Sisters' Island.

There are no plans, however, to have a ferry plying to the islands. A two-way bumboat ride there from the West Coast ferry terminal, near the West Coast Park, will cost $100 to $140.

Pulau Hantu has the same amenities as Sisters' Island. But instead of a forest, it has a large mangrove swamp.

At low tide, you can watch hermit crabs digging, shrimp dancing and mudskippers jumping from one mudflat to another.

Visitors can spend a whole afternoon exploring the swamp. But they will have to do it face-down, to catch all the action going on. If you are lucky, you may even spot a starfish buried in the ground.

Pulau Hantu is popular with divers too, as the seabed around the island is shallow and flat, and safe as a training and recreational spot for newcomers to the activity.

Some visitors have also reported seeing dolphins frolicking in the distance.

As with Sisters' Island, coconut palms and trees have been planted everywhere, making the place shady.

Cranes, herons and magpies are some of the migratory birds which inhabit the island during certain times of the year.

You can also camp on the two sets of islands if you have permission from the SDC.

Copyright © 2002 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.