Back to Pasir Ris shore

On thursday late afternoon and evening, the monsoon rain poured over the whole of Singapore but that did not stop Geraldine and myself from having a look at the shore of Pasir Ris. I have not visited this shore for a year!


Drizzling and raining while I first arrived, I saw a long line of blue floating buoys stretching across the whole of the Pasir Ris coast.

Recce at Sentosa shore

I was back at Sentosa's Tanjong Rimau last Wednesday with my colleagues recceing the shore for student visit in the future. And it was also their first time there! :)


As tide was a bit high and the rain was drizzling, we spent most of our time at the high shore and rocky area. Tanjong Rimau is home to magnificent coastal cliffs and landforms. A great place for both living biology and geography lessons to take place.

Chek Jawa boardwalk during Hari Raya

Woke up early to go Ubin with Pamela and her cell group on Hari Raya holiday last Wednesday. Yes, if you want to go Ubin and do not want to be stuck in long queues, it is best to go early and leave early!


While waiting for the rest to arrive at Changi, we had a look at the shrubs nearby and there were many butterflies! Thanks to Soon Chye for identifying, this large butterfly is the Great Mormon.

Beautiful mangroves of Seletar

Yesterday morning, I had a good look (from far) at the mangroves off Seletar in the north of Singapore.


The bridge linking Seletar to Pulau Punggol Barat allows me be at a higher position to have a good bird's eye view. I could see many large shore birds wading among the mudflat hunting for fishes and other snacks!

No galloping but still lively at Sentosa

After Chay Hoon's first sighting of the charming Galloping sea star (Stellaster equestris) and the subsequent finding of yet another one by Ron at Sentosa, my every trip now to Sentosa is strongly driven towards the mission to find this elusive star. Furthermore, I have never seen this sea star before. :(


Thus, here I am back at Sentosa! It was nice to be blessed with clear weather as it was raining the whole day. Thank God for that. We were treated to a nice evening sunset in the form of pinkish glows in the sky.

First visit to Terumbu Bukom

Remember my post on the submerged reefs of Singapore? It's amazing to know that we have already visited many of them without losing our lives.. haha! And the last new submerged reef that we visited this year for the first time will be Terumbu Bukom!


Like Terumbu Buran, Terumbu Bukom lies among strong currents of water which makes landing very tricky but made possible with Jumari and his team.

In the background is Pulau Jong, while the beacon shows the submerged reef (darker portions of the photo) that was about to be surfaced.

Changi shore- "Heavily utilised"

Today was one of the rare times when I visited Changi shore during a weekend evening. As expected there were lots of people on the shores. They consist of fishermen, people picking up creatures for seafood, children playing on the shores and even students doing research.

Indeed this tiny stretch of living shore is "heavily utilised"! At least today's kids were more sensible- they were nice to talk to, listened to my advices and knew not to disturb a sea cucumber when I told them it was stressed and slightly injured.


It was nice to get to know Peirong and another of her labmate (sorry forgot her name). They were working on sea cucumbers and sea stars on Changi, which explains the long lines of transect throughout the shore.

An adventurous landing on Terumbu Buran

Throughout this year, we have been visiting various submerged reefs of Singapore and we are almost hitting our target of getting to most, if not, all of them! The last two on our list are the most difficult ones to land- one of which is Terumbu Buran.


Here is a beacon for Buran, just off Sentosa. The currents here are just turbulent! Just at the back is Terumbu Buran, our destination of the day.