Pulau Serangoon, alternatively known as Coney Island, is a 45-hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 located off the northeastern coast of Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, between Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin is a small island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. Granite quarrying supported a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about a hundred villagers live there today...

 to its northeast and the mainland to its southwest. As it is located just 100 metres from the mainland at its closest point, it will be reclaimed to build quality waterfront housing and linked via a bridge to Punggol

Punggol

Punggol, or Ponggol, is a neighbourhood in northeastern Singapore. Presently, much of Punggol is undeveloped, although plans to turn the area into a residential new town under the "Punggol 21" initiative have begun to take place in the south-eastern parts of the area bordering neighbouring...

. Still, in spite of this small distance, motor launches have to be specially hired to reach the island.

Pulau Serangoon is also a popular place for jet ski

Jet ski

Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the...

ing and camping. However, this has led to the beaches being polluted by litter such as discarded cans, instant noodle packets and bottles.

Etymology

In an 1825 survey of the coastal areas around Singapore by Crawfurd, Forrester, Lt. Jackson and Dr Johnson, Rabbit and Coney (meaning rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

) islet

Islet

An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....

s were mentioned.

An anonymous writer who wrote the Singapore Chronicle article noted on the sighting of the two islets, namely Rabbit and Coney that:

"the whimsical application to these two islets suggests some observations upon the fantastic names which have been given to places in this part of the world; not only by Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an navigator

Navigator

A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...

s but by the natives of the country themselves. There is scarcely any sense or meaning in the best of them. Pray, what is the difference between a rabbit and the coney?"