Tour Summary
Batam - Bridge No.1 - Pulau TonTon - Bridge No.2 - P.Nipah - Bridge No.3 - P.Setoko - Bridge No.4 - P.Rempan - Bridge No.5 - P.Galang - Bridge No.6 - P.Galang Bahru - Pantai Cakang (spend the night in the village) - back to Bridge No.5 - Galang village harbour - 9am boat to P.Bintan - Northeast to Gesik and Kawal - North to Tanjung Berakit - West to Lagoi and boat to Singapore = Island No.9 (or alternatively, West to Tanjung Uban - ferry back to Batam). The tour is conveniently done in 4 days (if you only go for the kilometers, it could be 2 days).
You head out in the direction of Muka Kuning Industrial Park, now and then asking for Simpang Jam. Once you reach the junction with the very minor clocktower, you ask for the way to Pulau Galang, the road with 6 bridges (jalan dengan enam jembatan).
In the middle of the bridge you stop and sit down for a break (sometimes locals are selling snacks on the bridge), watch the boats, enjoy a fresh breeze.
As you see this sign, you apply the breaks to avoid shooting over the edge of a cliff into the sea - there is no such thing as Jembatan Tujuh.
Next morning, you hit the road at 7am. You want to catch the 9am boat to Bintan, leaving from Galang, nearby Jembatan Lima.
You learn that there are two camps, Galang I and Galang II. These camps were once populated with refugees who sailed over from Vietnam. Today, the area is dotted with tempels, churches, and - mostly dilapidated - living quarters. A few people are around to do maintenance on the more interesting structures. On weekends, tourists visit the spot. Quite a few Vietnamese make it there, coming through Singapore.
That was interesting, but you missed the boat. You plan to kill the rest of the day on the beach.
Let's say you're lucky and a local guy invites you to his private beach on the far northern end of the beach. You enjoy a clean swim and end up spending the night fishing on a kelong, an offshore platform from where a net is lowered into the sea and lights are set up to attract fish. After some hours, the net is pulled out. Spare time is spent sleeping and eating fish.
Next morning, you make it to the Galang jetty where a number of people are already waiting for the 9am boat. (Sometimes there's a second boat at 4:30pm, but no promise.) The speedboat passes Jembatan Lima, another minute and it's there.
The stop is short, but there are helping hands for the bicycle. The boat accelerates without delay. It travels at a speed above 50 km/h.
There are a few more stops until it heads across the sea to Tanjung Pinang on Pulau Bintan, which is 33km from Galang.
From here, the tour leads to the east coast, then up north, eventually west to Lagoi.
In the morning you head further north to Tanjung Berakit, the end of the road. There's a fishervillage and a beach, you relax for an hour, maybe have something to eat.
Now it's part of the way back, until you reach the Sialan junction, where you turn west. It's some km of hilly terrain, away from the sea. At major junctions you ask for the way to Lagoi. At one point you enter a nicely-done road, with a security checkpoint at the entrance. It looks like an airport-access-road. This one brings you to a junction where you follow the signs to the ferry terminal (all in English, now). Later there are signs that point you to the passenger terminal (Telok Sebung Ferry Terminal).
As you enter the terminal, you feel you're in a different world. Shops, little restaurants, nice and expensive, like an airport. You buy a ticket to Singapore, your ninth island. Bintan-Resort Ferries charge Sin$32 for a one-way ticket. The bike is an additional Sin$5.