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!

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!

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.

Lovely surprises from Cyrene Reef

After a very long and tiring Saturday, I was glad to be rewarded with lots of wonderful sightings from Cyrene Reef on Sunday morning!

It is always a joy to visit Cyrene Reef because it is full of life!

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.

Chek Jawa on a hot scorching morning

After more than one year, I finally stepped on the shores of Chek Jawa again! This time with the Teamseagrass volunteers.

It was a really hot morning but it also provided a great setting to take nice photos of the lush meadow of seagrassses at Chek Jawa.

First visit to Terumbu Pempang Laut

Last year I missed all the opportunities to visit any of the 3 submerged reefs off Pulau Hantu. I finally visited the largest one last Saturday: Terumbu Pempang Laut.

According to Jeff's compilation on meanings of island/reef names, "Terumbu" describes a reef that is visible at low tide; the meaning of "pempang" is not known, perhaps it is a corruption of the malay word "bemban" meaning fish traps; the 3 reefs were further distinguished from each depending on their relative position to land (ie "darat" near shore, "tengah" the middle reef, and "laut" the reef nearest the open sea).

We arrived to this largest and also furthest of the 3 reefs away from Pulau Hantu during sunrise. At the background is Pulau Bukom where the oil refineries are situated.