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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Eastern and Northern reefs of Pulau Semakau

This is an overdue post of our survey at the natural reefs of Semakau during the last low tide season. In fact, the team covered three different areas of Pulau Semakau though I only went for the eastern and northern shore (missing out the southern shore).

We do not often visit the Eastern reefs of Semakau until recently. This huge stretch of reefs facing Terumbu Semakau and close to Pulau Bukom is rich in hard corals, soft corals, anemones and other amazing marine life.

Beautiful giant clam at Eastern Semakau

On 7 Nov 2014, we visited Semakau East to have a look at this stretch which we seldom do. Though the weather didn't look good, we managed to spend quite a fair bit of time exploring the reef. I came across a beautiful giant clam submerged at the reef edge.

Rich coral reef of Northern Semakau

On 9 Oct 2014, we did an intertidal survey of Northern Semakau where there are lots of corals at the reef edge. I had a great time exploring the colourful reefs using my underwater camera. I also spent some time looking at the higher shores and noticed that the seagrasses are cropped. The Cryptic sea stars at the rocks are still there.

Simple Serenity at Southern Semakau

Following my last blog post on Southern Semakau entitled "Sunny Sunday out at Southern Semakau", I will continue to use the 4 "S"s for the title for this blog post- Simple Serenity at Southern Semakau. :)

The dawn over Southern Semakau yesterday morning was a warm sight that greeted us as we ended the trip at first light.

Oil spill check at Northern Semakau

There was a collision on 29 Jan evening between a chemical tanker and a containership which happened "about 2.7 km, south of Jurong Island". This has caused a spillage of bunker fuel in the surrounding waters. On a Lunar New Year holiday, we decided to swing by the Semakau and Terumbu Raya area to have a look at the impact of this oil spill.

We had a large team and thus could afford to split into two, one that landed on Terumbu Raya and I was part of the Pulau Semakau team. We landed at northern Semakau which is the part that is closest to Pulau Hantu and Jurong Island.

Sunny Sunday at Southern Semakau

Though it was a Sunny Sunday out at Southern Semakau (4S's), there was still quite a number of marine critters that we came across on this trip!

Semakau is one of the special shores in Singapore where we find different habitats close to each other, ranging from mangroves, seagrass lagoon, sandy shores, coral rubble and of course the reef!

Reefy splendor of Northern Semakau

Five years on and I'm back to survey the reefs of Northern Semakau with the intrepid team on this last predawn intertidal survey of the year. The last time I had a good look at this stretch of shore was in May 2008.

Situated opposite Terumbu Raya (also known as the Great Reef), this stretch of reef at Northern Semakau is full of life with lots of corals, anemones, fish, sponges etc etc. It looks like an underwater garden from this shot through my underwater camera.

National Day field trip at Pulau Semakau

We celebrated Singapore's 48th birthday at Pulau Semakau on National Day! And it was an awesome field trip because of the many spectacular finds.

We were also blessed with good weather despite of the unfavorable weather forecast. The sunrise landscape is simply gorgeous!

Escaped the rain with special finds at Semakau

It's the monsoon season where it will never fail to rain in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the Teamseagrass folks continued with our seagrass survey behind the dark clouds.

Here's a photo of the ominous dark clouds coming in from the north as the volunteers were busy monitoring their different transects.

Guiding at Semakau

About a week ago, I was back at Semakau guiding a group of public participants who have signed up for the trip with RMBR.

Without fail, I will coax the visitors to give a wacky pose to take the group photo along the "long kang" or dead zone of the seagrass meadow.

Mangrovey and seagrassy surprises at Semakau

Last Sunday, I had a pleasant surprise of finding a rare and pretty sea slug at Semakau! :)

This colourful sea slug was originally found underneath a rock found among the mangroves. Yes, it was not found near the coral rubble nor reefy areas but very high up along the shore zonation. I was excited to find this charismatic nudibranch as I have never seen it before.

Semakau guided walk with SJI

I spent my Deepavali holiday guiding a group of students from St Joseph's Institution at our fabulous shore of Pulau Semakau!

Though they are currently working on marine-related school projects, it is their first time exploring our natural shores looking at seagrasses and corals. It was great to be able to share with them our marine biodiversity without having to swim or dive!

Finally! Galloping sea star at Semakau!

After a long time of trying to search this elusive sea star, James fulfilled my wish by finding this Galloping sea star (Stellaster equistris) last Sunday during our trip to Semakau.

This is the special sea star that I've always wanted to see. It has been sighted at Sentosa twice before but I always fail to find it there. Haha!

Semakau walks with teachers and students

My seven consecutive days of fruitful low tide field trips (and unfortunately also sleep deprivation) ended with two days of guiding at Semakau!

On Monday, I guided an enthusiastic group of West cluster teachers and they were such a great bunch of audience despite the quote which says that teachers are the worst students. (All group photos can be downloaded in large sizes by clicking on them)

For a change, my Tuesday group consist of Biology students that I am currently teaching from my school. Joining us are two other Bio teachers. Here we are doing a traditional seagrass meadow group shot! Just like the seagrass of the Halophila genus, these people are saying a hearty "Halo!" to all of you!!

Dugong feeding trails at Southern Semakau

Last Saturday, I joined the Project Semakau team as they surveyed the southern half of the Semakau shore.

As Ron and I were conducting our survey of the biodiversity within our zone, we came across several long "botak" patches of seagrasses. We were thrilled because these really look like dugong feeding trails!