Punggol recce on a wet Sunday morning

The day after the ICCS Site Buddy Briefing, Ng Kai Scene and I met up with the ICCS Organiser of Pei Hwa Secondary School, ONG Yong Hui, for a recce at their site at Punggol Beach on what was to be a wet morning.

At 8am At Punggol Road-end , the Police Coast Guard were sipping their kopi and reading the Sunday morning newspaper when we trudged in. The site had changed yet again! Different parts of the beach were cordoned off for construction work in support of Punggol but thankfully, our usual entry and exit points were unaffected.

The three of us strolled the entire stretch of the soggy beach while discussing operational matters, logistics, school work and kopi!

The trash load remains low, with a significant amount of plastic stuck in between the rocks. We noticed a fair bit of cigarette butts along the coastline. Yong Hui commented that Punggol beach is a much cleaner and safer site than Pulau Ubin, having been a participant there last year – which is good news for him as he leads a large group of students here this year.

We ended the recce about an hour later, drenched and I brought home a memento of out visit – a deep fingernail mark on my left hand, thanks to Kai Scene’s strong grip when we re-entered the site through a rocky entry point.

With the Organiser prepared, we now feel confident about the cleanup at Punggol Beach.