Sunny day at Terumbu Semakau

On Labour Day holiday, the intrepid team surveyed Terumbu Semakau, a patch reef off Semakau Landfill. The abundance of hard corals have dropped as several ones did not survive the coral bleaching period last year. Nevertheless, there's still good growths of corals at certain stretches. We also saw both the Fluted and Burrowing Giant clams, a special sea cucumber and some pretty sea slugs!

Sea fan garden at Changi

Beyond the murky waters of Changi, one would be able to catch a glimpse of the colourful sea fan garden during super low spring tide! On 30 April 2017, I visited a stretch of Changi that I've not surveyed for years.

Other than having the joy of finding high abundance of sea fans, we also enjoyed a lovely sunrise, finds of commensals on the sea fans and other interesting critters such as the Sea Apple sea cucumber and the Armored sea cucumber.

New snail find at Kusu Island!

We visited Kusu Island on 29 April 2017 and checked out the reefs. Am glad to see many of the corals survived the bleaching period last year and that the reef is still thick at Kusu.

Many fantastic finds such as featherstars, many heart urchins emerging from the sand at the lagoon and my first sighting of the Marlinspike Auger Snail (Oxymeris maculata)!

First predawn at Tanah Merah shore

It's our first predawn low tide trip this year and on 28 April 2017 we visited Tanah Merah shore. The first exciting find of the trip would be the stonefish!

I later also chanced upon a Knobbly sea star. The corals are still ok though some are dying or dead due to the previous round of coral bleaching. The seagrasses invaded upstream of the canal where we also found tiny white sea urchins and other interesting finds.

Higher low tide at Big Sister's Island

On 12 Feb 2017, we visited Big Sister's Island during an evening low tide. The tide didn't go down as predicted and we were stranded on the high shores. Nevertheless, the team managed to find some exciting critters both beneath rocks and above ground.

Windy at Cyrene Reef

Two weeks after Chinese New Year, we are out on another evening tide to check out one of our favourite shores: Cyrene Reef!

Cyrene Reef is ringed by petrochemical plants on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom. It is also right next to the container terminals on  Pasir Panjang. Cyrene Reef has one of the best seagrass meadows in Singapore and its seagrasses are home to lots of marine life!

It was very windy on this trip but we also get to enjoy a rainbow that emerged from the direction of mainland.

CNY Day 3: Seringat-Kias

It's CNY Day 3 and we are at the reclaimed shores of Seringat-Kias, which is also connected to Lazarus Island.

We enjoyed the pinkish sunset after the rain that poured when we arrived! There's a bloom of the Sea lettuce (Ulva sp.) seaweed that covered the intertidal stretches of the shore.

CNY Day 2: Terumbu Selegi

After 6 years, we are finally back on Terumbu Selegi on CNY Day 2!

Terumbu Selegi is a submerged reef in the middle of nowhere. The nearest islands would be Sentosa, St John's Island and Sisters' Islands.

CNY Day 1: Semakau South

It's the Chinese New Year again! And that also signifies another round of low tide adventures. :)

This super tiny snail that is only around 5mm or less was found by none other than our bionic Chay Hoon! The scientific name for this fellow is Cystiscus minutissimus. And it's also apt for the CNY season given that it is all orange.