Slugful day at Ubin shore

We saw quite a number of lovely sea slugs on our trip to Ubin shore last week!

One of the many slugs we saw was this slug with many pretty dots and large feathery gills.

Wild abalones at Big Sisters Island!

Unknown to many, we have wild Abalones (Haliotis sp.) in our local waters! And I finally get to find two of them on our weekend trip to Big Sisters Island.

I was surprised to see for myself the two green eye stalks that stick out from beneath the shell of the abalone! They are so cute!

Breathtaking trip to the Lost Coast

It's almost a miracle to enjoy both a rain-free weather and a breathtaking landscape view of the shore and the blue skies during our annual visit to Changi East, a shore which we call it as the Loast Coast. Many thanks to Travis for first introducing us to this place!

In this remote shore tucked at one corner of the huge piece of reclaimed land, we get to enjoy a rare landscape scenery where we can see the horizon without much obstruction. So what lies there on this seemingly boring and lifeless reclaimed shore?

Changi rocky shore in the rain

It's the December rainy season where exploring the shores during low tide becomes more tricky as I need to balance holding both the umbrella and the DSLR camera without getting myself wet.

Nevertheless, the wet weather did not deter Ron and myself from having a look at this stretch of rocky shore at Changi.

Highlights of trips with Northern Expedition 2012

This is a blog post on some of the highlights of trips made in October that is long overdue. I joined some of the trips with the Northern Expedition at the Mega Marine Survey and we surveyed shores along the Straits of Johor.

My dream of visiting the Western shores of Pulau Ubin was fulfilled as I tagged along the team surveying Tanjong Tajam on the first day. The last time I visited this part of Ubin was as a student as part of the OBS experience. The rock formation at Tajam remains as majestic as ever.

Surprises among seaweed bloom at Terumbu Semakau

It's the Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum sp.) season where most reefs are ringed by thick blankets of the seaweed. However, this did not stop us from visiting our southern reefs!

Two weeks ago, a group of us visited a submerged reef, Terumbu Semakau which is situated right beside Semakau Landfill and near Pulau Jong (small island in a shape of a bun).

Escaped the rain with special finds at Semakau

It's the monsoon season where it will never fail to rain in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the Teamseagrass folks continued with our seagrass survey behind the dark clouds.

Here's a photo of the ominous dark clouds coming in from the north as the volunteers were busy monitoring their different transects.

Three months of Naked Hermit Crabs' walk at Chek Jawa

After two months of inactivity, I am back blogging on my previous nature trips! Over the 2nd Saturdays of the past three months, I have been out guiding at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs.

It has been a real joy to interact with different groups of people, many of which who are enthusiastic and keen to learn about the wonders of nature. Here's a photo of the fun-loving October group demonstrating how fiddler crabs wave at each other.

Evening out at Pasir Ris Mangroves

Last Saturday evening, I was out with the Naked Hermit Crabs and my student councillors from Dunman High School to guide at Pasir Ris Mangrove boardwalk.

Here's a lovely photo of Alison and Bryan who joined me with their parents on this trip to explore the wonders of nature right at our backyard. They are holding the masterpieces showing what they have seen during the walk.

Feather star and coral garden at Big Sisters' Island

The last trip for the week has proven to be a pleasant surprise as Ivan and I stumbled upon great visibility in an underwater feather star and coral garden. It is our first time exploring this stretch of the shore!
 

Here's an underwater photo showing you a glimpse of the wonderful sight of the rich reefs off Big Sisters' Island. Can you spot the three feather stars in this photo?

Cyrene Reef is stunning as ever!

It's our last predawn trip to Cyrene Reef this year and we were once again blown away by the diversity of marine organisms on this shore despite regular visits by the team for various purposes.

Today, most of us actually stayed put in one area for 1-2 hours (as you can see in this photo haha)! Simply because the shore is so rich that if you squat down and scrutinise every single corner of the seagrass and algae, something may just appear within your search vision. These camouflaged or tiny critters are usually overlooked if you explore the shore by just walking pass.

Exploring a new stretch of Seringat-Kias

On one of the last few morning low tide trips of the year, we visited Seringat-Kias and Lazarus this morning. Ivan and myself decided to explore a lagoon that we rarely visit and it was my first time checking this part of the shore out.

The waters are rather deep in the lagoon and there were quite a number of marine critters swimming around such as this tiny and cute squid!

The reefy exploration of triple B

Triple B is short form for BBB or Beting Bemban Besar- a submerged reef off our southern waters beside Pulau Semakau. On this location after more than a year later, I decided to go quite deep into the water to look at the reefy parts of this huge shore.

The tide was still high while we arrive in the dark as the waters are rushing out. We explored the higher grounds first and one of the delightful finds would be a few nemos in the anemone!

Last predawn trip to Changi shore

The season for good tides over morning low spring tide is among over for 2012 and for my last trip to Changi, I explored a new stretch of shore which proves to be a fantastic site for rich marine life!

One of the special finds for the trip will be this cute Kite butterflyfish which seems to be associated with the carpet anemone. 

S's of Cyrene Reef: Slugs, stars and sharks!

Two weeks ago, we went to Cyrene Reef on a predawn trip and set off from Marina @ Keppel Bay way before sunrise. I was quite excited on this trip because I have not visited this awesome shore since September last year.

This is the sight of the landscape when we arrived near Cyrene Reef. Cyrene is a submerged reef that will only be exposed during low spring tide. At night time, the only prominent visible feature is the lighting of Pulau Bukom where the oil refinery is situated.

Underwater splendor of Terumbu Pempang Tengah

Last Saturday, we were on a predawn trip at Terumbu Pempang Tengah, a submerged reef which is only exposed during low spring tide. For the first time, I took some time to explore the reefy stretch near the deeper waters.

And I hit the mushroom coral jackpot! I have never seen so much mushroom corals aggregated together on an intertidal trip. Yes, this is not a diving nor snorkeling photo.

Slugs galore at Pulau Jong

We had a rain-free day at Pulau Jong this morning! And there were lots of beautiful sea slugs!

It's such a joy to be able to take a landscape photo of the charming Pulau Jong with bright sunlight shining on it. Simply because all of my previous 3 trips (latest was 2 years ago) to this island were associated with rain. 

Heart urchins at Sentosa shore

As usual, I was on my usual rounds of looking high and low for the elusive Galloping sea star (Stellaster equestris) on the Sentosa shore.

But instead, I stumbled upon two heart urchins! They were semi-buried underneath the sand. It's our first time finding them on this shore.

Rainy yet spectacular at Changi

Totally unexpected (and beyond the predictions of weather forecast), the heavens poured throughout the night and it affected our trip this morning. Despite trying to handle the DSLR camera, umbrella and torch together in the rain so as to explore another stretch of Changi shore, we still found many exciting creatures.

We can call today an apple day because quite a number of these psychedelic sea apple sea cucumbers were sighted.

Predawn surprises at Changi shore

I'm back at Changi with Ron to check out the shore this morning!

I was supposed to visit this stretch of Changi last month but had to abandon it at the very last minute due to my injury. Am so glad that I am in better condition now to have a look at the marine life on this particular shore after more than a year's absence.

There were quite a number of surprises on this predawn trip! One of which will be this tiny weeny greenish seahorse!

Guiding at Semakau

About a week ago, I was back at Semakau guiding a group of public participants who have signed up for the trip with RMBR.

Without fail, I will coax the visitors to give a wacky pose to take the group photo along the "long kang" or dead zone of the seagrass meadow.

Chek Jawa fun during June holidays

The holidays is the best period where kids and their family can spend quality time out in the wonders of nature to explore Singapore's own backyard. I was glad to find time during this June holiday and guide with the Naked Hermit Crabs on a Saturday morning.

Here we are taking an energetic group photo of our first two groups who were early with us at Chek Jawa of Pulau Ubin.

Changi rocky shore with friends

It's great to be back on our shores again! Woohoo! :)

What a joy to explore the rocky shores of Changi that is full of rustic charm after many days of absence from the low tide trips this week. I have also not visited this shore for close to two years already.

Colourful marine city of Punggol

It's the low tide season again and we're back at the colourful shores of Punggol. It's a taking-it-easy trip for me as I am still recovering from an injury due to a cycling accident.

Though the shore is very narrow and situated right opposite Pasir Gudang port and industrialised coast of Johor, it is full of colour and life!

Sea Fan-tasy at East Coast Park

What a fan-tastic way to explore the sea fan-tasy of East Coast Park on a good low spring tide! Such much about the fan pun... simply because there are many sea fans (and of course marine life) on the shores of ECP. Yes you didn't hear wrongly, there's awesome stuffs even on our reclaimed beaches.

The top find of the day must be this Spindle or False cowrie snails (Family Ovulidae) which probably is Pellasimnia cf. improcera. I have never seen it before!

Back to special reef of Sentosa at Serapong

I'm excited to be back at Serapong, a special reef of Sentosa, after about close to a year since our last visit!

The reef fringing the edge of the golf course is among the best within the vicinity of nearby reefs.

Glorious morning trip to Little Sisters

It's the low tide season again! Though it's always a drag to wake up at 3am plus, the wonders of God's creation is always worth the sacrifice.

Indeed, we were pleasantly surprised to witness such a pretty sunrise over the horizon! The momentary spectacular glow in the sky that looked like magma simply left us awe-struck.

Easter Sunday at St John's Island

What a splendid way to begin the Easter Sunday with a trip to St John's Island to explore the marvellous reefs and marine life of Singapore.

Of course we were greeted with a glorious sunrise which also signifies new hope through the resurrection of Christ on this special day. Interestingly, the sunrise from this angle of the island was from the direction of Lazarus Island.

Lobster at Seringat-Kias!

We saw a living lobster among the seawall of Seringat-Kias on our predawn trip this morning!

Like the normal size of an adult lobster, it was relative quite big and I was surprised when I stumbled upon this charismatic creature which we rarely see on our intertidal trips. Despite being a reclaimed shore, Seringat-Kias holds lots of suprises!

Pasir Ris mangroves with Naked Hermit Crabs

It has been a long while since I have last visited Pasir Ris mangroves. So long that I couldn't even recall when was my previous visit. As such, I am glad to revisit this place while guiding with Naked Hermit Crabs.

There are several nests where you can spot herons from close distances and I arrived earlier to have a look at the grey herons. It began with these two juveniles chatting or quarreling with each other.

More feather star commensals at Little Sisters

I'm back at Little Sisters Island with Mei Lin as she continues to work on her giant clams. Unfortunately, the giant clam on this island could not be located and has been declared as missing or dead. :(

My attention was diverted to look for commensals living among the feather stars that can be found on this island. And viola! Here's a tiny brittle star found moving along the arms of the feather stars.

Mangrovey and seagrassy surprises at Semakau

Last Sunday, I had a pleasant surprise of finding a rare and pretty sea slug at Semakau! :)

This colourful sea slug was originally found underneath a rock found among the mangroves. Yes, it was not found near the coral rubble nor reefy areas but very high up along the shore zonation. I was excited to find this charismatic nudibranch as I have never seen it before.

Reliving CNY moments at Big Sisters Island

It was exactly five years ago in 2007 when I first got to visit our offshore reef at Big Sisters Island during day 2 of Chinese New Year. It was such a great trip with lots of exciting finds that I named that day as the Best CNY ever!

Here I am five years later, still actively exploring our splendid shores at the same reef of Big Sisters Island. Our shores are alive and God's creations never fail to amaze. :-)

Happy CNY from Pulau Hantu!

Hi folks, it's been a while since my last post and I'm finally out of the hiatus. Here's wishing you a blessed Chinese New Year 2012! As usual, CNY coincides with low spring tide as the festive dates are determined by lunar calendar and that it is the moon and sun that determines the tides.

We visited Pulau Hantu after more than half a year and Chay Hoon found this "auspicious looking" commensal shrimp on the small bright red feather star. How apt it is for Chinese New Year! And furthermore, we have not seen this shrimp before!