TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Seychelles, Mahé, sea west of  Mahé This was a previous article written by myself and posted in this travelogue blog in September 2014. Those were the times when fishing was a favourite personal past-time. I had not been on open waters fishing trips for more than 10 years since, except for the occasional fishing trips to commercial fishing ponds. ****************** The main purpose of my visit to the Seychelles in  May 2000, was for some big game fishing action. One of my fishing buddies, Kenneth, was there with me for the same reason. But the dates of our visit in the month of May, did not coincide with the big game fishing season which normally starts around September. Therefore, we learnt to our disappointment that big game fishes may not be easily targeted during our fishing trip. Still, we decided to go ahead and charter one of the specialised fishing boats. We contacted the organisers and chartered a small sports fisher for our fishing trip. The sports fis...

Pros and cons of group and solo trips....... I don't usually travel with friends not because I am an introvert But I personally prefer a more easy going style of travel where visiting each and every tourist attraction is not a must-do item for every location or city I travel to. I also enjoy a more laid back attitude when it comes to travelling where I take my time to enjoy the place, the culture and the locals instead of basing my daily plans on lists compiled from travel guides and magazines. Traveling with friends or in a group require that we put aside these personal preferences and go with the majority decision where itineraries are concern.  The Author, Timothy on a solo hike in the mountains, Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (2014) However, I do travel with friends whenever the opportunity present itself. And I do enjoy these trips. In short, traveling solo or with friends both have their pros and cons. And for certain trips, traveling with friends or in a group...

Horsburgh Lighthouse (or Horsburgh) is located on an outlying small island (a.k.a Pedra Branca meaning "White Rock" in Portuguese) near the entrance to the east of the Straits of Singapore. The lighthouse was named after Cpt James Horsburgh, who was a hydrographer with the then East India Company. Horsburgh is located about 54km (34 miles) east of Singapore. It was raining in the morning as we set off for the long anticipated trip which was planned as far back as 3 months ago in August 1998. There were four of us; YK, Kenneth, CC and myself.  
 Soon, we were on our way to the suppossedly rich fishing grounds near Horsburgh Lighthouse. This locale is considered a good fishing ground for recreational fishing because commercial trawling is supposedly not permitted.  
 We reached our first fishing spot at exactly 5.00 pm local time. Looking around, we couldn't see actually any lighthouse but who cares, it was the fishing that we were coming for, not a visit to so...

Mapur Island is administratively considered part of the Bintan group of islands which are in turn part of the Indonesian province of Riau. Mapur is located in the South China Sea just east of the main island of Bintan. This trip in late July/early August of 1999 was my first fishing trip to Indonesia. A 45-minute ride onboard a fast Catamaran ferry brought us from Singapore's Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Bintan. From here, we transferred to a speedboat before boarding the fishing boat, a fine 50-ft fibre-glass sports fisher.  On the way out to sea, we encountered extremely strong waves and had to "take cover" near a small island. At around 6.00pm local time, we moved out again and soon reached the designated fishing grounds for this trip. Strong waves continued to hit the boat causing everybody to slip time and again as the boat pitch and roll to the wishes of the sea. We had to grab hold of rails as we move around the boat. Falling into the sea in such cond...