We started our trip across the Straits with a 15 mile jaunt westwards to a small anchorage, where we met up with SV Salty Ginger. We made the mistake of reading current information about piracy in the Singapore and Malacca straits... so we locked the boat up that night! It's strange to see around you people in conical hats hand fishing or harvesting seaweed from small wooden boats, while a turn to the north gives you a view of the vast, modern, commercial bustle of high rise Singapore, just three miles away.
As the sun rose the following morning we headed across with Sslty Ginger close behind.. There is a staggering amount of traffic but it's very well organised in lanes and crossing points with 'controllers' managing the flow. We saw a gap between two freighters: full throttle on, and we were able to jump across both lanes in one pass, over to the north side. It's like the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the Solent, all at once and on steroids. Anyway - phew!!! Then it was a few more hours of motoring to get to Puteri Harbour in Johor, southern Malaysia.

On the way we skirted round the edge of Singapore. It's easy to see how this is the economic power house that it is. The trade that is happening in Singapore is massive. On top of the enormous number of shops offloading goods or refuelling they have a financial industry, amazing architecture, an oil refinery, ship building, large industrial and manufacturing zones, military sectors.... We will go over to visit soon. In the meantime we are tucked up safely in the very efficient Puteri Pinetree marina, with its bars, restaurants and tourist attractions. Here we come, Hello Kitty World!

Today’ pic is a screen grab of the ship traffic data from the Strait.