It's been more than a year since I've visited this gigantic submerged reef. This time, I was looking foward to have a look at the colony of Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) that Ria found on her last trip.
It was a really long walk from our alighting point and it took me a while to locate these huge stars because they are congregated at a small area in high density. In this photo are three of the knobblies!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Knobblies at Beting Bemban Besar
Friday, May 27, 2011
Dugong feeding trails at Southern Semakau
Last Saturday, I joined the Project Semakau team as they surveyed the southern half of the Semakau shore.
As Ron and I were conducting our survey of the biodiversity within our zone, we came across several long "botak" patches of seagrasses. We were thrilled because these really look like dugong feeding trails!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Changi Beach- Just so much to discover!
Changi Beach has hidden its gems and secrets beneath the murky waters. But once the tides gave way during a super low spring tide, a huge pasture of seagrass and seaweed meadow that is full of life will be revealed!
I love visiting Changi during predawn trips for various reasons. One of which will be the spectacular sunrise which creates a lovely backdrop to soak in the beauty of nature.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Changi shore is packed with life!
We are back at our all-time favourite Changi shore on a super low tide before sunrise. It sure was worth the waking up during wee hours because the shore is crowded and packed with marine life!
The tide was so low that the sea fans were exposed at the water edge. And living on the bright orange sea fan is a pretty little brittle star!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Pretty creatures of Beting Bronok
It's my 5th time back at Beting Bronok and I have been visiting this reef annually since 2007. This northern shore is very special because there's always lots of special and pretty creatures that we can look forward to encounter.
This stunning nudibranch topped my wish list for the day. And indeed we saw quite a number of them at Beting Bronok!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
First visit to Terumbu Pempang Tengah
The super lows are here! For the 1st of my 6-days consecutive field trip series, we visited Terumbu Pempang Tengah at an unearthly hour where we set off at 2 plus am.
This is a photo of the reef taken at the end of the trip during sunrise. Terumbu Pempang Tengah is one of the three submerged reefs off Hantu. It is situated in the middle of Terumbu Pempang Darat and Terumbu Pempang Laut. At the background is Pulau Bukom, where the oil refineries are situated.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Lovely surprises from Cyrene Reef
Monday, May 2, 2011
First look at Lorong Halus Wetland
On a Labour Day holiday, I was waiting throughout the day for the drizzling to stop, but to no avail. Therefore I decided to go ahead to cycle up Punggol to the new Lorong Halus Wetland in the drizzle.
I've heard quite a bit of this new wetlands from blogs and news articles. A bridge connects Lorong Halus with Punggol across the Serangoon Reservoir.