Coral bleaching at Cyrene Reef

Most of the time,we will be exploring the seagrass and sandy areas of Cyrene Reef as they are thick with critters. On a super low tide, we decided to dedicate a slot for Cyrene Reef to look at the reef edge. However, it coincided with the coral bleaching period and it became a survey to monitor the extent of bleaching.

It's heartbreaking to see many of the corals bleaching. About 80% of the hard and soft corals appear stressed as they lose their coloration.

Spongey comeback at Beting Bronok

Beting Bronok (BB) is one of our last northern reefs that is home to a wide variety of marine life that we don't see on our mainland shores. We only visit BB once a year to do our annual survey and noticed over the years that the reef is deteriorating.

BB is located off the north of Pulau Tekong and it is only exposed at a good low spring tide. Just right across the channel (Eastern Johor Straits) would be Pengarang, Johor. Today, we noticed that the sponges are making a comeback! You can see good growths of the colourful sponges in this landscape shot.

Back at Changi's echinoderm haven

One of the first few shores that shore lovers would visit definitely includes Changi Beach.

After one year, I'm back to take a look at how it is doing and we agreed it has changed. Nevertheless, it is still an echinoderm haven.

Coral bleaching check at Tanah Merah

I have been visiting the reefs off Tanah Merah since 2009 and it continues to be the best mainland coral reef despite being a reclaimed shore. It has suffered from the oil spill and coral bleaching period in 2010 and after about 6 years we are facing yet another coral bleaching period this year.

How are the corals doing? From this photo, you can see that some species are more affected than others.

Checking out the reefy East Coast shore

It's been about 3 years since I last visited certain stretches of East Coast Park during super low spring tide. Yes there's marine life at East Coast! However, they are only exposed at super low tides that do not usually occur much in a year and that limits the number of times we can go down to take a look.

One of my favourite spots would be this stretch that is home to lots of colourful sea fans! Even at the minimum tide, the sea fans are still half submerged and I had to endure the splashes from the waves.

Coral overdose at Kusu Island

Kusu Island is home to hard corals that grow in high density on the intertidal shore. They are exposed only at good low spring tides which usually happen at predawn hours.

Despite having to wake up super early, we will occasionally be rewarded with spectacular breath-taking sunrises such as this!

Semakau North with Giant Clam finds

We were back at Semakau last Sunday and surveyed the northern shore which has thick reefs at the edge. 

A lovely purplish sunrise accompanied the start of our trip. The weather looked good from the eastward direction.