Updates galore!

Apparently last year's blog reboot didn't quite make it. Coming up with new thoughts, stories etc to share needs some kinda inspiration I guess, and a special form of energy that seems to be absent in me right now.... On to some updates directly.... Actually, more like updates on how far I have gotten along in completing the goals I have set for 2011....

(1) *points to pic above* Life Saving 123 class is over and we have all passed! Thanks to Jeremy for bringing us through, and to the other ULC folks who have helped us all along the way! Half a 2011 goal done (marks with half a tick) Hope to see all the new friends I've made at BM class! ;p It has been an interesting semester that kinda started from here...

(2) After my second trip to the Similan Islands, have completed my Divemaster training ^_^ So that's another goal down for 2011.

(3) FINALLY started Class 3 lessons. Long overdue, considering my diving certifications and my damn white elephant PPCDL... Sucking out quite a bit of time and money but I WILL GET MY LICENSE BY THE END OF THE YEAR!! (anybody wanna contribute to my "Buy Juan a car fund"? ;p)

(4) LASIK.... 4+ years of putting in eyes and taking them out when I dive (and with the increasing kinda of water activities I'm doing) it makes sense to go burn my eyes... Target is to get this done in November, after BM and after MY dive season has closed... Bad news is that it's another hole in my pocket, good news is interest-free installment payment (meaning it'll be many little holes eating in my pocket instead)

Guess that's it for major updates. Need to get back into the groove of bloggin before this site is gonna make any semblance of sense again...

Click for the rambling...

8... 4... 2... 1? XD

So what do the numbers in the title mean? 8 of us went for this.... And then there were 4..... Fast forward to 3 years later, and as of last weekend, I finally took the plunge and went for my rescue course ^_^

And if it wasn't clear enough, the title's referring to the number of people in the dive courses that I have taken ;p Too bad I forgot to take a group photo with our instructor. Must have been too long since my last course XD

First time on a LOB, and first time ever visiting SAF Yacht Club @ Changi.

Boy was it a nice comfy trip to Pulau Aur. Yummy Thai food, great fun company... Not to mention the kayaking Hello Panda!

Course aside, it did feel good to be diving in Malaysia, after approximately a year. ^_^ The usual suspects were up and around, but as with every divetrip, there would be some pleasant surprises... Like this HUGE hermit crab we saw during the night dive. It was in a volute(?) shell that was as large as a rugby ball!

Even the most commonly seen nudibranch, Pteraeolidia ianthina, can still surprise me. Despite seeing them on just about every reef that I've been to, this is the first time I'm seeing it's egg ribbon ^_^

Unfortunately, not all is well with the Malaysian reefs. Most of the corals have recovered from the bleaching earlier in the year but quite a few of the anemones we came across were either fully bleached or partially bleached. Only time will tell if the reefs will fully recover from this bout of bleaching.

And with this, I bid you goodnight, and until the next adventure that awaits aboard MV DiveRACE~~

For....

This sign on the door of the saloon says it best, doesn't it? ^_^

Click for the rambling...

GSS02 - No, 'tis not the Great Singapore Sale

15 July 2010 - Since my camera didn't have any battery during the 1st training, no pics for that one >.< But it was all charged up and ready for the second session mass training workshop for our shores ^_^ All this after an early morning spent at Terumbu Pempang Tengah! This is gonna be a photo-centric entry as it sure was a long day.....

Unlike earlier LeafMonkey Workshops, the aim's to reach out to more people in a session. So the usual menagerie suspects turned up early at the Singapore's Scouts Association HQ to set up registration desk, info desk, chairs, projector etc.

Ria kindly brought down coffee table books for the early comers to browse, as well as extra Southern Shores guidesheets to give away.

For this second training session, we were lucky enough to have papaJeff introduce coral reefs to our would-be guides. But alas, there was way too much ground for him to cover in such a short session that he wasn't able to cover coral rubble as well! Glad to see that there were lots of related questions for him but we had to break into groups for the role-playing portion of the workshop.

Based on feedback from the session, we decided to do something different this time round and sent one group down to the Programmes Room, and see if it really helped with noise control. Guess who's group was the lucky one? ;p

For this part of the session, participants are split into discussion groups tasked with different combinations of visitors and shorelife to talk about.

Armed with little factsheets and iPhone(s), as well as "free access" to facilitators, the groups pieced together their little mini-skits. It is good practice for preparing scripts when guiding at any shore. Know the facts about the wildlife that you'll be talking about, angling it....

And once that was done, it was time to share with the others their little skits! We had some rather creative representations of our "die-die-sure-can-see" reef critters... Click on the photos to see what organisms were represented ^_^


Too bad I was already zoning out after the breakout session to take anymore photos.... Will try and remember for this week's session! ;p

And we also welcome SJ back from Trengganu ^_^ Our resident naturescouter has been busy running all over the globe, so it was good to have him back in SG. At least until October....

p/s. Next post to come up *should* be the TPT one!

Click for the rambling...

Perspectives.....

My kayaking trip at Ubin has stirred up a series of personal reflections for me... No, the photo below has no relation to the topic XD It's just that I'm more trigger-happy than a camera whore and I don't really have candid shots of me.

Have never really been a sporty person but it seems that ever since undergraduate days, I have been becoming more and more of an outdoorsy person. It is through books that I slowly grew to learn about nature, and some of the biodiversity around us. And it is with that that I develop an interest in some outdoors activities. First there were the intertidal guiding, then came diving, then treeclimbing, cycling (yar, I didn't learn how to cycle until a year or two ago), powerboating and Sunday's kayaking. It really does seem serendipitous how things have been working out in my life so far, yet I can't help but feel that it was all planned out.

It's not only the wonder of how I've come to the role in which I have with regards to nature and biodiversity but also the actual miraculousness of nature that has gotten me thinking. And it seems that now I am starting to see and open doors to new areas and perspectives of experiencing and connecting with nature. How so?

I only went to take my OW and AOW diving certification so that I could have another angle on my FYP. One thing led to another, with me learning LIT methodology, and even helping to conduct ReefCheck training for others! I know that quite a few of my diver friends picked diving up as something unusual to do, caught the bug and have been scratching the itch to get underwater every once in a while. And depending on their instructors/diving kakis, they would gradually start appreciate the marine wildlife and its environment. Yet for me it's the opposite. So from day one I was more in awe of the different kind of milieu that I found whilst diving rather than the actual diving itself.

The same thing happened with tree climbing. This time, taking the course with a bunch of fellow intertidal enthusiasts, and again, it was the chance to be up close and personal with the trees that actually got me interested in the course. Still can't tell if I'm much of a convert to tree climbing though, but this is largely due to my sporadic fear of heights. ;p

And this brings me to kayaking. Decided to give it a try as one of those "Why not?" things to do. But the trip down the mangroves did show me yet another way for me to explore the great outdoors. Not in the adventure sense, but getting close to some of the trees without the usual sloshing walk, and with the chance to just drift and listen to all those different bird calls.

And it strikes me that all one has to do is to slow down for a moment, take a deep breath and just take it all in. Especially for those of us who are blessed to be in Singapore. Just look at the amount of urbanisation and development we have had here in land scarce Singapore. Yet we have managed to keep enough of our nature spots (i.e. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, Central Nature Reserve, etc.), as well as have park connectors (that act as green bridges between out fragmented forests on mainland). There is still much nature around us. Maybe more in the form of urban biodiversity than actual wildlife in forests. Every once in a while I lose sight of this fact, and yet I am reminded of it time and again. What better time to have this readjusting of perspective but in the middle of the International Year of Biodiversity, eh? So, the next time you find yourself outdoors, don't be so caught up in the activity you're doing but also take time to look around, take a deep breath, and spot critters in the vicinity.

Totally off topic but seems like next year is to be the International Year of Forests! Hmmm.... So what does a divejunkie do then? XD

Click for the rambling...

SECORE workshop - setting up

A continuation from my previous post, the folks involved in the our first ever coral spawning workshop aka SECORE workshop here in Singapore came over to the Tropical Marine Science Institute facilities on St John's Island yesterday, and Manon has done up a real quick photo blog of yesterday's orientation and settling in.

Settling in including having a quick intro to TMSI, as well as round 1 of talks/presentations by the various partners. Dr Paul Erftermeijer (Deltares) gave an intro to some of the research that Deltares does, as well as the research areas that Singapore Delft Water Alliance covers. Dr Mary Hagedorn (Smithsonian Institution/HIMB) followed that with talking about some threats to coral reefs and how freezing coral sperm may help in preserving some genetic diversity. Dr Michael Laterveer (Rotterdam Zoo) wrapped up the series of talks with a summary of what was done in the previous 4 SECORE workshops that were conducted in Rotterdam and Puerto Rico.

So on to today.... Or at least the first half of the day. Our shopping crew headed back to mainland Singapore to get piping, hardware, tubing, liquid nitrogen, more drinks and snacks, etc. that would be required to tide us over the long Easter weekend as we get busy with the spawning. Here you can see one of the DBS students in discussion with Michael on setting up rearing bins for the coral babies. Our many thanks go out to Abby, Ned, Mark, Roy, and Juward who spent the morning rushing around for the stuff that we needed, especially for getting everything in time to meet the mid-day ferry back to St John's!


The other (luckier?) team went out to Kusu to get some coral colonies for spawning in the tank. (Yes, Jamie's in the back of a vehicle again XD) Hopefully Mei Lin or Siti would share what happened during the dive. We should find out further tonight if the colonies we have in the tanks spawn. Can't wait!


And what about the rest of us who stayed on at St John's? Here's Dr Mary Hagedorn looking pretty cheery as she prepares for the talk on coral reproduction and spawning that she's currently giving as I'm quickly finishing up this post. And me? I was hoping to get this out before lunch in between troubleshooting here and there. Time to give today's talks my full attention, and we still need to sort out the dive roster!

Click for the rambling...