For some reason.......

....this is constantly one of my top viewed photos on Flickr.

The other persistently most viewed are below, and all of them are interestingly from the same Kusu ReefWalk.... Does this mean that the rest of my photos ain't as interesting? T_T Weird.

Click for the rambling...

Registration for 18 Oct ReefWalk @ Kusu is now open!

It's the last day of September and unfortunately, our lovely Blue Water Volunteers website is currently down due to some IP issues. However that does mean that we're not having our usual activities! Intertidal ReefWalks @ Kusu island and Reef Check surveys with ReefFriends are still ongoing!

Sign up details are under the cut ^_^
1. Kusu ReefWalks on 18 Oct


The evening Kusu Island ReefWALKs are back. The next walk will be on 18 Oct 08 (Sat) 5.30pm - 9pm and it cost $15 per participant. To register, please email reefwalk@bluewatervolunteers.org and provide the following details:

Name:
Contact Number:
Email:
Number of participants:
Ages of children (if any):
Emergency contact details:

Should you have any queries (or would like to join us as volunteers), please email reefwalk@bluewatervolunteers.org.

Cheers,
ReefWALK Team
*****************
The last two walks for 2008 would be on 15 Nov 08 (Sat), and 14 Dec 08 (Sun). Registration details would be posted up nearer the dates.

EDIT: if you have problems contacting us with the above email, try reefwalk@gmail.com

2. ReefFriends surveys


For those of you who dive, and would like to lend a hand in collecting scientific data for the monitoring of our local reefs, please email reeffriends@bluewatervolunteers.org for more details on joining. We would be glad to have you onboard the team!

EDIT: if you have problems contacting us with the above email, try reeffriends@gmail.com

p/s. Three cheers for blogs and RSS feeds that can act as our backup(s) when things go wrong with the main site ^_^

Click for the rambling...

Back at Kusu!!

Part 1 of this month's intertidally weekend ^^ It feels great to be back at Kusu with the BWV bunch after 2 months of break. Judging from the signup response for this month and next's, the public has also been anticipating our return to the shores! And Kusu didn't disappoint! Just to list some of the things we saw (thanks to our brilliant spotters thebluetempeh and D) nudibranchs, big jellyfish (~30cm in diameter), 2 octopuses, rainbow wrasse, egg crab, flower crab, hairy crab, many many common seastars, an increasing amount of carpet anemones (including one ~10cm in diameter), pipefishes, anemone clownfish (aka Nemo), stonefish, branched anemone.... It seems like the anemones that we have been seeing since the start of the year are here to sta, and have been joined by their friends!

Sadly, me being me, was a little distracted coordinating and guiding that I only took photos of the rather big stonefish and one of the pipefish we saw. Didn't even take people photos. Probably hafta wait to snitch them off MS (along with any other animal shots) and post on the RW blog/community. Anyway, on to the pictures and little snippets of information ^^


Meet Mr Stonefish. Think this is the first time for the guides to actually see a stonefish at the Kusu Lagoon. Mr Stonefish here was apparently very stoned since even with the rather rough handling it had to endure from one of our helpful "uncles" it still remained rather still. However, this does NOT mean that you can treat a stonefish thusly, even if you do come across one. Sticking a metal rod in its mouth ain't exactly very nice, even if it's a convenient way to hull it around for the rest to see. The whole purpose of the ReefWalks is to introduce people to our intertidal biodiversity that is also nature friendly to the critters and their environment (so no screaming or shouting from kids either!!) Stonefish keep very still mainly as part of their passive camouflage, so as to appear like a stone (thus its name) while it lays in wait for unsuspecting prey. Another reason why "playing" with a stonefish (even minus the rod) is not a very good idea is that the spines of its fins are actually hollow and filled with venom, so if you get scratched or pricked.... Let's just say that you won't be very happy either.

Here's another shot of Mr Stonefish, minus the offensively invasive rod. As grumpy as its face is naturally, I think I can safely say that its way more comfortably without the rod in its mouth. 'Coz with the rod in, Mr Stonefish was raising its spines up in defense....


On to another fish that is less threatening but just as adapt at camouflage. This is a pipefish. Sorta a cousin of the more well known seahorse (and leafy seadragons). Think straightened out seahorse and *wahlah* you get a pipefish! Unlike other fish, pipefish, seahorses, and sea dragons all have very small mouths located at the end of their snouts, and it's the DAD that is "pregnant" and has the honour of carrying the young in their pouches! This pipefish is around 5cm in length, and when it keeps very still (especially when near the sea bottom or amongst algae/seagrass) they look like just another random stick floating around in the sea! Isn't that amazing?

And of course, to round up an excellent walk (and evening), a few of us had a very nice dinner at Akashi, VivoCity~~

EDIT: MS has put up more of the photos at the BWV blog. Thanks dude! (Though I didn't really describe the organisms here... only did for the stonefish and pipefish~~)

Click for the rambling...

wild, wet weekend @ Semakau and Kusu

ReefWALK @ Kusu with BWV
Just got back from our rather rainy and early walk at Kusu. Nearly overslept (despite being the coordinator), just like the last time, but some how managing to wake up like 5min just before transport came. *oops* It started raining from the time we were on the boat all the way till we left the island, making it really difficult to spot animals lurking in the tide pools since the silt was pretty much stirred up before we actually trooped down. Despite being Fathers' Day, there were hardly any family groups with us today. All four groups managed to maintain their good spirits even though a number of them had no ponchos and were sportingly getting wet. Didn't really have any "special guests" this walk but the usual residents of anemones, soft corals, crabs, etc. were out. Real pity about the rain since the timing of the low tide was perfect for a sunrise walk~~~

Very tempted to *cheat* by putting up photos and blogging about last month's walk due to the lack of photos (except for this one lone flower crab shot that I took). Silly me forgot to video the pretty little moon crab we found when it was burying itself in the sand... Just like the last time. The thing is when I'm the main guide, I concentrate so much on finding things and talking about them that I forget to take photos....


Intertidal Semakau RMBR/NEA
The weather yesterday was not much better when we at Semakau. Woke up just as early to take a early morning walk West Coast jetty, and it was my 1st OJT walk!! Can't wait to go for more!! Got assigned to Turtles, and we were with some SNGS girls out exploring life at our last landfill. Since it was nice early morning walk, the NEA bus was not there to drive us to our entry point, thus a morning walk for all of us.


And if you think Turtles are slow on land, think again!!! There's another group behind us!! Won't you look at the sky? Such lovely colors!


And on to the tour proper... Our lead Turtle, TC telling the group about the intertidal area...


With the weather threatening to turn at any moment, we head out across the seagrass meadow to get right out there~~


And look what our hunter-seeker found for us!!! Spider conch!!! This is my very first time seeing one alive!!! *jumps in excitment*

The topside doesn't look like anything special, camouflages rather well in the intertidal area of grainy brown and algae. However, when it's turn upside down, this marine shell DOES look really pretty indeed!

But that's NOT all!! It is even able to right itself when place upside (either by us or by wave action), just like how this little video shows. Neat, eh? As my camera was in it's UW casing, the "running commentary" wasn't picked up very well but if you up the volume to the max....


[More videos from juanicths]

At the same spot, there was also a moon snail. Also a first for me. Have only seen the collar of eggs before but not the actually snail per se. It's mantle (the fleshy bit) can actually spread out quite a bit in a thin, flat sheet. Rather scary in a way, compared to most other snails (marine or otherwise) that just have enough sticking out to form a foot.


Elsewhere on the flats, TC's occasional turning over of rocks/rubble yielded this. Cowrie~~~ Yet another kinda snail (Gastropod) This funky little critter actually has it's mantle our, covering and "polishing" the outer portion of it's shell, so unlike the other snails, the top/other side of it's shell is actually smooth, rather shiny, and generally have rather nice patterns on them. (Note: patterns do NOT result from the mantle covering the shell... Just that they are visible due to the lack of fouling)


One of the last few things we saw before the storm front actually hit us was this spider crab that TC's holding. (No, he's not trying to have sashimi despite the chopsticks. Those are part of our little "tool pack" to manage animals that we show our groups) The last time I saw these fellas in Singapore was during the night dive we did during the mass spawning in April this year. Pretty surprised that it was found intertidally...


And when the rain hit, boy, did it POUR!!! Too busy trying to get myself (and people) off the flats and into the ONLY shelter that was situated next to the road just before the forest area. So here's everybody squished into the shelter, except for most of the guides/OJTs who had ponchos or were just already so dreanched it really didn't matter...


But it seems that our guides and OJTs don't really mind the rain so much? At least not with friends, chitchatting and smiles all a round while we waited for Mr Poi to drive the bus over ^^

Our very own 3 *drenched* musketeers?


And of course, this being a nature walk, ANY organism that we can talk about would be shown-and-not-quite-toad...


With the rain stopped, and everybody relatively drier, it was back to the bus for a quick landfill tour. Sending us around was the very nice and friendly Mr Poi.

Our very own July giving us the running commentary on the landfill. Our LAST and ONLY landfill... So we all need to reduce the amount of refuse we produce so that this can last a long long long long long time!


Here's interesting proof that the area that we are using as a landfill used to be our sea (think of all those poor corals and organisms that were sacrificed underneath all this!!) A warning beacon to ships!!! Probably the only landlocked one that I'll ever see!


And here's the "standby" area that has yet to be converted into cells for the ash. They spotted black tip reef sharks here before!! In this very lagoon!!


And of course, to commemorate our trip, a group shot at the southern most point in Singapore that is publicly accessible! The southernmost limit is actually Pulau Satumu but it's a restricted area, and a number of other nearby islands (P.Sudong, P.Pawai, P.Senang) are live firing places that most people won't be able to go to...


Links to other accounts of our wet adventures at Semakau:
Tidechaser blog
Urban Forest blog
Mountain and Sea blog
Manta blog
July's discovery blog

p/s Found an alternative to hosting my videos on Youtube. Trying out the Imageshack hosting, so ALL my nature videos are up there now! (Click on the linkie under "multimedia")

Click for the rambling...

ReefWALK

Today's tide was rather low, and we were able to venture out quite a bit. Also saw tonnes of tiny mobile creatures but thankfully Peizee brought her trusty container ^^ Didn't bring cammie's underwater housing so had to refrain from dunking her into the water. Venturing out beyond the rock bund, applecow spotted this so-not-shy octopus just under a soft coral. This one was rather large, and is the largest I have seen in Singapore ^^ Well, considering the rest were really really small juveniles...


Nearby, a Goniopora head was partially sticking out of the water, giving a rather good juxtaposition on how different a hard coral CAN look like in and out of water. When it's fully submerged, the polyps are fully extended,looking pretty much like little daisies waving about in the sea.
There was also another nicely convoluted Tubinaria around the area. Really glad we had a chance to peep round the rock bund. Haven't really been able to do that the last few walks.


Of course our friends the anemones were out as usual. Don't remember taking any shots of the branching anemones previously, so here's a couple that we saw today. These aren't as pretty or brightly colored like some of the carpet anemones that were also around but they are still anemones all the same!!


The small little tidepools seem to have trapped a number of critters today. First spotted was this common squid. It was nearly black and hardly moving, looked pretty much like a harmless twig at first glance. Closer inspection saw through this camouflage, and after being placed in the tub, it promptly changed to this light yellow-brown.


In another pool, this fire clam appeared to be a peacock anemone, with it's long beautiful tentacles and all. What a shock it gave our guides when they saw it moving!! It's a bivalve, just like the clams we eat, but this one seems to like keeping it's shells ajar when other clams prefer to shut theirs up. It was even "swimming" by propulsion by closing and opening its shells...



Credits go to woceht for spotting this small upside down jellyfish. Seems to be the season for them since they have been sighted rather regularly on other intertidal walks. This little fella was in a really really shallow pool of mud, gently pulsating. I wonder how many of us stepped on it without knowing it was there...The pool of water it was in was really really really shallow, and all that could be noticed was a rather flat pulsating blob in the mud...


There was also a striped catfish sighting that I was too slow to catch on cammie, though spotting this juvenile rabbitfish at the base of a coral head made up for it!! Despite the entire group crowding around it, it just stayed very very still as we all took turns snapping away at it. B even commented that its tail may have been stuck...


And as always, we had our little sales booth set up for everybody (including the guides!!) to buy souvenirs. ^^ Good thing the rain held off despite lightning flashes while we were on our way to Kusu.

Click for the rambling...

yesh... i haven't been updating~~~

okies.... this marks the return of my life as a blogger... *gosh!! haven't blogged for a MONTH* main reason why I haven't been updating is that I have no idea where to start organising my 1gig+++ worth of photos that I took in Japan... Most of them being scenery or flowers, then there's Dayang (and I only managed to get photos off Mark.....) So, updates on wat has been happening since my last post..... Going backwards from today...

1) 1st BWV AGM as a registered organisation!!! Have no idea why I went for the AGM (other than the email that MS sent to tell the ReefWalkers abt it...) Everybody seemed to know everybody else lor... But it was a gd way to meet the other pple (not from lab) that are involved... Plus got a lift all the way home!! Thanks DW!!! So now we haf Zee and Abby as our chair and vice respectively, and they are both busy with finishing up their theses ^^

2) started on the field studies mod last wed, heading out to Tioman on Monday (17 July) ^^ We actually have a free day on Sat, and I do hope the weather holds up and I can go dive (and get more prac on my buoyancy~~) This just means that I haf gotta go change more money to dive... Can't wait to save up and get my own equip, man~~ The lectures have been quite rushed, and I just hope that I can rush out our 2 indiv reports by 04 Aug... Need to start reading up on stats as well... Need to do some basic stats for our reports, and I DEFINITELY need to quite a bit for my hons that I wld start work on when I get back from Tioman....

3) finally went for basic openwater!! *jumps for joy* did our 5 dives at Dayang 30Jun-02Jul.. photos would be up once I bug the rest from Belle and HX... the trip was a whole bunch of fun thanks to HX, Belle, Yanmei, K-yang, Isaac, Dan, ZF, as well as the instructors and DMs from Absolute (Martin, Mark, Pris, Yao...) Great pple, and all the pple staying at the resort gathering to watch World Cup on Sat too~~ Funny how everybody seems to be at Dayang at the same time. Weidi was there w another diveshop, Andrew was doing advance, even Gill's Jacki was ard.... To my OW group, "Peeps! Thanks for the great fun, and it's time to start saving for advance~~~"

Not many underwater photos since Mark only brought his digicam dn for the last leisure dive...

PHOTOS~~

Juan is finally diving!!! (With Pris just below, a demo of our multi-layered diving ^^)


Quick demo on mask clearing ^^


Bumphead parrotfish (aka reef luohan) with 2 other smaller fishies...


One of the turtles that we saw on just abt EVERY dive (except for the first one that is)

4) The internship w JTB was a blast!! 3 weeks of doing all sort of paperwork, booking of tour groups, plane flights, train tix, packing of goodie bags.... it has been a real great experience.... just too much for me to say everything here, so I guess it would hafta wait til I put the photos up on my yahoo albums, and add my comments in the captions ^^ and there was also the drastic change in hairstyle btwn Japan and Dayang.... hee~~

And coming up, there's Youth Sunday on this Sunday!! In the choir again, but Min's solo is absolutely gorgeous~~~

p/s. reminder to self. must try and blog in PROPER english. The rate I am going, my english is just gonna go down the drain and I can just forget about JET altogether~~~ *whines* And just for the fun of it, this is how much my blog seems to be worth at the moment, in spite of me NOT having any ads or anything... Maybe I should just put some up and get my blog to earn soe money for me *ponders* Should go bug Watson and Walt on how to go about doing something about it...

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

Click for the rambling...

a tale of onigiri and footprints in the mud....

Okies... this post is one day late (pretty close to 24hours anyhow)... Was pretty much drained at the end of yesterday, and had TB til 8pm today, so here's my yesterday in yet another semi-photoblog styled entry


Started the day off by spending more-or-less the entire morning making onigiri, onigiri and more onigiri prob can make onigiri with my eyes closed by now... all those endless bowls of rice that my mum kept dishing out... all for my relatives who were coming over ard lunchtime... tink I wld be staying away from rice for a while Mich and Chunzhen, sorry but dun expect any from me any time soon... tho' i still need to figure out wat's the best seasoning and fillings to have....Maybe shld just randomly try out the diff seasonings that are available in the diff supermarts since I got my ingredients from the Compasspoint Cold Storage the day before... And thus was my 2nd forage into making onigiri... One of my aunts was trying to teach me how to make chawan mushi the nite before but not a hot fan of it, plus her method results in rather salty ones.... Tink am too used to mum's less-salt-less sugar-less-seasoning style of cooking... Oh well.... Maybe I shld just stick to my mini-adventures with instant mee and how to make them more interesting w watever's available in the fridge.... Mum and I also had a fun time trying out the various ways to cook the soba properly, and since most of my relatives aren't really Jap food fans, it was also rather amusing to teach everybody how to eat soba Still haf 150mL or so of soba sauce in the fridge.... Dunno wat to do with it, tho' mum wld prob just use it as some kinda soup base.... Also pretty fun trying to figure out how much water to add to the S&B powdered wasabi to get a nice paste of the the correct "wasabi-ness".... Wonder what happened to that little can.... Tink one of my aunts brought it home since grandpa just loves wasabi


After the lunch madness, Juan went to hide in her messy little room to type out the 作文ドラフト for today's TB class (that ended up being peer marked anyway), before changing and heading over to Clifford Pier to join in the 1st public ReefWalk of the year @ Kusu Yay!! Evening walk, and here marks the start of my "career" as a guide, as well as the start of more photos!!! Bwahaha...

The back of the funky junk boat we were on...

Rays of light shining through the clouds during the leisurely boatride...

Landscape ver ^^

Just shining thru'

My group, with Freddy as the guide and Adeline as the OJT... Interestingly enough, my group had like 6 NIE trainees, 5 of which were on the walk to give them some ideas for a bio fieldtrip that they have to plan... Had an interesting time chatting with them after the walk in the darkness of Kusu while waiting for the junk to come pick us up...

Welcome to the main Kusu lagoon....

The group crowding ard a....

Seastar!!!

Poor thing is overturned....

Carpet anemone when the tide is out...

Marks of our passage....

2 types of sponges along with a massine carpet anemone....

And so we hit the coral region...

Check out the skyline~~

Funky marine spider!! Des just had to ask if it cld be caught...

And dusk falls...

Start of one of the nicest sunsets I have seen in Singapore....

Sailors' delight...

Gorgeous clouds....

Ya, bet u can tell that I am a sucker for clouds and skylines~~

The ride back was great, with me seeing Singapore from the sea at nite ^^ Simply amazing!! And the best part was that shortly after we berthed and disembarked, there were fireworks coming from the direction of Fullerton!!! So amazing!! Think this is prob one of the most amazing CNY days I have had in quite a while~~ Had fun preparing food, going on a nice intertidal walk, seeing Kusu in the darkness of nite, nice boat ride, meeting new pple and getting re-acquainted with others, and fireworks to top it all off!!! Pity I cldn't watch the entire fireworks since Dad was already there to fetch me, but still, it was a great way to end the long CNY weekend....

Click for the rambling...