If you feel stuck at home with your beach vacation plans on hold indefinitely, this may be the ideal activity for you. Local lifestyle youtuber, Melvin Song, who goes by the online alias, Alley Cat, went on a Stand-Up Paddling adventure exploring Sungei Simpang — a river located in the eastern part of Sembawang.

What’s the plan?

He was guided along a 4km route from Sembawang park by Winson Woo, founder of Outdoor & Adventure Learning. Winson’s company plans and conducts unique outdoor experiences like hiking, outdoor camping and cooking.

You’ll follow Melvin’s perspective as he glides deep into the inaccessible mangroves of Sungei Simpang while braving the rain. He goes on to show off his prowess at multi-tasking by balancing on the board while filming, paddling, and keeping a lookout for the rare possibility of crocodiles among the shallow mangroves.

I spy a…

After a seemingly arduous hour-long journey to reach the river, he shares his amateur investigative insights on an old capsized boat wreck and gives us a drone-like bird’s eye view of the area using an Insta360 action camera.

Throughout his adventure we spotted several pieces of plastic and Styrofoam trash floating in the ocean and stuck between tree branches and roots. It was a stark reminder to use our natural spaces responsibly by ensuring we clean up after ourselves.

One YouTube commenter was hit with a wave of nostalgia as they shared: “Thanks for rekindling my childhood memories. I used to live about 50m from these mangroves before our family was asked to relocate in 1984”. The area used to be known as Jalan Kuala Simpang and they recall having an adventurous childhood catching flower crabs and searching for gong gong (a type of edible sea snail).

Do it yourself

So add this to your weekend itinerary to stretch your bones after a long week of work from home or for a quick getaway from the city bustle. Quick tip: If you wish to film your own water adventure with an action camera, but can’t seem to shake off the water droplets that cloud the screen, using a hydrophobic spray would help. The cheaper alternative — for the less hygiene conscious — a little discreet spit would do the trick.