Water Venture Sembawang 2D1N Family Science Camp

[ Media Invite ]

Boon Yee and me attended a 2D1N Family Science Camp last week. The highlight for the kids (Cheekiemonkies mobilised whole family!) must be the water sports.

Boon Yee (no3) and Ash standing next to their 10.8 Standup board.  This platform can support up to 2 adults and 4 kids!

Organised by PA’s Water Venture Sembawang, families got to enjoy a variety of events.

Star gazing, Forest walk, Intertidal walk and water activities.

Water Venture Sembawang is located at postal code 759058. It is about 5km kayak from Punggol Barat Island (scenic view here)

A few tips:

-Nearest bustop is 15mins away Sembawang Park

-You will be getting 3G 4G signals from Digi, Maxis, Celcom. Some signal from Starhub and M1 and zero from Singtel. Switch off your social media  and enjoy more family time 🙂

-We found out Bottle Tree restaurant is on the second floor, in case campers are looking for supper

 

The camping site is very new and just next door to Water Venture. Infact, we are the first group to use their 8-men tents!

Clean amenities, there is a hot water dispenser. No aircon and warm showers 🙂

Families help each other setup their tents, we were unanimous in choosing “sea-view”!

1)When I heard about the 2D1N Family Science Camp activity, I quickly accepted the media-invite 🙂

I really miss our Pasir Ris Camping experience and wanted to expose the kids to more camping fun.

2D1N Family Science Camp
2D1N Family Science Camp

Ice breaking games for families.

We got to illustrate our masterpieces on the floor too, graffiti with license :p

Some other activities include “protecting our eggs”. Basically you wrap the eggs with tons of paper, bubble and throw the bundle down.

We were throwing from table height, and I heard they used to throw the eggs from second floor heh heh.

Our sea activities were delayed by 3 hours, no thanks to thunderstorm and heavy rain. The wind was so strong a few tents toppled over.

We decided the sea was too choppy for a smooth ride 🙂

Our camping instructors and guides kept our moral high by engaging in more games and interactions. Kudos!

The floor is wet, entrance is flooded but fortunately interior is only slightly wet.

 

5pm and we got all clear to Kayak! Hooray, this was supposed to be the highlight for many families and was nearly canceled due to rain.

2) Most choose kayaking, but I really wanted Yee to experience Standup paddling. I thought it would be the standard one-man board, but we end up clustering 6 paxs to a board haha.

The 10.8 board is much more stable compared to one-man board, and once we are comfortable, we all stood up and attempt paddling to Johor (joking!)

 

Image credit Kelvin (Cheekiemonkies)

Ash and Yee decided to paddle some adventure on their own. Although we only had 1 hour of paddling, it was super FUN and I am so glad we proceed even when it drizzles.

Yee has forgotten about his Standup Sitdown paddling experience in Sabah Gaya Island (blog).

Wash up but not ready to slumber yet. Campers take note, it can be cold at around 2 or 3am in the morning, you might wish to standby long pants, socks and blankets.

3) Diy Muah Chee was fun for kids and families. It tasted delicious too!

4) Jungle walk just behind our campsite, hear the crickets and spot the bats. I told Yee it is too bright as we can still see our hands.

5)The last activity for the day was Star Gazing. We spotted Jupiter and the moon’s craters through the telescopes!

I always thought Singapore has too much light pollution and we would find it hard to spot stars, much less planets! The friendly guides shared more constellations in our galaxy.

Monopoly card games and instant noodle till 10.30pm, Nights Out. I believed I KO before the boy.

We all agreed it is more FUN to camp as a big group.

Day 2 arrived with the a beautiful egg yolk! Sunrise in Singapore is always late around 7plus am.

Actually, we got free alarm clocks from Johor’s Mosques. The speakers were relaying their prayers from 6am onwards hee hee.

 

Mist covered shoreline.

Day 2 was the launch of Family Aqua Carnival @Sembawang. Busloads of families were invited to enjoy a day out with sea sport and fringe activities.

Some were queuing for mini banana boats (really cute), while others learn more about conservation.

 

Conservation mascots.

Remember to save water when you shower or brush your teeth ok.

6)Intertidal walk towards the direction of Sembawang Park. When it is low-tide, we can spot more marine creatures along the coast.

 

 

Singapore’s Northern beaches are not really clean and we spotted much rubbish strewn around. Most are washed ashore.

Some helpful folks volunteered to clear a few bags of rubbish.

Perhaps Water Venture Sembawang might consider “beach conservation” as part of future activity? It would be meaningful for kids to understand first-hand how human’s plastic waste end up polluting our sea and habitats.

 

We caught some crabs in an isolated lagoon. None of them become chili crab.

If you are interested in intertidal walks, do pop by SengkangBabies’ offshore island experiences here. (Semakau, Chek Jawa, Sisters Island)

And so we ended our 2D1N Family Science Camp on a high. We were happy with the outdoor activities which were both educational and entertaining.

We heard the next Family Science Camp will be on 09/10 June. Do find out more package details on :

https://www.facebook.com/WaterVenture
-Tel: 6755 0225 (Tuesday-Sunday, 9.30am-6pm)
-Email: pa_wvsembawang@pa.gov.sg
Www.onepa.sg

 

Thank you PA and Water Ventures for the Fun Invite, we hope more families will get to enjoy the great outdoors too.

ps.. our previous PA Water Venture experiences at Marina and Sengkang were soaking FUN too. (Sengkang Kayaking post)

-> https://sengkangbabies.com/sports/paddle-fest-2016-at-anchorvale-cc

 

 

Boon Wee’s First Camp

[ Boon Wee blogs ]

Boon Wee wants his friends to know about his first camping experience.
– First time staying overnight devoid of creature comfort
– First time cold shower
– First time sleepless (read the story below)
– What has he learn from his camping trip?

This is Boon Wee’s inaugural blogging article!
[Photos from Daddy but text belongs to Boon Wee]

Mummy brought me to school at 7am. We were supposed to set off at 7 30am but many people were late so we set off at 8 30am. We reached Sarimbun campsite at around 9 45am.

The instructors briefed us on the rules and then brought us to our hut that we were going to sleep in. After that,we went to the MPH [Multi Purpose Hall]to set a team name. My team was named Swaggers and then we started our station challenges.


Shortly after that, we tried the flying fox and then went to eat our lunch. The lunch consisted of 2 scoops of rice, 2 pieces of chicken and a scoop of vegetable. We went to play the “High Elements” starting from rock climbing followed by the balancing on the strings from a high level. We went for a short break and then went to shower. The toilet had no doors and the water was icy cold.

After that, we went to eat our dinner. My friend, Xue Xuan ate 3 servings but he threw away all the veggies. After eating, we were told to take our extra shirt and we were blindfolded with it. We had to hold our friend’s shoulder in order to not get lost. When the game ended, we ate supper and went to sleep at 11 30pm. [Daddy: Confidence walk]


I slept at 11 30pm and woke up at 1 30 am as it was very hot and I did not sleep till 6 30am when we went to brush our teeth and wash up. During the 5 hours at night, we took turns to guard sentry while others partied. The next day, I noticed that the people who washed the plates the previous day just dipped it into the water and then gave it back to us. The plates are oily. It was very dirty. [Daddy : Why Singapore children all so soft :p ]

We played Captain’s Ball and after that cleaned up the hut and toilets. We had our lunch then went back to school.

From this camp, I learned to work as a team with other people. Teamwork is important and have better communication with my friends. I will never go back there again because I had many mosquito bites and I cannot sleep at all.
[Daddy : We will encourage him to join the scouts]

We interviewed Mummy about Boon Wee’s first camping experience :
Boon Wee was very tired when he came back around 2 plus and immediately went to bed without changing out of his school PE shirt. His bag is messy as he told me that he has no time to pack.

We are happy that his confidence and independence has improved over 2D1N.
This will help him when his Primary 5 cohort ventures to China. Daddy thought there should be a campfire to make their camp more memorable.

If the buildings above look familiar, it is the scout camp at Jalan Bahtera, Daddy had played at this waLL before.