Corals galore on reclaimed shores of Tanah Merah

I'm finally back on this stretch of Tanah Merah to survey the corals during super low spring tide on a predawn trip with Ron. This stretch is probably the best coral reef one could ever find on mainland Singapore and the most surprising part is that this is a reclaimed shore!

We started off surveying a stretch that I have not looked at since 2009 and we were excited to see hard corals jammed packed with one another at many parts of the shore.

Long stretch of Changi shore with lots of life

This morning on a 4am trip, I was out with Ron to have a look at Changi shore on a good low tide.

We wanted to cover a wide stretch of the shore and we ended up walking even more than expected! It ended on a Superb note with Special finds, coupled with a spectacular SUNrise on a SUNday. :)

Terumbu Semakau with the Southern Expedition team

The first official intertidal survey of the Southern Expedition as part of Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey took place this morning at Terumbu Semakau.

Being the first trip of the low tide series, this simply means that we have to set off at 3am and the trip ended with first light from the sunrise. Though it was totally "zombifying" to survey the reefs at such an unearthly hour, we all would agree that it was all worthwhile as we found quite a number of fantastic finds.

Lovely morning at Tanah Merah

This is an outdated post of the morning low tide trip to Tanah Merah back in end March. Decided to visit the reclaimed shores of Tanah Merah with Ron to see how it is doing since the oil spill in 2010.

We were greeted with a warm sunset over the horizon as we explored the sandy and rocky parts of the shore. It was a long low tide that allowed us to properly look at this long shore.

First morning trip at Pasir Ris shore

It's back to the other half of the year where we resume low spring tide trips in the morning!

This time, I visited Pasir Ris shore with a friend, Marcus who has not seen our intertidal marine life before. My last trip here was more than 2 years ago on November 2010. How is the shore doing now?

Somehow I prefer to visit the mainland shores in the predawn or morning hours as there is lesser human traffic.

CNY Day 3: Tanah Merah

For the last of the three CNY field trips, Ria and I visited Tanah Merah shore.

It has been a while since I last had a look at this shore which was once badly hit by the oil spill. How is it doing now?

CNY Day 2: St John's Island

Day two's trip on the Lunar New Year was a miracle! The "water snake" or rain storm that swept the north east of Singapore did not come down to the southern at St John's Island.

On top of having a rain free trip, we were blessed with a spectacular sunset over the horizon with the two Sister's Islands at the background.