Archive for February, 2010

 

Fighting Spiders 2 – 28. February, 2010

Jan/Feb is a good time to do an overnight stay in Ubin. Migratory birds are still around and the rubber plantation we stayed at were full of bird calls.

With very little rainfall there are less mosquitoes to bother us. But tension can be felt as Ubin villagers anxiously wait for rains while watching their wells dry up. Trees shed leaves on the parched earth with added dangers of bush fires, one which broke out 10 days ago, burning an area about 5 basketball courts size at Ketam cycling trail. Durians trees are vulnerable if the drought continue, their flowers fails to bloom and, as happen before in 1997 and 1981, some of these majestic trees may even die as their roots dry up.

The above concerns aside, our night at Ubin is filled with memories of the sixties as we watch the filming of Fighting Spiders 2, a local TV production. Ubin malay kampong is the only kampong left in Singapore left almost untouched by developments.

The scientific name for our local fighting spiders variety is Thiania bhamoensis. Ubin field report by adult fighting spiders enthusiasts here.

Story teller

Location filming

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Geocaching – 10. February, 2010

For those unfamiliar with Geocaching, its a treasure hide and seek game using handheld GPS. The treasure can be tokens in a little box with a log book to write your message. You can sign up free with http://www.geocaching.com to participate.

Treasure box

I put up my first cache in Ubin in 2006. The response was encouraging. but soon there were complaints about wild pigs, mozzies and being near ancient gravestones. Being new to the game, the treasure was put in an obvious spot and was soon gone.

I stopped soon after, plotting my next biggest and most convoluted cache for Ubin which this blog was originally created for. I never got round to it. But I am glad to meet a real life geocacher.

Picture of Albert
Albert

If you like to find Albert’s caches in Ubin, make sure you have insect repellents as mosquitoes hiding in the jungle will soon be all over you. Bring at least a mini-button compass with you. Its easy to get lost and wander in circles while the gps vainly tries to lock your location under jungle canopy.

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Fishing – 7. February, 2010

Update June 12, 2011

Fishing is good in Ubin now. Most likely due to devotees seeking merit by releasing live seafood in the sea. They should have built reef sanctuaries for the fish to hide and seek freedom in. Many bumboats were chartered out and visitors have to wait more than a hour for a boat to get back to mainland.

Live seafood set free
seafood set free

Large grouper caught at Marman river and steam-cooked for our delight.
Grouper caught at Marman river Updated: June 2010
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Update: 7 Feb 2010. Extremely lucky guy caught a large sea-bass at Marman beach.

sea bass

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The best chance to catch fish is to paddle some distance away from shore.

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Unfortunately Ubin marine life is slowly choked by pollution. The water cannot renew itself by tidal directions due to the causeway cutting off the straits. Water run-offs from ship repairs contribute to the pollution also. Sea-horses have long since disappeared. During heavy rains, salinity levels dropped so much that fish farms lost their livestock. The other is plankton bloom causing huge numbers of dead fish. They can’t sell their fish anyway as the water is declared unclean by the authorities.

Below picture: Serene beach at Outward Bound School (No trespassing). Pasir Gudang Port can be seen in the background.

OBS

Fishing from the jetty
For first timers, best bet is still at Ubin jetty using live baits which you can buy at Changi village. You can get lucky if fish were released by Buddhist groups.

fishing from the jetty

Other fishing spots.
Ubin disused granite quarries are fenced up and trespassing is not allowed. Good fishing spots if they are opened to public. Snakeheads or Toman fish are seen there including Kois.

Click here for google searches on latest discussion from fishingkaki.com. Like many of their members have observed, you need to be hardy to bear with mosquitoes and trek to remote spots. The taxi uncles knows where are the good spots if you charter their van-taxis. According to them, best lunar dates are 8-12, 24-28 when current are not too strong.


Fishing at night.

Although there are boats leaving for Ubin at night, its harder to fill up with passengers so waiting is necessary. Best is go on weekend eve or public holidays arriving at Changi Point Ferry before 8pm. Share costs of chartering the boat if there are not enough passengers. Bring enough food and drinks to last you the next morning.


Crabs, shellfish and prawn fishing

You can get large crabs like this for dinner and other shellfish. But that involves stomping in mud at low tides.

mud crab - picture by Andy Ho

lokan clam

As for prawns, I have seen some anglers who got lucky and caught large ones while fishing during at the abandoned prawn farms during high tide.

Fishing at Pulau Ubin

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Other restrictions
Fishing at Chek Jawa is not allowed. Use small pen knives or razors to cut baits instead of large filleting knives to avoid being hassled unnecessarily by Aetos guys manning the x-ray counter.

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