St John's Island

Saint John's Island, previously known as Pulau Sakijang Bendera, is one of the Southern Islands in Singapore. It is located approximately 6.5 km to the south of the main island of Singapore.

Saint John's Island formerly housed a quarantine station for cholera cases detected among immigrants in the late 19th century, and starting from 1901, victims of beri-beri were also brought to the island. By 1930, the island gained world recognition as a quarantine centre screening for Asian immigrants and pilgrims returning from Mecca. The quarantine station was eventually also used to house victims of other diseases, such as leprosy. 

When mass immigration was closed in mid-20th century, the island was used to house a penal settlement and also a drug rehabilitation centre. 

(Credit: x)

I have a love-hate relationship with nature. I love being surrounded by nature and being at awe with how majestic even the simplest things can be. I also happen to love being surrounded by water and nothing makes me happier than being in close proximity with the ocean.

I, however, hate perspiring and bugs and the humidity which all happens when you attempt to be one with nature in Singapore.

Nonetheless, SH and I finally decided to spend one Sunday exploring St John's Island because I've seen really pretty photographs of the place!

If you're looking to head to St John's Island, you'll have to go to Marina South Pier (located conveniently outside Marina South Pier MRT Station) to take a ferry. It costs $18/pax for a round-trip to St John's & Lazarus Island as well as Kusu Island.

If possible, try not to drive there because the parking is a nightmare with very little parking lots available. Also, it's crazy expensive as well.

We waited for nearly 30 minutes before we finally managed to get a parking lot and we raced to buy our ferry tickets and got on the ferry with minutes to spare.

I was surprised to find the ferry fully packed with people - I didn't expect to see so many people on board.

After about 20 minutes or so, we finally reached the island. Despite the rain and the overcast skies, the whole island was really pretty!

Sadly, we reached when it was low tide so the beaches weren't as amazing as I thought they would be and the rain kind of put a damp on our spirits but we went off to explore the island any way.

As we go off at the pier, the first thing we saw was the map of St John's Island. There are only 2 toilets available and while I don't know about the gents, the ladies only had 2 shower cubicles and one toilet cubicle available so be sure to head to the ladies before you become very... urgent.

The island itself is very small and you can basically finish walking the whole length of it in... 7 minutes?

The first place we set off to explore was the swimming lagoon because I've heard so many good things about it. Every one says the sand is really white and the water is really clear. Maybe when we were there, it was at a low tide so the swimming lagoon wasn't appealing at all... If you've seen beaches when it's at a low tide you'll understand what I mean.

Since we haven't had our lunch yet, we found a table which was somewhat sheltered from the rain to have our packed sandwiches. After a while, the rain got slightly heavier so we set off to explore more (and also to find better shelter.)

There were a few buildings around that looked pretty creepy up close because they were so old. The building in the photo below should have been old toilets used when the island was more populated in the past.

All the blue parts along the building are doors which lead to cubicles I believe (I didn't exactly open them to find out). Also, you can see sinks located at both ends of the building and there's this gap at the side where urinals can be seen.

There were also loads of cats everywhere. Whilst exploring, I saw chickens and went closer to take photos. When was the last time you saw chickens wandering about in the wild?

Well, I reckon that they probably belong to people who stay on the island but they were roaming about freely with the cats which I found really interesting. I wouldn't have thought that chickens and cats could coexist side by side.

More buildings which looked abandoned but may not actually be so.

I think St John's Island should be renamed as Cat Island because of the numerous cats wandering about. There were so many? I was having a field day going up to these friendly cats because they were so tame! I didn't try to stroke them although a few of them came up to rub themselves on our legs.

We wandered over to Lazarus Island, which is connected to St John's Island for a bit because there wasn't anything else to do. The only things you can do here is probably go for a swim and suntan a bit because there simply isn't anything else to do.

On the way over to Lazarus we saw quite a few people fishing so I guess that's one of the things you can do here as well!

After a while, the humidity really got to me so we decided to head back. Although I really liked exploring the island, I wish it wasn't raining and that it wasn't so humid.

I would say that St John's Island will really be a good place to go if you want a change of scenery from Singapore's bustling city life. It is also better for bigger groups of friends where you can chill on the beach and play beach volleyball or something.

Also, remember to pack some food and drinks because there aren't any food stalls there. Alternatively, you can stock up on stacks at Marina South Pier because there's a little provision shop there.