The Southern Islands-St. John's and Lazarus Islands

We arrived back in Singapore after our winter break in Florida with a week before school started again. We used the opportunity to explore our home a little more and took a ferry out to the Southern Islands. It takes about 45 minutes to get to St. John's and the ferry ticket (round trip) was $15 SGD. 

Typically, there are basic summer camp style vacation rentals on St. John's but they are closed for now due to COVID.  St. John's used to serve as a quarantine island for cholera and then leprosy, then a penal colony, and even had a drub rehab center in the 1950's. It still has a detention center for illegal immigrants as well. Some local legends even say it's haunted and with such a storied history, it wouldn't be a surprise!

We arrived at the dock at St. John's and had a picnic lunch on the largest beach on St. John's.  There were plenty of tables and lots of shade, a precious commodity in Singapore.  There are no services on either island except restrooms with showers.  We quite liked this as it added to the laid back nature of the place.  All of the other beaches in Singapore we've been to have bars, restaurants, bike rentals, etc and can get really busy on the weekends. 

We then took the causeway to Lazarus island and spent some time at a gorgeous sandy beach. The best part was, because it was a weekday, it was mostly empty; space is another precious commodity in Singapore.  We could see the rest of the city off in the distance, but it felt far away from the dense and crowded city we had just come from. The walk was hot because of the exposure on the causeway, but once near the water, there was a lovely breeze and it was quite comfortable. Cata had a blast playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Upon our return to school last week, I asked some people who had either lived here a long time or are Singaporean and hardly anyone I talked to had ever been there.  A hidden gem in Singapore, for sure.  There is a 3rd island, Kusu, (tortoise in Hokkien) that we didn't visit.  It has a Chinese temple and is a popular spot to come and make offerings or pray.