Coral bleaching at Terumbu Pempang Laut

On 6 Aug 2016, we visited Terumbu Pempang Laut for a coral bleaching check. However there are not many corals on this shore as compared to the rest.

We estimate about 20-30% of the hard corals are bleaching. About 20-40% of the leathery soft corals were bleaching. We estimate 20-30% of the corals have died recently.

Coral bleaching at Semakau East

On 23 Jul 2016, we visited Semakau East to check out the coral bleaching situation.

It seems that the reef is doing badly. We estimate about 70% of the hard corals and 40% of the leathery soft corals are bleaching. We estimate 5-10% of the corals have died recently.

Coral Bleaching in Terumbu Semakau

Our final survey for this season of low spring tide would be to check out the coral bleaching at Terumbu Semakau, a patch reef off Semakau Landfill.

How are the corals doing? Unfortunately, they are not doing well.

Baby Knobblies at Pulau Sekudu

With permissions from National Parks Board, we are back at Pulau Sekudu to do our annual survey. Otherwise, this island is actually out of bounds.

We had the best sunrise out of the 3 days we were out thus far! I must say this shot is definitely postcard-worthy. Thank God once again for great weather. :)

My favourites on East Coast's reclaimed shores

Despite most people's perception that there's not much marine life in Singapore, we do have lots of shores to explore during low tide. And I'm back here checking out two stretches of East Coast after two years since 2014. How are they doing?

Once again, we ended our survey of 2 shores with a beautiful glow from sunrise. Prior to this, we spent some time checking two different stretches.

Predawn at Chek Jawa coral rubble

I'm back at Chek Jawa, one of the two seashores that started my passion in marine life (the other is Tanjong Rimau, Sentosa). It's like visiting your friend that has been there all along through different seasons. That applies to both the shore and myself. We were able to visit this shore with permission from Nparks.

The team soaked in the magnificent presence of the glows from the sunrise after we ended the trip. Yes, we arrived at Ubin before 3am to do a predawn survey and ended at dawn. 

Back at Pulau Tekukor with turtle find

After 6 years, I finally set foot at Pulau Tekukor again! My last survey here was in 2010.
 

The natural rocky coastline is a prominent feature of this untouched island that sits right across Sentosa and St John's Island.

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.

Predawn at Berlayer Creek

I visited Berlayer Creek during predawn for the first time (as my previous 2 trips were during evening tides). The tide on this trip was lower and I was looking forward to see what lies at the lower water mark.

It was a lovely morning when I did a solo trip to this mainland shore that seems to be improving over time. This shore is just right next to Labrador Park.

St John's Island's underwater garden

It's our first predawn trip of the year and I'm trying to adjust to having to wake up at wee hours again! We are back at St John's Island this time.

The best part of today's trip would be to survey the rich reef edge of the island. This is something that requires both good low tide and daylight to happen. In addition, there must be any boat movement around to stir the sediments and good visibility also helps!

Lazarus trekking with giant clam find

Though Lazarus Island has been joined with St John's Island and Seringat, much of the island remains untouched. The side facing St John's Island is real rocky. In fact it is a natural form of foot reflexology. Haha! We went around the entire island during low tide to see how's the shores of Lazarus doing.

The top find of the day would definitely be this pretty boring giant clam in blue and green. Not that it is really pretty boring but it is indeed a giant clam that bores itself into the rock.

CNY Day 3: Tanah Merah sandflat

It's the third day of Chinese New Year and a small team of us were out at Tanah Merah sandflat during a not-so-low tide. Nevertheless, there were still lots to see! And it's great to revisit this shore. My previous trip here was also during the 3rd day of CNY in 2014.

When the tide goes out, one can actually find lots of marine life on the seemingly-dead sandy shore such as the numerous sand dollars on the rich sand bank.

CNY Day 2: Cyrene Reef

Happy CNY Day 2 from one of our all time favourite shores, Cyrene Reef! Once again, we were blessed with relatively good weather (except for the drizzling at the beginning).

The underwater seagrass garden at Cyrene is really pretty to take photos. The "bloom" of Forskal's sidegill slug (Pleurobranchus forskalii) are still around, though not as many as last December.

CNY Day 1: Southern Semakau

Happy Chinese New Year! Annually without miss, we will also be visiting the shores since the low tide and the Lunar New Year are both influenced or predetermined by the moon.

This time, we decide to visit Southern Semakau, a stretch that is not so reefy but has seagrasses and the associated animals that are found on them. We were blessed with good weather as we only had a short sprinkle of rain despite the pessimistic weather forecast.

Western Ubin with OBS

A team of us visited the Western part of Pulau Ubin near Outward Bound School. Many thanks to the kind invitation of Alex from OBS, many of us visited this intertidal shore for the first time.

We enjoyed the late afternoon with clear weather and blue skies. This stretch of Ubin is almost untouched and we were looking forward to surveying the shore, which Ria would call it as the mini-version of Chek Jawa.

Splashing good time at Eastern Semakau

Two weeks ago, a team of us visited Semakau East via amphibious landing. As we arrived early, we landed on the reef while the waters are still high.

Here's a photo of some of us after hopping off the dinghy. That was the start of our splashing good time!

Northern Chek Jawa survey

We are back at Chek Jawa for our intertidal survey, with permission from Nparks. We hardly have the energy and time to do the northern part of Chek Jawa as we usually get distracted by the coral rubble in the south.

Thus, it is good that we dedicated a not-so-low tide to properly look at the northern part. It was a bright sunny Sunday, perfect for taking landscape shots. And I'm glad to see the seagrasses expanding its territories.