The skipper of the Divorce Machine was unavailable for selection this morning, so I made the first solo excursion. I am currently in training to paddle across a potentially dangerous stretch of water as part of my next expedition coming up in December. So as well as microadventuring, my weekend paddles also serve as training for my December trip.

Today’s plan was a circumnavigation of Seletar Island on the North East coast of Singapore. Departing and returning to Sembawang beach this is a round trip of just over 12km. I was pleasantly surprised by how the Divorce Machine handles as a single-seater. She rides higher and therefore does not take on as much water as when we have two people. Of course it is much more fun when my wife joins me but it was also nice to have some time to myself as I paddled along the coastline and around the Selatar island. Seletar Island is a popular spot for wakeboarding and a number of boats were zipping up and down the channel past me.  So I opted to return on the northern side of the island where it is much quieter. After just over 2 hours I returned to Seletar beach to a small crowd of curious onlookers. They watched me paddle into shore, pull out the kayak onto the beach, let out the air and roll it up into its bag, then haul it onto my back and walk off up the path. I got the feeling by the attention I was receiving that they thought this was very odd behavior, and where on earth did I come from and where was I going!

The 12km loop around Seletar Island starting and stopping at Sembawang beach.

The Divorce Machine set up to ride solo.

A fisherman checking his net

Paddling under a kelong or fishfarm.

A panorama showing Seletar North Link bridge

I passed a group of three other kayakers

Lunch on the road

This guy was fishing for crabs from his boat.

Wake boarders

This monkey came down to the beach to check me out as I paddled past.

Paddling around the north side of Seletar Island

This blog is listed under a section on my website called ‘Microadventure’.  Microadventures are cheap simple adventures close to home. A chap named Alistair Humphreys coined the phrase ‘microadventure’, you can read about him here.  I will continue to add more microadventures to my website to give people idea’s and inspiration to go on your own adventures.  If you do go on your own, I would love to hear about them and do drop me a line!