Sentosa

Before visiting Sentosa, a tiny island south of Singapore proper, the name conjured images of throngs of people vying for a tiny square of space along a man-made beach, or waiting in long lines for a tourist attraction. It's curious how hearsay and snippets of conversation can create vivid images in our minds of places we've never been. These images can prevent us from giving a destination a chance, as our eyes are conditioned to look for verification of what we expect. I'm not sure where I got my impression of Sentosa. The only images I had seen prior to visiting were of Amazing Race participants taking a long zip line from the top of the island down to the beach, which looked quite amazing.

We decided to visit Sentosa on a whim. After playing tennis on a Sunday morning (our first tennis in over four months in Singapore), we decided that it would feel great to be on the beach. The sun was beating down from a clear blue sky, but a steady breeze made the heat bearable. We hopped on the train, then switched to the monorail for the last leg of the journey. While crossing the water, we passed some of the immense container ports, endlessly loading and unloading the 'stuff' that causes conflicts and drives economies around the world.

The entrance to Sentosa.

The first stop on the monorail is Universal Studios Singapore. We were annual pass holders of Universal Studios Japan, when we lived in Osaka. We enjoyed strolling around the New York sets and doing the Jurassic Park ride. But my interest in this particular theme park is waning. So, we continued on the monorail. The next stop lets people off to see Singapore's largest Merlion, a creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is a symbol of Singapore, and there are several of them, of different sizes, throughout the island. Since we've seen Merlion elsewhere, we also skipped this stop and continued on the monorail.

The last stop is the beach - not only the beach, but a series of restaurants and bars that face the beach. 

The beach was surprisingly clean, both the sand and the water. We rested under a few palm trees in a classic Southeast Asian beach pose. Then we continued along the beach, past a number of clubs and restaurants. We saw a few sea kayakers, but mostly people were just lying on the beach or poolside.

One of the highlights was Wave House, an outdoor restaurant that features a surf pool. I first saw this on a tv commercial for a cruise line, but I didn't understand how it worked until I saw it for myself.

Water streams from one corner of the pool, constantly flowing toward the center of the pool, where the surface of the pool curves upward to mimic a big wave. Beginners, like the guy in the image above, hold a rope while first stepping on the skimboard. They try to get their balance, and when ready, release the rope. After a matter of seconds, beginners usually crash, then end up at the far end of the pool. Sometimes the water is so strong it shoots them over the blue wave into the back of the pool. I would want to wear a helmet (and mask out of embarassment) if I ever tried this.

More advanced riders start by sitting on the side and jumping into the flow. Advanced riders turn up the water volume, creating a bigger wave. This guy (above) was the best rider we saw. He was able to ride up the wall, twist the board in different directions, and make it look fairly easy. This is probably especially fun to see at night, and it's open until past midnight on weekends.

Overall, Sentosa was far better than expected. We even saw the zip line, which still looks amazing. I'm sure we'll go back.