Sentosa's natural Integrated Resort

Supposed to go Chek Jawa today but didn't because I have yet to get the green light. Thus, I ended up doing this post for yesterday's Naked Hermit Crab (NHC) while the rest are now there in today's adventure trail. Nevertheless it is a good rest for today too.


Yesterday's trip started with a solo ride on the new Sentosa Express. The 1st train starts at 7am, from Vivocity to Beach station where I transitted to Blue line bus to get to the gathering point outside UWW. When I reached, many are already waiting there.. wow. There were more people as compared to the first day. Quite exciting.


My job was to be a hunter seeker this time, and we all caught a glimpse of a cruiser about to "collide"with the Tanjong Rimau cliffs.


Here is captain for hunter seeking, Ria, proudly waving the NHC flag.


Fellow hunter seeker Yuchen was good at details and worked hard to gather interesting creatures for the public to see.


And here was what he found. A nudibranch (Phyllodesmium briareum)! This nudibranch is 'solar powered' and keeps brown algae in its skin of its body which give it is brown colour. Eventually the zooxanthellae in the skin die and can only be replaced by eating the right soft coral. Until they feed again, the nudibranch can become quite pale.

Hope the ID is correct or else all the description will also be wrong...hahaha.


More hunter seeking stuffs tidal hermit crabs, bristleworms, swimming crab (hard time catching, had to ambush it), Red egg crab and a damselfish. Other stuffs I've seen but didnt get to capture on camera were the black sea cucumber and the giant reef worm.


I was in vain trying to find something more interesting and headed straight to the beacon side, and I found 2 of such nudibranch or sea slug (Glossodoris atromarginata). They are really adorable. Nudibranch means naked gills. They are naked as they are without shells and their gills can be seen from the fluffy part of their body.


Sponges are once thought to be plants but they are now classified as animals. They are the vaccum cleaners of the shore because they filter through water for nutrients. They are not softies from what you imply from the word sponge. They contain toxin and bristles on their surface, emphasized by their bright coloration. Some animals like to hide inside sponge to protect from predators, an example is the bristlestar.


Here is Ron and his adventure trail people coming over from the Rimau beacon side.


Here's a hard coral for this post. There are quite a lot in the shores of Sentosa, our heritage to keep.


This looks like a Brahminy kite flying across the shores up high. They do hunt for fishes for prey.


I wonder is this the white-bellied fish-eagle? If it is, it catches fishes by skimming over the water surface, it does not dive.


All participants were very enthusiastic in learning about the gems of our shores.


After being released, this red egg crab did not forget to be still and be photogenic for my shot. Good crab!


The channel across the shore is always busy with ships and boats. A shot before we left.


And here's Ron with his infamous Tongkat Ali! He is pretty popular with gals too.