First visit to Terumbu Pempang Laut

Last year I missed all the opportunities to visit any of the 3 submerged reefs off Pulau Hantu. I finally visited the largest one last Saturday: Terumbu Pempang Laut.

According to Jeff's compilation on meanings of island/reef names, "Terumbu" describes a reef that is visible at low tide; the meaning of "pempang" is not known, perhaps it is a corruption of the malay word "bemban" meaning fish traps; the 3 reefs were further distinguished from each depending on their relative position to land (ie "darat" near shore, "tengah" the middle reef, and "laut" the reef nearest the open sea).

We arrived to this largest and also furthest of the 3 reefs away from Pulau Hantu during sunrise. At the background is Pulau Bukom where the oil refineries are situated.

Videos from Terumbu Pempang Laut

Inspired by Andy in his Sgbeachbum blog, I decided to also do a short post purely using videos on our trip to Terumbu Pempang Laut. The difference is that my videos are raw and unprocessed, thus no nice music or captions. Nevertheless, enjoy! (I will do another post with photos later) :)

Ribbon worm from Loh Kok Sheng on Vimeo.

Corals galore at Terumbu Bemban

It's our second time back at Terumbu Bemban! We were here last June for only a short while during a reef hopping trip. As such, we did not have a proper look at this submerged reef.

Terumbu Bemban's literal translation is Reef of Fish Trap. How apt it is that this shore has a huge triangular fish trap structure with some remains of fish nets that have now been encrusted. The reefy areas near this fish trap is very good!

Semakau shore with Victoria School students

This is my third consecutive trip on the shore that I've been guiding with students from schools. First was at Sentosa with DHS, second at St John's Island with TJC and this time to Semakau!


With me today is a group of guys (and Ms Ho) from Victoria School! We belong to the group Seagrass. Of course, the best place for us to take a whacky group photo will be in the middle of the seagrass meadow.

St John's shore with TJC students

Last Saturday, I back on the shores guiding a group of TJC IP students at the sandy lagoon of St John's Island.


The creeper snails were among the first organisms that greeted them on the shore. These snails are EVERYWHERE! This also provided an opportunity to learn that every inch of the shore is alive and that we should be cautious not to trample and hurt the shore.

Sentosa shore with Dunman High students

After months of planning and preparation, this day finally arrived! This is our first time planning a shore field trip for the Bio Olympiad students. They are here to have a first hand experience in studying more about the different marine organisms found in both sandy and rocky shores.


Our destination is the natural and wild underwater world, situated right in front of the aquariums of the Underwater World of Sentosa.

Escape to Ubin on a weekday!

My school declared holiday today due to the good A-level results. As such, I brought along two of my colleagues and we escaped to Ubin as a retreat from work!


Despite the horrible thunderstorm in the early mornings, we were eventually blessed with clear weathers and a cool morning. Our first stop was Chek Jawa Boardwalk. When we reached there at about 10am, we realized that we are probably the first visitor of the day.