Singapore’s Outer Islands: Worth Visiting? [St John’s, Lazarus, Kusu]

Singapore’s Outer Islands: Worth Visiting? [St John’s, Lazarus, Kusu]

You might be wondering if you should visit these islands if you come to Singapore. And the answer is… Did you know that Singapore has more than just Sentosa Island? Today we are headed to Singapore’s southern islands. The islands of Kusu, St. John and Lazarus.

It’s looking to be a beautiful day and it begins with a beautiful ferry ride. And we are the only people on the top deck. What’s up with that? It’s a beautiful day. Where is everybody? It’s a wonderful sunny day. We are super excited to head to the beach

To relax a little bit and enjoy the ferries back and forth. Goodbye Singapore! All right, first impressions of St. John’s Island is that this looks absolutely amazing. We are on the very first ferry. So it is delightfully uncrowded right now. It’s also on a weekday which might affect this

We think it’s probably more busy on the weekends. But right now there are very few people here. It’s very quiet. It’s amazing. It kind of feels so far like we’ve been dropped off on a deserted island that happens to have some picnic tables.

I don’t know. It’s us and a tour group back there of maybe 15 people. And we haven’t seen anyone else besides them yet which is so cool. I love this. I’m so excited. Looks like we’re arriving here at low tide. So I’m kind of curious if we can find some

More things running around the water like we saw at the nature reserve yesterday. Well speaking of giving off deserted island vibes, we came across this fenced-in area that has this building that you can see behind me. Maybe toilets. There are sinks here but there’s no water and there’s urinals around the corner.

Also no water. And the entire thing is fenced in with like barbed wire across the top. A little bit of history about this island. It used to be used, I’m talking like a couple hundred years ago, it used to be used to detain immigrants while they

Were being quarantined to see if they had any diseases. Then later on this was used for prisoners of war and I think even criminals. So that could explain the fencing with the barbed wire. But there’s no housing here. It’s just these small doors that don’t open that again we think

Hold showers or bathrooms. So this is kind of a mystery. Deserted vibes for sure. I found one that opens and it used to hold a toilet. That’s the answer. So a whole row of toilets but no housing. How odd. Maybe a better guess is that these were for

Local tourists, visitors to the island and then they stopped using them and then maybe they gated them up, put the barbed wire up and then locked them. But the doors are open today. So today we’re explorers. Hey this is future Heather. There were actually political prisoners that were held

Here and one of the most famous political prisoners held in St. John’s went on to become the third president of Singapore. Back to old Heather. Clearly this is not being used anymore. This place looks like it used to be a cafe or a restaurant or something. It’s a very nice setting.

Something we did not expect while visiting this island was that we are underneath the flight patterns for Changi Airport and so there’s constantly planes going overhead including some fighter jets which is really cool. It makes us feel like we’re at home because we live underneath a flight pattern for the Minneapolis-St. Paul

Airport. And they were flying in formation so it looks like maybe they’re practicing for the national day celebration. I’m just guessing. This time we know what the gates are for. Behind this is a lodge and you can actually stay here and you can camp here which is really neat but we

Didn’t have the right supplies for that so we did not do that for this trip. Whoa! This is a very exciting wildlife day so far. We have come across not one but two giant lizard thingies. We call them giant. I mean they’re not komodo dragons.

We don’t have them in Minnesota so they’re big. Yeah. And we just saw an eagle fly like just across from us but the only camera that we caught it with was the GoPro which has such a wide angle that it’s just this tiny dot on the screen for

You. Yeah. Still it’s amazing. Oh man. We are headed to the Marine Aquaculture Center which is a research center. You can go in and learn more about the islands that are here and hopefully get a little bit of a break with some air conditioning because yes, it is super hot out again today.

Since we landed here on the island we haven’t felt much like we’re in Singapore but now we feel a little bit more like we’re in central Singapore because there’s covered walkways, modern buildings, and we’re going to go inside the outreach and education center and see what we can

Learn about this place. Well the gallery inside was really interesting. It talks about the history of the islands and a lot about the marine biology that’s here. There’s also a courtyard out back which is where we’re going to enjoy a snack but here is one of the most important things that

We’ve learned about the marine center. I have read online that there is zero water stations on the island but I found one. It’s right here. It is just outside of the door that leads to the courtyard where we’re about to have a snack. So Bill’s going

To refill our water. We brought a lot with us but know that you can refill your water so if you’re here on a super hot day like us bring a lot of water and then even refill what you brought because you’re going to need it. One of

The things they can do with this facility here is actually run seawater that they bring in from the strait into all their aquariums, just like some of the ones we have here in this little courtyard, and then it flows back out into the strait so they’re able to have a nice fresh

Seawater. I guess that’s important to their research. Oh how nice of you. I get half of it? Nope. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. We got this at the bakery because they had like three bins of whatever this is so it seemed like it was a hot seller. This is an

Almond donut croissant thing that is filled with an apple paste and I did not know the apple paste was going to be inside so it was a delightful surprise. We’re also quite hungry. It’s delicious. I’ve got another arm over here. What are you doing? Like an octopus.

St. John’s is primarily used for marine research. Tourism is way further down on the list. In fact, I asked one of the employees, “Do you take one of the ferries that we take to the island?” because I don’t think we saw many employees on that

Ferry. And she let me know that there is a special staff worker’s boat that runs back and forth for them. Definitely a working island. I think that makes it even more unique to visit. This whole area is off limits to us and swimmers and everything else. Looks like it’s a

Continuation of the research center. No sign of it? It’s way up there. If you happen to come to St. John’s and Lazarus Friday through Monday, you can rent bicycles to make your way around the islands or one of those fun scooters. We have pretty heavy bags today so

We’re not able to rent them. The most interesting thing that I saw that he had was chilled beverages and there was coke and that 100 drink that Bill loves so much. Hundred plus. 100. No, no. “Hundred Plus.” They had chilled drinks like coke, water, and

100 plus which Bill loves so much. No, “one”. Hundred Plus. We were told by Singaporeans. It is Hundred Plus. Not 100 Plus. We have to try it again. They have coke, water, and Hundred Plus that are chilled. Not like cold cold. He doesn’t have a refrigerator but everything’s on ice and it’s

Much better than that Coke that you’ve been carrying around in your backpack for five hours which is what I have to look forward to. We are now crossing over to the island of Lazarus from St. John’s. They haven’t always been connected by the walkway

That you see below me. They used to just be their individual islands but this is pretty handy. From what I’ve read online, not many people adventure over to Lazarus. There are fewer facilities, fewer toilets. What we hear is fewer people means magic. We’d really like to swim. There’s a sign over there

That box jellyfish have recently been spotted at Lazarus Beach. Not good. And box jellyfish can cause immediate increasing and extreme pain. Sometimes it can even kill you. It says that symptoms include increasing pain, increasing severe pain. Ah, I really want to go swimming. Worth it? Time for a quick swim. Risking it all.

Worth it Well that was really refreshing. That was great. I think that’s the only way to live here. This sand squeaks. Oh cool! I didn’t even notice that. I can’t say that I’ve ever had squeaky sand before. This beach was amazing. The water was warm in some

Places and cold in others which puzzled us. But boy were we grateful for the cold spots that we encountered. It was so refreshing. We spent a little bit longer here than we should have and in fact, the beach is the only thing we’re going to get

To see on Lazarus Island because we still want to make it to the third island, Kusu. So we’re heading back to the ferry dock already. What can you do? We got a ferry to catch. A very un-Singaporean thing is happening right now. Right this minute.

It is 3:19 pm and our inter-island ferry to Kusu is four minutes late. There’s no sign of it. We’re pretty sure we’re in the right spot. No ferry. It should be just a little boat that goes in between the islands. Something is late in Singapore? I feel like this is a first.

Say it isn’t so! We are shocked. As long as it still comes, we really want to go see Kusu. Just an update on our missing ferry situation. It’s 20 minutes late but thank goodness for WhatsApp because we WhatsApp’d them and they called us right away and they’re sending a boat

To get us. So we don’t know what happened but super happy that they’re sending a boat to us. We can still visit Kusu. I’m really looking forward to that island. Yeah, great save. I don’t know what happened. They must have left really early because

We were here at least 15 minutes early. For once. It’s unusual for us. Usually we’re running but for ferries we know it’s a big deal if you miss it. So we are very early today. Thank you. Have a good day. We made it to Kusu. That was amazing that

They sent a boat for us. I could not be happier. And we’re here. Yay! This is the first time we’ve ever seen one of these signs. This island already has a completely different feel than St. John’s and Lazarus. The ferry terminal opens up to this pavilion area and all

I see are picnic tables and the floor is tiled and there’s a temple here and I know that there’s some turtles. That’s why I’m excited. All right we have just over an hour on this island and I see very few other people here

Which is really cool. We’re starting at the far end of the island at the bathrooms. There are bathrooms. This is amazing. There’s even showers on this island which is even more amazing and a lot of solar panels. All right we are walking to the far end of Kusu island so we can

See what the tip of it is like. Lazarus we really only saw the beach but this island is much smaller and we should be able to see it from one end to the other. This is kind of unexpected. I was wondering where the path would lead and I

Was expecting it to go to the end of the island and it just singles out a picnic shelter. There’s so many picnic shelters. How did they choose this one? It’s a nice picnic shelter and a picnic table. I don’t know if it’s the best one. As we’re exploring the tip here, funny

Thing, there’s an island off in the distance. Yep that’s Lazarus. That’s where we were and I’m pretty sure we could have swam across to this island if we had had a bigger dry bag with us just across the channel. Just on the

Other side. I knew they were close. I did not know they were that close. Okay we had to come and examine the water situation to see if we really could swim across it and the current is extremely strong here so we might have started here but we would have ended

Up like way down there. I think we would have made it? Good news, we don’t have to find out. If you come to these islands know that you need to bring all of your own food for the day and ideally all of your own water just to make

Sure that you have it available to you. One month a year here on Kusu the market stalls that I’m surrounded by erupt into a hawker center. There’s an annual pilgrimage that takes place not right now and then all of these stalls come alive. It’s

Kind of neat to see them empty with the promise of food one month a year. I kind of want to come to experience it I have to say and if you happen to come during that one month pilgrimage that takes place know that there are extra ferries that

Run that way you won’t possibly end up stranded on another island like us. Also some monkeys just passed through here so this island definitely has monkeys not sure how many it was two they seemed older bigger they might be after Bill. Yep Bill has discovered them. Well it wouldn’t

Be an outing in Singapore without seeing some wild monkeys. There is a tortoise sanctuary on this island and it is one of the things I wanted to see the most and there are so many of them down there and there’s some little baby ones and some of them

Are really large so I assume that they’re older and there’s little shelters that they can go into. There are a ton of really happy turtles here. There are just dozens and dozens of these turtles enjoying their little spot on the island. I’m

Very happy that they have a place that they can go if they want to get away from the sun or the people. There’s so many of them. I wonder if they get along with the monkeys. This is a really cool looking temple and it has an

Awesome entrance with a beautiful white and red bridge. It is so cool to see all of the ships coming and going from Singapore as we’ve been exploring all these islands today I don’t know which I prefer, all of the boats coming and going or all of the planes overhead. Both are really neat.

One thing we forgot to mention is both the swimming beaches the one swimming beach at least at the other end of the island that we saw first would be a great place for kids or maybe somebody who’s not a very strong swimmer. It’s almost entirely enclosed by a breakwater.

And so the water is really calm. We don’t have time to go swimming because we don’t want to miss our ferry. It’s our last chance out of here. We already did that once today, sort of. We didn’t miss it. We were 15 minutes early. There’s no way we missed it.

Well, we are here 15 minutes early and so is our ferry. We are getting on it because we were making darn sure we don’t miss it. I think that Singapore is keeping hotels and cafes off of these islands intentionally. If they were here, even more people would come to these islands.

So I’m kind of torn. It would be super nice to have a cafe and a nice hotel and stay here overnight. But I’m also kind of happy that it’s not here. A little bit torn. You might be wondering if you should visit these islands, if you come to Singapore.

And the answer is no, you definitely should not. Why the hell not? We had a great time. Why wouldn’t we want people to come here? – Because people wreck things. I like the beaches pristine. So no, you should not come here. But you should anyway, to enjoy it.

It’s a short distance from Singapore. It’s not expensive to get here. It’s peaceful. It’s quiet. What, you’re worried about social media causing all these problems or what? I don’t know. Yes. Well, I guess we’re part of the problem, aren’t we? Thank you so much for watching. See you next time. Bye.

Looking to escape the extreme heat of Singapore,we turned our eyes to the seas. A short ferry ride away from central Singapore are the Southern Islands of St John’s, Lazarus, and Kusu. With a little bit of planning and luck, we set out to explore all 3 islands in one day. Would we recommend it? Watch to find out!

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In case you like skipping around
00:00 More than Sentosa!
01:12 St John’s Island
02:36 Deserted Island Vibes
05:23 St John’s wildlife
05:57 Marine Aquaculture Centre
06:46 Refill water on St John’s
09:13 Chilled beverages & bikes
10:10 Walking to Lazarus
11:19 Lazarus Island Beach
12:50 A first in Singapore!!
14:23 Kusu Island
16:56 Bring food
17:51 Tortoise Sanctuary
18:31 Lazarus Temple
20:28 Should you visit?

#singapore #travel #singaporeislands
#singaporetravel #travelsingapore
#singaporesouthernislands #singapura

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