First time to Sembawang beach

It's my first time to Sembawang beach during low tide. I cannot recall when was the last time I came here, or did I ever came here before. Anyway, it was a relaxing trip with James, Wen Qing and Chun Fong.


Not only was it relaxing for us, the shore is a popular place for Singaporeans to de-stress. Many of them were fishing as well.

Interestingly, Sembawang beach lies next to the huge Sembawang shipyard.


On another side of the shore, a sand bar was exposed during low tide with a group of people playing games on the beach.


Seemingly dead from far, the shore is alive. Here's Wen Qing and James looking at the marine critters.


Wen Qing spotted this tiny bivalve under a rock. James and I thought of putting it in water to see if there is any response.


Indeed, the clam opened its shell and revealed its inner white flesh with a cute foot sticking out, trying to upright itself.


On the surface of the clam's shells are more projections that are white in colour. I've no idea what this clam is though.


Under rocks are several small crabs including this one that looks like a baby Thunder crab (Myomenippe hardwickii). There were also many porcelain crabs.


Another small crab spotted is this one that I don't know as well.


James found this mass of seaweed looking creature that is usually overlooked.


Taking a closer look, we wondered if it's a seaweed. James saw some polyps among his shots of them. Could they be something else?


I noticed the waters from the land flowing to the sea was brownish, thus I went to check for the source. It came from a canal though. I hope it is not just a result of the heavy rains that mixed with the soil instead of some pollutants introduced.


Well, though this shore is quite not-green due to the absence of seaweed and seagrasses, there are still plenty of anemones that can survive such a beaten condition.


One can find tons of the Banded bead anemones attached on the rocks. When in a pool of water, they are very beautiful.


Somehow, I only saw one of this Mangrove anemones.


But the second most abundant anemone, other than the Banded bead anemones, will be these Striped bead anemones. They can come in black and white colours.


On the rocks, there are plenty of barnacles that have closed up when exposed to the air.


As well as this drill. Their eggs are usually yellow and pinkish in colour and are usually seen in most northern shores.


This series of egg cases belong to the Spiral melongena snail (Pugilina cochlidium). Wen Qing was really observant and detailed as she pointed out the yellow dots in these egg cases.

Being so commonly seen in most shores, I'm quite ashamed to know the existent of these dots only now. Haha. Are they the individual eggs of each baby snails? That's quite exciting.


Other tiny critters found include this bristleworm.


It's probably my first time however to notive the blueish-grey plates on the upper side of these bristleworms. Once again, I wonder what they are. Haha.


On some rocks, there are some colourful encrustations of sponges though no nudibranchs were seen on or near them.


Further nearer to a part of lower salinity, I saw some Green mussels (Perna viridis) but many of the Asian date mussels (Musculista senhousia).

With the presence of the Asian date mussels means there will be the sand stars!


Indeed, I came across a patch of the shore with plenty of the Plain sand stars (Astropecten indicus). How many can you find here?


When out of sand, these cute little stars brightened the shore up! Especially for me.


Towards the end of the trip, I saw this cute Red ribbon worm.


I took a closer shot of this pretty worm and realized its colour was so nice in detail.


As mentioned earlier, there were many fishermen and some of them caught catfishes and put them on the high shore for the moment while trying to catch some other fishes.


There were some shore birds seen as well during the trip including this Grey Heron (Ardea cinera). The others are too hard to photograph. Haha.


What lies opposite our Straits of Johor at the Malaysia side? There are some port-related facilities as seen from mainland Singapore. Is this Pasir Gudang?


On another side, we could see some kelongs and kampong houses by the straits as well as a mountain or hill that has been deforested.

Well, it has been quite an eye opener to visit Sembawang during a low tide. Glad to be able to have a look at this other part of Singapore that we seldom visit. Read more...

Slow and easy at Tanah Merah

During the last trip of this low tide series, we decided to go slow and easy and visit Tanah Merah.


We started off during sunset. With the cool weather and a tranquil environment, this definitely beats going to a crowded shopping centre on a weekend evening. There were lots of interesting creatures waiting for us to explore.


There were two patches of Ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata) and among these seagrasses are numerous patterned Dubious nerites (Clithon oualaniensis) and Creeper snails (Family Cerithiidae).


There was even another patch belonging to Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii).


Among the seaweed, Chay Hoon spotted this tiny weeny feather star. Probably the smallest I've ever seen. When she told me that there's a feather star in this seaweed, I asked where is it. Can't see it even when told. Indeed, only CH can spot all these small creatures.


The Ornate leaf slugs (Elysia ornata) are still in season and are abundantly found on the shores.


This fish on top of the seaweed is the Variable fang-blenny (Petroscirtes variabilis).


As you probably know, there's lots of fishes to spot at Tanah Merah. But the fishies are too hard to photograph as they are relatively shy. It's my first time being able to take a photo of this big grouper. It is the Chocolate hind (Cephalopholis boenak).


I dipped my underwater camera to shoot this fish that is less shy. It is probably the Spotted scat (Scatophagus argus). It remained rather motionless, probably it was still sleeping?!

This fish eats detritus and algae from the sea bottom. It also eats droppings of other animals including ours. Its scientific name 'scatophagus' means 'shit-eater'!


Somehow, there were quite a number of small filefishes spotted. Some of them hide among the seaweed like this Bristle tail filefish.


This Painted scorpionfish (Parascorpaena picta) looks like the Hollow-cheeked stonefish (Synanceia horrida). Both can inject venom if stepped on, the latter is more serious. Thank God I managed to escape from the stonefish during this trip.


Among the sandy shore, I found this Diamond tuskfish (Halichoeres dussumieri). They tend to be found semi-buried in substrates like sand. I wonder why.


One of the more special fishes found during the trip will be this large fish that I thought it was the Needlefish or Garfish (Family Belonidae). But Ria later mentioned in her blog that it could be an older version of this smaller halfbeak with a short 'nose'.


I was checking out the interior of some parts of the seawall that can be entered, with caution to look out for stonefish. And I had a pleasant surprise to find some sandy spots within that had some Common sea stars (Archaster typicus).


Also among the seawall rocks is this only sea cucumber find: the Synaptic sea cumuber. It is sometimes mistaken as a worm or even a snake!


This pinkish worm-looking animal is a real worm. I've seen this before but still do not know what kind of worm this is.


This fan-looking animal is also a worm and it is the Orange fanworm.


This fanworm however is not as commonly sighted. This is probably the Spotted fanworm.


The only special nem spotted will be this Plain sea anemone. It's my first time seeing it relaxed and "expanded" in the water.


I had my camera go another dip underwater and captured the view of its orange body column.


On some parts of the shore, there are some zoanthids like this patch of Button zoanthids (Zoanthus sp.).


Among the fast moving animals, this Two-spot reef octopus must be one of the best candidates. It was gliding across rocks and crevices real quickly, not forgetting to change colours to suit its environment.


I went to some higher parts of the seawall and found this Spotted-belly forceps crab (Ozius guttatus). This is probably the first record for Tanah Merah!

This crab has a large, oval body that is smooth and lacks patterns on the upperside. It has lots of tiny spots on its belly. Their eyes have small spots and their pincer tips may be orange, reddish or brown.


For some reasons, there were plentiful of the Dwarf turban snails (Turbo bruneus) found during this trip.


Another mollusc on the shore will be the Firebrand murex snails (Chicoreus torrefactus).


After the end of the trip, I came across this terrestrial flatworm on the trail back. This is quite interesting. :) Read more...

Escape from stonefish at Tanah Merah

Yesterday at Tanah Merah, I had a close shave from stepping on a Hollow-cheeked stonefish (Synanceia horrida).


I was actually first wanting to look at the Dolphin shell snail (Angaria delphinus) circled in red. When I got closer to the snail and squatted down, I was shocked to see a face among the debris and that was the infamous stonefish. Can you find the stonefish in this photo?


This was the Dolphin shell snail that I was initially looking at.


I know it's almost impossible to find the stonefish without any guidance while walking on some parts of the shore. Circled in black is the fellow! It is almost completely blended into the environment.


And here's the stonefish's front view. They are called stonefishes simply because they look like a stone and remain rather motionless most of the time, just like a real stone.

The stonefish is one of the most dangerous fishes on our shores. It has tough dorsal fin spines that can penetrate thick soled shoes. These act like hypodermic needles, injecting a venom that can be fatal to humans. Stonefishes produce neurotoxin that is considered the most deadly of the fish venoms. The fishes use their spines in self-defence and not for hunting prey.

Stonefishes are carnivores but don't actively hunt their prey. Instead, they lie motionless, relying on their camouflage to remain undetected. When a suitable snack comes close enough, they suck it into their huge mouths, or grab it with a sudden lunge of incredible speed. They generally eat fishes and crustaceans.


Amusingly, some snails found their way on top of this hideous looking fish.


I turned this fish over and it remained very much pretty motionless. The underside is orange or brownish in colour. It is about 15cm in length.

Thank God I managed to squat before the stonefish, and not at it. If I were to squash it, both myself and the poor fish will be in pain.

Will blog about the day's trip later. Read more...

First time to Ubin's other shores

Given that Chek Jawa is so popular for its marine habitats, I believe that other shores of Ubin do also can be as exciting. Therefore, a small team of us decided to join along to explore a new shore that I've visited before previously during high tide. This is also my first time to Ubin's other shores.


Pulau Ubin and Sekudu is famous and well known for its rock formations. We have a "frog formation" at Sekudu and here at Ubin there is a rock formation that looks like a creature, perhaps a sea turtle? haha. More about these magnificient rocks at Joseph Lai's webpage.


The seagrassy area of the shore can be quite soft but it's heartening to see some resemblances of Chek Jawa where there are many Haddon's carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni). Can you spot four of them in this photo?


Though most of the carpet anemones are green in colours, some can be in bright purplish in colour.


And I'm so glad to find my favourite creatures: sea stars. This is a pair of Biscuit seastars (Goniodiscaster scaber).


And I've also found a juvenile Cake sea star (Anthenea aspera). Wheee!


On one of the rocks, attached is this Pink flowery soft coral (Family Nephtheidea).


And I was pleasantly surprised to spot this commensal little crab among the soft coral.


Moving on, we got closer to the rocky parts of the shore near the huge rock boulders.


Checking the beneath sides of rocks, there were many interesting finds, one of which is this Chiton (Class Polyplacophora).

A chiton can create a powerful suction to cling tenaciously onto a hard surface. According to Ruppert "A chiton forewarned is almost impossible to remove without damaging the animal". So please do not try to pull them off the rock surface.


There were several Crown sea stars (Asterina coronata) underneath or near rock surfaces. They are also known as rock stars. Haha.


Within the dark parts of the undersurface of huge boulders, one can find an amazing assortment of creatures attached to the hard surface. Much of which are ascidians and sponges. I think the water droplet clinging to the ascidian is quite artistic.


More colourful surfaces of the rocks.


More sponges and sea squirts.


Yup, it never boring to look at these colourful photos of the rock surfaces that are filled with life.


We saw several of this Blue-spotted flatworm (Pseudoceros indicus). They tend to be commonly found on rocky northern shores.


Ria pointed out to these large blobs which probably are contracted ball-tip sea anemones. We do not know their exact identity though. It's my first time seeing them.


She also found this mass of blob-like creatures with orange blobs. Once again, their identity remains a mystery thus far.


Near the water surface at the deeper ends of the rock surfaces, I saw this Purple-legged swimming crab (Charybdis sp.) clinging hard to the sides.


And yes, when the tide was the lowest, we caught a glimpse of the sea fan garden with lots of sea fans and even a sea whip!


The rest found more exciting creatures like this stunning Feather star (Order Comatulida) that look much better when relaxed in the water.


There were also a couple of this Brown striped flatworm (Pseudobiceros gratus)!


Among some of the sea cucumbers sighted is are the orange sea cucumbers.


Moving on, we came across a patch of shore with lots and lots of zoanthids.


These zoanthids are very colourful when submerged in tide pools.


These zoanthids are the Button zoanthids (Zoanthus sp.). Sometimes mounds of zoanthids are sometimes mistaken for hard corals.


The last part of our exploration was this wall facing the sea that were crowded with life! There were a number of the pretty Onyx cowries (Cypraea onyx).


When I was taking a closer shot of this cowrie, I didn't notice the flatworm beside it until I processed this photo back at home. Haha.


More cowries found on the surface include this lovely pair of Ovum cowries (Cypraea ovum). The bluish bunch of blobs are yet another mystery. I've not seen them before. They might be ascidians?


We were once again blessed with good weather. Not only that, we had a stunning sunset to accompany with our trip.


And soon it was time to leave Ubin, a special island filled with rustic charm.

This trip was a great one, which spurs me to come back another time to look more at the other shores of Ubin. Read more...

Hornbills at Ubin

Was at Ubin for intertidal walk but before that, it was pleasant to spot many hornbills flying across from tree to tree.


Here's three of them on top of leaf blades. Later on, we saw another two on another tree.


And that's not all, here's yet another two which are nearer to our height, haha. Photographing them is not easy. Though they are not that photogenic in this photo.


And finally a nice one... hehe. I'll never get bored looking at these magnificient birds.

Tired from the muddy intertidal trip, with all the sinking and trying to get into proper footing. Will blog on another day. :) Read more...

Cyrene Reef with Teamseagrass

After an afternoon of rain, we were once again blessed with good weather at Cyrene! This time for the last Teamseagrass monitoring of the year.


We were shorthanded so each of us has to do a single transect by ourselves. Nevertheless, all of us got the monitoring done, which is great. Here's Jocelyne working hard on her transect. It's hers and Kah Ming's first time to Cyrene as well.

As were were bit delayed today, so the trip was quite a short one. Nevertheless, I managed to have a quick look after completing the transect work and GPS recordings.


The seagrasses support a wide variety of living creatures including this black coloured Cushion star (Culcita novaeguinea).


The underside is very pretty in red. Cushion stars are always a delight and joy to find on our shores. Unfortunately, they are not very common.


Here's a closeup of the top side of the cushion star. Did you notice a small commensal on the aboral surface?


Yup, the commensal is this amphipod-looking creature that is really quite small. It seems to be sticking quite close to the star.


Another species of sea star on the seagrasses will be this juvenile Common sea star (Archaster typicus).


Once again, Cyrene is the heaven for the numerous Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus)! Can you spot all five stars in this photo? No where else in Singapore, to our knowledge, can we find so many knobbly sea stars in a given area.


Also among the seagrass is this Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni).


Living on the carpet anemone is this Five-spot anemone shrimp (Periclimines brevicarpalis). Why are they on the anemone? They are believed to shelter in the anemone for protection and may feed on leftovers.


Here's another view of the same shrimp from its front.


Three Blue dragon (Pteraeolidia ianthina) nudibranchs were spotted also on the seagrass meadow. Here's two of them.


Just like our previous trip here, the Ornate leaf slug (Elysia ornata) are still in season and we saw many of them! They are believed to eat the Hairy green seaweed (Bryopsis sp.) which they are feeding on in this photo.


I found several of these Hammer oysters (Malleus sp.). Though named as oysters, they are not true oysters.

The two-part shell is thick and T-shaped. The hinge is on the 'horizontal' portion of the 'T' as shown here and the valves held shut by one large adductor muscle that lies at the cross of the 'T'.



Among the sea cucumbers found, there were two uncommon ones. One of which is this unidentified species. It was last spotted last year May at Cyrene as well.


Here's the underside of this sea cucumber. It is rather amazing that it can turn over to the upright position in a few seconds!


I think the top find of the day will be this sea cucumber which is my first time seeing this species.

According to Dr Lane's "A Guide to Sea Stars and Other Echinoderms of Singapore", it is possibly Bohadschia vitiensis. According to him, it tends to hide in the sand during the day and only comes out at dusk. Apparently, it is among the sea cucumbers harvested for food.


It ejects sticky defensive tubules (called Cuvierian tubules) from its backside when it is disturbed. This sea cucumber ejected defensive tubules when I tried to turn it around to look at its underside. Was shocked that it was so sensitive!


It was nice to find the Long-spined black sea urchin (Diadema sp.). It feeds on seaweed, grazing these from dead corals or rubble areas. It may also trap tiny suspended food particles with its long spines, transferring these to the mouth with tube feet.


There is bulbous sac in the middle of the upperside. This is the anal cone. There is often an orange ring around this anal cone. Also we can see five bright white spots on its body.


Question of the day: What has this Thunder crab (Myomenippe hardwickii) done to the Fan clam (Family Pinnidae)?


Thank God we had a lovely sunset to accompany us towards the end of the trip.


As the sun sets with the tide slowly rising back into position, it was time to say goodbye to this magical land full of stars. :-)
Read more...

Design, Darwin & Dilemma

From my blog's name "God's wonderful creation", you would have probably known that I believe that there is a creator, who is God, that made all the marvellous living creatures on earth.

Today I attended a seminar by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati on Design, Darwin & Dilemma. It was an eye-opener for me!


Dr. Sarfarti shares with us how living things on earth originated from God as opposed to the view that life began from a big bang or through the primordial soup.

Though it is a common misconception that evolution is a theory about the origin of life, there are still many out there that still believes so. In fact, the theory of evolution deals mainly with how life changed after its origin rather than its origin. Still, does the theory really stand in the light of other evidences? Does the theory refute the Bible?

There were lots that Dr. Sarfati shared with us, with lots of reference to scientific discoveries like the fossilized jellyfish example. Read more about it here.


Here's another one on the soft tissue found in T rex bones. Read here to find out more.


My classmate, James, joined me in this seminar. It is important for us as christians who are becoming biology teachers to be well prepared in teaching the area of evolution with a wider scope to know the contexts of issues involved. James was compelled during the Q and A session to clarify some questions he had.

I must say that I've learnt a lot from this seminar and it has opened up my perspectives to see evolution from another direction. There's a lot more to learn, as this is only an eye-opener. Will read up more over the December break. Meanwhile, if you have questions (since this is apparently a highly debated topic), please feel free to refer to the below resources.

Official website: http://creation.com/
Some FAQ: http://creation.com/qa#faqs
If you have any questions: http://creation.com/worldwide-contact-information

Short one minute starter videos:

1.

2.

And longer seminar videos here:
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 1 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 2 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 3 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 4 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 5 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 6 of 7
Designed For Life-Jonathan Sarfati 7 of 7 Read more...

Oriental whip snake at Chek Jawa

Yesterday, I was at the Naked Hermit Crabs guided walk with the Yishun Student Care Services. Ivan was leading my group and he spotted something special in the mangrove boardwalk.


It is the Oriental whip snake (Ahaetulla prasina)! It's my second time seeing this snake here. During my first sighting, the snake was very shy but this one is very still. It made the day for many of the participants.


As it looks like a green vine from far, it is also known as the Green vine snake. Despite its slender and long body form, it also has a long thin tail that can take up nearly 40% of the length of the snake. It eats mainly lizards, but also frogs and small birds.

This snake is mildly venomous but shy and will prefer to slide away into the undergrowth. If you want to take a closer look at it, avoid disturbing it. Its venom is too weak to affect humans.

More about the day's trip at the Naked Hermit Crabs blog.
Read more...

Cyrene- Still as beautiful in the drizzle

And many many months of absence to Cyrene Reef, finally I was able to make it to yesterday's trip to this amazing patch reef stuck in the middle of the busy shipping lane. We were with Prof Paul who was there to have a look at the seagrass meadows of Cyrene. :)


Just as we set off, there were heavy rain, lightning and thunder! We were worried. But thank God, when we arrived, everything setttled for a drizzle and we could land.


As this is an amphibious landing, we had to wear the life jackets during the process. Haha, everything looks so cool right. Hehehe. By the way, this is also the first trip for Allen and Geraldine, and also their first time seeing Knobblies!!


Yes, there are many many Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) in Cyrene. It is the main star attraction of the shore.


As it was drizzling, photography was hard above water with all the ripples and raindrop effects. So I took some interesting underwater shots of the stars submerged among the lush seagrasses of Cyrene.


Elsewhere near the coral rubble, some of the stars have weird positions as if they are climbing a mountain. Haha.



And here are some more of the many many knobblies we saw during the trip.


The top star find of the day is this Pentaceraster sea star (Pentaceraster mammilatus) found by James. It is so pretty, and in my opinion, the most cool-looking sea star species in Singapore.

This special star was first recorded in Cyrene Reef! And it seems that Cyrene is supporting a good small population of them. Interestingly, this sea star was previously known to exist only in the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.


Again, I spotted this weird looking sea star that looks like a hybrid between Knobbly sea star and Pentaceraster sea star, based on their external morphology.

Ok, enough of the star studded stuffs. Haha. Here's the other creatures seen despite the rain.


Cyrene is also home to many different types of Fan clams (Family Pinnidae)!


Taking a peek, one can see the filter feeding components of the bivalve.


Some other species of the fan shells have different patterned mantles.


And this particular one is completely orange in colour.


Closeup on the stunning orange mantle belonging to this species of Fan clam.


James found this pinkish coloured Red egg crab (Atergatis integerrimus). Why is it pink? Is it moulting or is it just a juvenile coloration?


As I mentioned previously, Cyrene has habitats that resemble that of the northern shore. Like this White sea urchin (Salmacis sp.) that we usually only see in the north. Otherwise, this sea urchin is hardly seen at our Southern shores.

This sea urchin is great at camouflaging as it can pick up pieces of stuff to put on top of themselves.


Underwater, the banded fan worm look very elegant.


Among a rather small Giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea), there were two of these Five-spot anemone shrimps (Periclimines brevicarpalis).


What is different and more prominent will be the proliferation of Ornate leaf slug (Elysia ornata). They are believed to eat the Hairy green seaweed (Bryopsis sp.). Some of them are also found among the seagrasses.


Here's a pair of different sized leaf slugs found by James. I think they are very cute.


The daylight low tide period spent in Cyrene is always shortlived. Very soon, we have to say goodbye to Cyrene among the drizzling of rain. Nevertheless, Cyrene is still as beautiful as before.


Though Mei Lin couldn't find any living clams today, there were exciting finds of dead clam shells! I found the shell of the Fluted giant clam (Tridacna squamosa) on the top of the photo. Mei Lin found the shell of the Burrowing Giant Clam (Tridacna crocea) which is on the bottom right.

What is the species of giant clam shell on the bottom left? It is most likely the shell of the extinct-in-Singapore Hipppopus hippopus giant clam that hasn't been sighted for a long long time! I really hope there are still living ones at Cyrene. Nevertheless, it was a great discovery, thanks James for finding it.

Soon, I'll be returning here for Teamseagrass monitoring. Can't wait! :-)

Read more...

How to visit the shores of Singapore?

Blogs are great ways to spread the word about our splendid seashores and coral reefs in Singapore. And of course, it will attract the curiosity of people. Of course, some will be interested to see the beauty of our nature places with their own experience.


So the big question is "How to visit our seashores?". Here's how!

Can I go out to the seashore during today's low tide?

The most important component of a seashore trip is the tides. It requires an adequate low spring tide to see marine life exposed on the shores. I'm sure there are many first timers that think that low tide happens everyday so we can go out everyday. True, low tide happens every day but the level of low tide differs.

> To find out more about the concept of tides, check out Ria's wildshores blog here.
> To check Singapore's tide level for this and next month, check out NEA's tidal forecast.

Which shore can I go? How to go?



> Click on this Wildsingapore fact sheet on the accessible shores of Singapore to get details of how to get there, what to see and do, guided walks offered and contacts to groups who can provide guided walks, photos and more links.

What do I have to take note to prepare for a shore trip?

> Check the NEA weather forecast here!

Click on the following Wildsingapore URLs that will guide you in the following areas:
> Tips for visitors to the shores.
> Frequently Asked Questions about visiting our shores.

From the FAQ, there's one question I want to surface it here:

Is it safe to visit the shores?

All animals need to defend themselves from predators or they will be eaten up and soon become extinct. Some of these animal defences can cause humans irritation, pain or even worse injuries and death.

As with any nature walk, it is important to respect the wildlife: do not touch anything and leave animals alone. Watch where you step: the stonefish has spines that can peirce thick shoe soles and a venom that is very painful. Some shores may have portions that are particularly soft. In such places, it is not unusual to sink up to the knees or deeper.

At the same time, our visit to the shores also affect the safety of the shores. Our shores are fragile. Many small sea creatures live in the sand and mud. These are killed when we step on them, no matter how gently we walk. These small sea creatures form the base of the entire food chain on our shores. Seagrass have delicate roots and take a long time to recover when trampled on. Corals are slow growing and a careless footstep can destroys years of growth.

So if you are a first timer, I would high recommend you to join a guided walk of our shores instead of going alone. This is mainly for your own safety as well as the habitat's safety.

Why are some shores shown in the blog not described in the fact sheet?

They may be restricted to public access, unless a permit is approved for various reasons like research. Examples of areas that can be inaccessible are Raffles Lighthouse, Sultan Shoal, Live firing islands (P. Biola, Senang, Sudong, Pawai, Salu etc), Jurong Island, Chek Jawa (shore only) and Tuas.

Some mainland shores are not detailedly described on how to go because we may in the process attract the wrong type of crowd to the shore to poach or remove marine life. I've seen this several times at various mainland shores and it's just unsustainable.

But if you are truly interested in just purely taking a look at our shores, I would recommend you to join our guided walks first. Another way is to volunteer your service and in the process you will be able to both enjoy and contribute back to nature with the company and guidance of other nature explorers. I myself also started off my passion with Teamseagrass. :-)

Where can I find guided walks to join?


> Ria's Wild happenings in Singapore is a great platform that shows you the different guided activities you can participate. So go take a look and join the trips!

How can I act or volunteer for our shores?

> Check out this link on how to act for our wild places.

Alrighty! Hope this post will help clarify your doubts and get you more ready to visit our shores! If you still have queries, please add comments on this post. If you have blogged about your trip and want to share with me, feel free to add your url in your comments as well.

Have fun! Read more...