Searching for secret shores at East Coast

Yesterday, I need some form of a physical exercise so I cycled to East Coast Park! And I tried to kill two birds with a stone by searching for any hidden secret East Coast shores that might be undiscovered, just like Chek Jawa in the past.


East Coast is a long stretch of reclaimed land and it is definitely one of the shores that are under-explored. There was one stretch with lots of gorgeous sea fans but it has since been impacted and destroyed by unknown reasons. Just April this month, we went back to check and dredging was going on there now. Sigh.

But there are still other stretches that may have life! Thus explains the search for more.


I stopped by this concrete slab that extended out to the sea. There was a boy alone sitting there enjoying the serenity of the sea. Beside it is some sort of another structure which has some depressions in between.


I took a closer look and saw zebra corals growing within!


There were lots and lots of oysters living together with plenty of anemones, barnacles and limpets.


And on the high shore were lots of tiny interesting collection of washed up shells!


Just beside is a bit of a rocky shore still exposed during mid-tide. I look down and saw that the rocky shore extended quite a bit in distance. But I didn't see any signs of sea fans from the visibility I get.


But there was this branching dead thing that look bit like a dead sea fan or probably it was some form of a tree twig? I tried to pull it up and it seems to be stuck onto a rock. Is it really a sea fan???


At the high shores are interesting things that are brought up with the high tide! And they gave an idea of what is down there in the sea, like this dead fish.


There were lots of seagrasses of all species washed up as well!


Ranging from the tape seagrass, sickle seagrass...


And also the noodle seagrass!


There were many cleaners who were clearing up these washed up stuffs to make sure the beach is clean enough for visitors. But no one realizes that these stuffs may still contain life, if not, can contribute minerals or components back to the sea.


I cycled onwards towards the East Coast lagoon where there seems to be some buildup of intertidal area outside from the Google Earth satellite image.

However, I later realized that there was dredging just outside the lagoon. I always wondered if the lagoon is influenced by tides just like our southern islands but I found out they had piled sands to prevent the sea from entering the lagoon to some extent.


Now the lagoon is used for watersports. It used to be fenced up in the past.

I went on to check another end of the East Coast shore.


This end seems to have a good potential sand bank from the Google Earth map.


BUT yet again, this portion is again in the midst of construction! It seems to be that they are building breakwater at the high shores.


I cycled onwards and witnessed more construction and dredging. This time to build some kind of channel across the existing seawall. What is it for??

Well, sometimes we just lose the battle against time, losing shores before discovering them in the first place. It simply speaks of the urgency to go look quickly before it is too late!


I later went to look at Bedok Jetty where lots of fishing activity thrives!


And this fish seems to be commonly caught by the fishermen. After catching the fish, they left the fishes on the concrete ground.


Interestingly, at the end of the jetty is a windmill and a solar panel which seems to be provide electricity to light up the jetty? At the background is our cityscape.


East Coast is a great place for people to get close to the sea. Many activities exist like building of sand castles.


Some of them do look quite nice!


Lots of windsurfing too is happening off the coast.

And exploring marine life is another thing we can do at East Coast if we come at an appropriate low tide!


Lastly, I headed to a small canal that lead out to the sea. It is filled with wire cages of rocks. I don't know what it is for.


But it's nice to see a young mangrove plant growing by the side.


With lots of clams at the bottom.

This canal leads out to the beach where it seems to have some buildup of sand bar beyond. Probably because the canal introduces sediments, thus leading to the buildup of sand.


I think East Coast is definitely worth one more visit during super low tide. The many breakwaters that held much of the sand in bays may provide good habitat for marine organisms to thrive.

No one knows what is out there until one takes a look at it! And it's better to know before it is gone.