St John's Island

Today we joined a group of volunteers called LepakInSG which aimed to educated the public on the issues regarding our marine science in Singapore. We gathered at Marina South Pier at 8.30am to take the 30 min ferry to St John's Island. 

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 who were also brought to the island. by 1930, the island gain 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 migration was closed in the mid 20th century, the island was used to house a penal settlement and also a drug rehabilitation centre, but all that has changed now into something totally different.

Apart from sitting in a classroom and hearing from the resident manager talk about the work they do at the science labs there, we also got to walk around and explore the island before boarding the ferry at 12.30pm to head back to the mainland. Unfortunately, I fell down along the way and scrapped my knees. It was painful but I was very brave and endured the pain until we got back to the mainland. It was a fun outing and Mommy and Daddy say we will revisit this island and spend more time then.