Pink dolphins put on a performance at Semakau~~

(Excuse the photo-less post but such exciting events have JUST gotta happen when there are NINE divers onboard the boat, with only ONE camera... the rest of us just got desperate enough to try using our cameraphones but alas....) Anyways, if you're still interested in a photo-less account of our day out at sea with our local dolphins, do read on! Photos and vids will be posted once K! has sorted them out ^_^

We were back to using Dolphin Explorer 2 instead of the air-conditioned Explorer 1. This proved to be a good thing since Mel was shouting "Dolphin!!!" as we were approaching the nursery site at Semakau. ^_^ Open-cabin boat means that snoozing divers (such as yours truly) get the chance to shock themselves awake, look up just in time to see 1, 2, THREE!!! greyish (aka juvenile) pink dolphins just off the starboard bow of the boat! After realising that they were hanging around the area, we were kinda playing hide-n-seek with our newfound delphinium mammalian friends for an our or so. It really was a special treat for the 5 Hons. students who were out with us for their check out dives. Plus it was my third time seeing dolphins in local waters (and second time at Semakau)! ^_^ My first delphinium encounter was near St John's Island, and the second was at Semakau.

After the de-gearing and lunching, we were just starting to head back to mainland SG, and it being a nice and sunny day, the usual chit-chatting and catching up was done whilst drying off in our swimwear. Can't even remember what I was talking to Mei Lin about when I saw a grey fin pop in and out of the water. Dolphin!!! My turn to do the sudden shout! Hee~ This time the 3 (or 4) dolphins (likely to be the same ones) seemed to be riding the waves and/or boat wake. Much more playful behaviour than in the morning. They were even jumping out of the water, and "waving" to us with the flippers at some point! Pretty brilliant performance! Who needs to go for the Dolphin Lagoon show when dolphins are showing off like this in the wild. Real amazing stuff!!! Mwahaha! (apologies but I can't resist gloating~~~ ;p) And the reason why we saw dolphins TWICE in a day? Because we were on Dolphin Explorer 2!!

Oh yes. For those curious about the dive, it was relatively crap vis. Was supposed to locate and retrieve one of my missing nursery tables but we couldn't find it at all >_< Came across this drift net that went over the coral nursery, the floating nursery, coral transplant site, and all the way to the breakwater.... caught all over the corals *bah* kept having to untangle it. k! wanted to take photos/videos of it for documentation but the boatmen appeared to retrieve it before she could do so. D and I swam the entire length of it and the good news is that we only saw 5 fish (1 dead big-eyed fish, and 4 live fish - threadfin(?) butterflyfish, soapfish, common damsel, ~20cm Bleeker's parrotfish) caught in it. Bad news was that we didn't release them before the boatmen came along since we wanted k! to take photos of them....

We *did* have some excitement at the nursery as we had two young cuttlefish mothers gently laying their clutch of eggs in one of the larger Acropora sp. corals. ^_^ Kept distracting me from what we were supposed to be doing~~~ But again, no photos... It really is true that you see soooo many interesting stuff and photo chances when you DON'T have a camera....

Click for the rambling...

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines Episode 06 - Hopes & the Future

Oh no~~ We have reached the end of the series. Definitely a fast 6 weeks it has been! This very last episode starts off with Dr Nigel Goh talking about the role of NParks in the conservation of our wild places, such as to minimise the impact of development. All said in an orange and black wetsuit aboard a diveboat. Why? Because in this last episode, the audience is actually brought underwater into Singapore's wonderful murk! Times are changing such that there is a more proactive approach to conservation, as compared to the traditional method of protecting. The coral nursery project is one such example where we as humans are taking a more active role in (hopefully) reversing the damage done to our environment. Nigel takes on a really optimistic attitude that the coral nursery is setting the stage in preparation for the day when our waters regain some of its clarity that has been lost over the years of development. I certainly hope that this would actually happen!

Then comes a short mishmash interview of sorts of a group of children, all less than 10 years of age! How good it is to hear from the mouths of the babes on what they like about the sea and ocean, about what they think of sharks, crabs, octopus, killer whales and such.

Following which, BOTH hosts head over to Pulau Hantu where Debby shows them around. At the intertidals for Shawn, and getting wet by diving right into the action for Sue-Lyn! This is an extra thrill for me since I am still high from the brilliant series of dives we had at the Hantu anniversary on Sunday. ^^
(Photo taken by JeeMee Goh)
Not much surprise here since the filming of both portions were blogged about, but I do like the portion where Debby highlights the ecosystem services rendered by coral reefs, such as serving as a nursery ground for many marine animals, and acting as a natural coastal protection.

The ecofootprint reducing section did a quick sum up of all the previous 5 episodes, from reducing trash to taking the initiative to volunteering... And what's the message for this very last episode? "The future is tofu" (What the?!) Basically quickly highlights TofuTech that you can wear your tofu and eat it. Alternative resources for us to use, and the re-thinking of how we use natural products I guess. Shawn ends with a positive, forward looking note on how there's a legion of youth that's ready to go out there and share with others about the marine aspect of our natural heritage, and it's not just the earlier generations just reminiscing about times long gone of pristine waters etc. It does seem that Singapore has started on the road to becoming island people from the people that live on an island that we were. Do hope there really is a cascade effect and even if not everybody finds going out to wild places and sharing their piece of cake, even just reading up and being more environmentally conscious of your actions goes a long way!

Here's the pre-show blurb as usual on the WildFilms blog. And a special treat from me.... A sneak peek on some of the people behind the scenes camera and action. Kudos to these folks for putting in the many months of work to get this informative short series out!
Alvin and Yean filming from the back of the boat

And even from the top of the boat!

Am sure that anyone who has dived in Singapore before would agree with me in saying that it's no easy feat to film underwater with all the sediments floating around! Cheers to Alvin for the nice underwater footage!

Setting things up and all for the "easel scenes"... (Photos by Khoo Minsheng)

Discussing things over with the director (Photo by Khoo Minsheng)

Director, sound personnel, video guy all need to go down to the intertidal. With the equipment and all! (Photo by Khoo Minsheng)
And this was only a part of the outdoors filming. Goodness knows how many more hours were spent looking (and re-looking) at the footage, editing, and deciding on the final cut. And with this, it's a wrap!

Click for the rambling...

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines episode 05 - Lost Connections

After a 2 week hiatus, the divejunkie review is back!! And this time round I even managed to catch the very very start of the show *beams* Even included a quickie history class by Sue-Lyn that started off with her in front of a Google map that had an arrow pointing to Raffles' landing spot.

In first section, we head down to Labrador Park and hear Prof Leo Tan, "marine guru" talk about the need to actively build this rapport and affinity for the sea. This affinity needs to start from young, so that the appreciation of nature can be ingrained, along with some national pride. Since it is "part and parcel of our home". And once we can appreciate it, "commitment will come when there is love". I think he spoke the heartfelt thoughts of all intertidal volunteers guides who guide the public at Kusu, Semakau, Chek Jawa, Sungei Buloh, Labrador Park..... How can we NOT agree with him? He really puts forth an eloquent, passionate stand about how we shouldn't loose our connection with the sea. Speaking of which, I need to admit that those photos of Labrador Park rocky shore was taken nearly 4 years ago when I first started my love affair with the shores when otterman got woceht and me to start of the Labrador Park blog. Things cropped up and I have long since retired from the blog but here's their first guided walk held earlier in the month, kindly posted by Justin.
The long-gone-days when 3 utterly blur undergrads were sent out to document the flora and fauna of Labrador's rocky shore
Then came the advert before we joined Sue-Lyn and Siti at the seagrass lagoon located next to our very own offshore Landfill!! Quotable quote to take home from this section "Wait, what's a photic zone?" "Excuse me, nerd talk..." Just SOOooo candid! And yes, when you talk to volunteers who also do research, there is a tendency to go into "nerd talk". ^^ Using the example of tape seagrass and needle seagrass, Siti explains about seagrass strategies on maximising limited space, and talks a little about the complexity of seagrass beds, enabling them to be areas of shelter and nursery for our little marine critters. And then a quick demo on the kind of monitoring that TeamSeagrass does. Type of substrate the quadrat falls on, percentage seagrass cover etc.... Am glad that the film crew managed to get shots of the seagrass submerged in water. They do look way more impressive! =^-^= Please correct me if I am wrong but was the thing that was labeled as a "marine worm" actually a synaptid sea cucumber? Only caught a glimpse as I glanced up from my mad scribblings.... (KS, do help me check when u watch the recording you took~~ Thanks!) After a quick discussion with the few other who caught the episode, that was a rather glaring mis-identification of a synaptid sea cucumber.... May some how have been confused with the collar worm aka Eunice sp. marine worm... Since the online photo of the worm looks a tad bit like the synaptid....
Yes, this is our synaptid friend of a cucumber that is common spotted in the seagrass lagoon at the Semakau intertidal.
Then it was back to Shawn and Labrador Park. This time focusing on coastal forest... Their uniqueness - ability to thrive despite being subjected to the drying effects of a constant breeze, the salt spray, and the thin soil cover. How we should really treasure and appreciate this habitat as we have little of it left, and some of the plants being really rare (didn't manage to catch the names that slided off Shawn's tongue...).

What I like best about this episode is actually the take home message in the "Reducing Ecological Footprint" section. It was done in the style of some rather old Mastercard (?) advertisement, placing a price on material things, and the price of memories being priceless.... Like getting a new handphone with an effective lifespan of 8 months would cost you $300-odd while an intertidal walk with BWV would cost $15 that would give you memories to last ages; cost of a game center and gaming compared to being a NHC volunteer.... Gosh! I really miss that series of ads! Drives home the message of how connections and memories and stuff that REALLY matters cannot have a price tagged onto it!

Words from the producer on the episode on the wildfilms blog.

So then, the last and final episode would air next week, featuring an intertidal walk with Debby of the HantuBlog and some diving action at our very own coral nursery!! Here's Debby's entry about the filming.

Click for the rambling...

Happy (sunny) White Day~~~

Way too pampered by the nice warm sun and all. The last week or so of rain has really made me all blue and gloomy. OK, so I'm literally blue most of the time but not gloomy~~ Yesterday's dive was great! Nice sunshine to warm up in while having lunch *q(^.^)p* Even came across many many many clumps of broad squid eggs amidst the gradually disappearing sargassum! Some fresh and clean, some older and dirtier looking, and even some empty ones..... Wonder if there was some massive laying or if this is one permanent nesting site for squids... Can anyone tell me if these are cuttlefish or squid eggs? Thanks~~ Seems like sassy jiejie is right! These are squid eggs after all. These sacs look pretty much the same as these. Excuse my blurness since I am used to squid egg sacs looking smooth rather than bumpy.

The squid eggs swaying in the surge, good aeration for any developing embryos!
Speaking of sargassum, the disappearance of this macro-algae (which most people who dive locally dread, mainly due to the silt that collects on the leaves...) has resulted in a bloom in all the smaller algae like Mermaid's Fan (Padina sp.) and some other algae aggregations (think mess of many kinda algae) at the nursery table....

This is how sargassum looks like while diving in Singapore. On a GOOD day mind you!
Little critters spotted at the coral nursery:

This really tiny juvenile filefish. Only about a meager few cm in length!!Was playing hide-n-seek with my IXUS... Wish there were more filefish and rabbitfish in the waters to help gobble up the algal blooms... Sorry about the blur-ness, but a juvenile skitterish fish ain't the best photo subject...


Black-lipped conch, Strombus urceus. Rather commonly spotted at our intertidals as well, in fact, we just saw one last Sunday. Love looking at conches. Especially their oogly-googly eyes~~


And just as we were finishing up our work in the area, this school of razorfish (aka shrimpfish) just drifted by!! Have seen razorfish off and on but usually in pairs and not one swarm. This is a rather unusual fish from the Centriscidae family as their normal position is upside down with their snouts facing the bottom!! In this position, they can pass off convincingly as pieces of harmless leaves/twigs floating around in the water. But when startled they turn horizontal and scoot off pretty fast.
What a nice way to end a cold, rainy week. =^-^=

Click for the rambling...

Welcomed back to the blue by DOLPHINS!!!

Was back at Semakau today. Missed diving, missed my coral nursery, so yep, this divejunkie sure was glad to be back in the blue~~ Was high and dry for a MONTH!! Has got to be a record for me....

Anyways, we were out at the nursery doing some relatively much needed maintenance, as well as bring the Once Upon a Tree filmcrew out to video the nursery and Semakau. Just as I was getting back on the boat, the boatmen went "Dolphin dolphin!" And lo and behold, there they were. 3-4 of them grey ones (think probably bottlenoses) were breaching every once in a while as they went with the currents..... The last time I saw dolphins was more than 6 months ago at St John's, so this was a great treat. Both to welcome me back to the sea, as well as an early CNY ang pow or should I say "blue pow"? And there I was telling one of the filmcrew folk that some of us volunteers suspect that dolphins have a 5-day week since sightings have seemed to be on weekdays only.... *lol* Too bad the delphines were a tad bit too far for either my camera or the video camera to grab any decent footage.... Do hope to see more of these gentle and shy creatures since the boatmen keep telling us they spot the dolphins regularly around the nursery when we are down there doing work...

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!!

Click for the rambling...

First time guiding at Semakau!!

So here's part 2 of this month's intertidally weekend! This time at Semakau. Honestly speaking, am a little drained after 2 consecutive days of guiding. Really admire people like July who have been doing the Semakau walks from Friday to Sunday. *round of applause*

It's my first time guiding on my own here at Semakau, and I haven't really gotten a rhythm to pace myself, so I do apologise to my group of Anemone Clownfish (aka Nemos) from NUS High School of seemingly rushing them from thing to thing.With the stress of guiding and stuff (just like SY) I didn't really take photos. I even forgot a photo of my group! *doh* Enough rambling, on to the photos and little descriptions before I KO and catch my 40 winks before work tomorrow. Erm.... I meant work later today...


First up, when we arrived at the NEA offices, we were greeted by this little mayfly that was posing nicely on the door before it got spooked of onto the false ceiling. Not the most natural of settings but still rather encouraging to see it there when we arrived.


One of the highlights for me today was seeing not one but TWO noble volutes laying eggs!!! This is pretty cool for me after having seen the eggs earlier this year (Refer to this entry). My fellow Semakau guides have been seeing them on everyday over this weekends walks, and Ron mentioned that they have been observed to be laying eggs for the past few months already!!

Here's the other one just finished with it's egg laying. Seems like it's egg laying season as there were a number of sand collars (egg masses of moon snails) all around as well, same as with Kusu yesterday. CH also saw a nudibranch laying egg masses during today's Hantu dive with Debbie's Hantubloggers gang. *jealous*


Well, after the sun set, the common seastars that we spotted earlier in the evening were all nicely arranged in pairs like the one shown above, with the smaller "male" seastar stacked above the "female" one. All in preparation for start making their progeny and thus ensuring that they continue being common!


One of my favourite things about the Semakau flats is the sunset. Just gorgeous. What a nice treat to go along with our walk ^^

For more takes on today's (yesterday's) walk, here's Siyang's entry and take on his first time guiding that also includes a photo on how our very own "mosquito attractant" guide risks flesh and blood each time he guides.. As well as July's post with a photo of an octopus. Yes, we came across one today but sadly no stingray....

Seriously, it's time to turn in. Will consider adding/editing things when I'm more recharged and less sleepy.

Click for the rambling...

To Semakau and back~~~

My 2nd and final OJT for the Semakau intertidal guiding. Come September, will have a group of my own?! Shall *panic* later when the time comes la.... On the the "meat" in this entry. The weather was much more comfortable (and way less exciting) than the last walk I was on, and we definitely got to see more of the actual intertidal area. Was in the Octopus group under the guidance of Ms Bionic-Eyes, CH!!

First up, we came across this rather unusual anemone after looking at some beaded anemones in the darkness. First time I'm seeing this particular kind of anemone for myself, though I have some vague impression of seeing something similar on another blog some time back... Now all I need is to figure out which blog. Help with the ID anybody?


Next organism that I took a shot at (actually q number of shots) was this green-ish rope-like thing we came across on our way to the edge of the flats where a long, spiny Diadema urchin was awaiting us. If you look very carefully, you might be able to make out a head on the right side of the photo...

Still looking pretty much like a algae-covered rope? Look again! You can just make out a little black spot that is actually its eye!! CH informed me that this fella could possibly a banded file snake (Acrochordus granulatus) that is heavily covered with algae. With a quick check in my amphibian book, as well as a bit of basic photoshopping on the original photo (resulting in possible bands under all that green algae), it does seem that she's right!! Guess the rough, loose, baggy skin and the shape of the head are pretty good clues to it's identity, though I really wonder why it's so algae covered. It really is the first time I've seen an algae-encrusted snake!! And when having a quick discussion with the other guides, it seems that another filesnake (without the algae) was spotted too!

If you are wondering how this filesnake actually looks like under that carpet of greenery, here's Ria's entry on SLOG, with photos.

Soon after the slithery encounter, Robert came over with this tiny little fella. Really cute little juvenile scorpionfish!!! It may still be small, but those venom filled spines it has are still just as lethal!! LIke the more (in)famous stonefish, whis well camouflaged fish has lethal venom in its spines, and if stepped on or touched, the venom is injected into the blood, pretty much like how hypodermic needles work. So don't play play, k? Initially, we weren't sure if this was a scorpionfish or a stonefish (I thought it was a scorpionfish because of the shep of the webbing with the dorsal spines, as well as a slightly more pointed head), and thankfully Prof Leo Tan was there to teach us more on the differences between a scorpionfish and a stonefish. The pectoral fins (the 2 round, disc-like fins on the sides) are more mobile in the scorpionfish, whereas in the stonefish, those pectoral fins are more fixed in place.


And speaking of stonfish, here's a stonefish sea cucumber. No dangerously venomous spines to be aware of since this is a sea cucumber, but since it's an echinoderm (has 'spiny skin'), it also has tubular feet like the sea urchins and sea stars.


Here's another very well camouflaged fish, called the toadfish. Rather ugly bugger, yar? It got its name from the sound that the male makes while attempting to attract a mate. And yesh, this fish is like the stonefish and scorpionfish because of its cryptic coloration (aka camouflage), AND its venomous spines. *darn* Am just short of an actual stonefish (no the sea cucumber DOESN'T count) to make my "ugly-camou-fish-with-venomous-spine-injections" photo set....


On to more weird and funky stuff on our intertidal flats. Can you figure out what those blobby white stuff amongst the branching Acropora sp. coral are? They are actually egg sacs of cuttlefish!!! Pretty nifty, yar? Sorry about the not-so-sharp focus as my IXUS always acts up when I need it to focus in between branching coral branches...


And speaking of cephalopods (cuttlefish and octopus all belong to this group), the Octopus group definitely couldn't have left Semakau without actually seeing one for themselves!! This octopus was the perfect size for our trusty containers, and we managed to bring it round to a few other people as well. Sure makes up for all those cries from other groups that they saw an octopus just as it darted away into the safety of a crevice.....


Somewhere along the walk back, we came across this anemone shrimp that was in a tide pool next to its host carpet anemone. So cute!!! Carpet anemones and anemone shrimps such as this fella are mutualistic, meaning they help each other to better survive the environment that they are in. The carpet anemone is a relatively messy eater, leaving bits of food around its tentacles, so the anemone shrimp acts as a cleaner to pick up all these scraps (that would otherwise just rot there and possibly affect the anemone's health) and gets a meal in the bargain!!


And just before we went across the seagrass lagoon, we realised that someone left his/her heart behind on the intertidal area!! Could it be Will Turner's?! (Ai. That's what too much pirates and Johny Depp does to one ^^)


But alas, it's not an actual heart but a true heart cockle (Corculum cardissa). It differs from the cockles that we are more familiar with as it is flattened on the other side, possibly so that the shell is actually thin enough for some sunlight to get to the mantle (aka flesh) and gills. Why is this so important? It is actually similar to giant clams in the way it has zooxanthellae (microscopic algae that is also found in the tissue of hermatypic hard corals) that photosynthesize.

Pretty, ain't it? So it's not that surprising that people market this as a symbol of love, given as a token of affections from sailors. But as with all seashells, in order for the natural beauty to be maintained in these souvenirs, they are collected while the poor animal is still alive. The animal is then literally murdered for its pretty shell that can be fixed and sold to tourists. I know how lovely they look in display sets (we still have some rather large cowrie shells at home which we bought in the 1990s), but do spare a thought about the process of getting it instead of merely looking at it as a mere product. Really gives me a broken heart just like this...

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...