Hot Sisters

It was another blistering hot Sunday afternoon as wildfilms and beachfleas headed out to visit Big Sisters, fast becoming our favourite island.

The visibility was incredible once again! Right at the jetty, overlooking the city, we could see the reefs in the blue blue water under the even bluer sky. There were lots of people at the jetty with lots of fishing gear. They didn't seem to realise how marvellous this clear water was.

In the swimming lagoon, the visibility was just as stunning! It looked like one of those tropical isles used in calendars and tourist brochures! The water was warm though, and I wondered whether the poor marine creatures would broil in it.

Amazing encounters included a busy sea snake that obliged Alvin with lots of footage of snaky foraging among coral rubble. Alvin had worked out a system to get underwater shots with the new HD. We wanted to call it D.U.C (damned underwater contraption) but thought the better of it, in deference to budak. It is quite an appropriate name though. The thing floats, is white and is fat like a duck. The contraption worked very well although it was hard on Alvin's back. Ron has a photo of the entire assembly including Alvin :-)

The day got way too hot for me, so I wimped out under the shady trees. Karyn was stalking the monkeys, and I startled a monitor lizard. Eventually, I just had a nap under the coconut trees. As the sun set and tide turned, we settled in to shoot the Finds of the Day.

The highlight were these delightful cartoonish nudibranchs (oops, Ron corrects and reminds that they are NOT nudibranchs). Called Euselenops luniceps, these are swimming slugs; yes, they swim! I only saw it once before, on Chek Jawa, a long time ago. Adelle found the first one, shortly followed by Chay Hoon finding another. And we found YET another one later on! These cute little slugs flap the sides of their bodies to swim about. Budak took lots of rather RA photos of them and as expected, tells us more about them.

Sijie found a Heart cockle (Corculum cardissa)! This is a clam, i.e., it has a two-part shell. It is really heart-shaped! The only other time I've seen one is at Pulau Semakau. A closer look reveals the pretty patterns on the shell.

Robert found a Land hermit crab (Coenobita cavipes) that refused to come out until I breathed on it, whereupon it lunged out and proceeded to pinch my fingers.

Ron has lots more photos and stories of our day on his tidechaser blog.

As we headed home to the boat at the jetty, we came across a hideous mess. Plastic bags, smelly leftover food, fish bait, wet tissues and other icky things all over the jetty waiting area!

Obviously from the group of fishing people we met on arrival. They had clearly tied up their rubbish in a big bag (the ripped bag was still attached to the railing), but the monkeys had raided the bag and strewn the contents everywhere. Budak has photos and more stories about this mess.

We knew we had to clean it up. Otherwise all the plastic would end up in the water and kill off marine life. Sea turtles often eat plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish. These turtles eventually die.

Everyone helped to scrape it all together, and piled the mess into open boxes and tiny dirty plastic bags. Budak clambered down to the shore under the jetty to get all the rubbish floating there. We dragged everything back to the mainland.

Hopefully, Sentosa will put up signage at the jetty reminding people to bring their rubbish back to the mainland (I mean, if they could haul it all the way to Sisters, they can haul the remains back, right?). Or at least put a monkey-proof bin on the jetty. Bringing the rubbish back is much better. Bins are rarely as monkey-proof as they claim to be.

Hantu Dawn

Early this morning, wildfilms and beachfleas headed out to Pulau Hantu. We had to take the long way around Pulau Bukom. The boatman explained the usual, shorter route was difficult to negotiate in the dark due to construction work in the area.
We landed on Hantu Kecil as the jetty at Hantu Besar seemed occupied by a large group of people who had put out fishing gear there.

We arrived just at the first blush of dawn.
The sunrise was great, although the subject was less so. But the petrochemical plants just across Pulau Hantu do look more enchanting the dark, all lit up like Christmas trees.
After spending nearly an hour over the sunrise, we headed out to the lagoon.

Dr Chua Ee Kiam (right) still actively documents the shores, although he has already finished his latest book about our shores: Singapore's Splendours: Life on the Edge. Dr Chua's book will be launched on 22 Apr (Sun) afternoon at the Botanic Gardens. Come for his talk to learn more about what's out there! More details on the wildsingapore events listing.
We were also thrilled that Debby of the Hantu Bloggers joined us today. She spotted a barn owl and other exciting wildlife. Budak also blogged about the spirit of the morning as well as a fiddler poem and thoughts about gong-gong.

Pulau Hantu is still very much alive, despite the onslaught of developments nearby.
Branching corals like Acropora (left) provide shelter for tiny animals, such as these tiny clams. Living Pocillopora coral (right) look fuzzy and have pale bluish polyps over a yellow base. Quite pretty if you take a closer look.

There was a little patch of mushroom corals. From those the size of a ten-cent coin, to large ones as big as saucers. These hard corals can move about when they become larger.

All kinds of other colourful hard corals littered the lagoon. Like this pretty lemon yellow one. The lagoon also had lots of lacy greenish to brownish seaweeds. I still don't know the names of these lifeforms.

Pulau Hantu has two magnificent mangrove trees, and also many patches of Tape seagrass. The sandy shores were thick with Common sea stars, many stacked in pairs (or threesomes), getting ready to mate no doubt.

As we packed up to leave, Andy, as usual, did the proper kind of clean up. He rescued a crab from a crab trap left on the shore.

The visibility at Pulau Hantu today was stunning! We picked up Alvin, Andy and Sijie from Hantu Besar, where they got side-tracked after washing the gear there. The clear water was teeming with all kinds of fishes!
Thanks to our very obliging and knowledgeable boatman for taking us hither and thither to all the jetties. He also shared lots of stories. Regularly punctuating his account with "if only you were here 5-6 years ago, I could have shown you...". He recalled fondly fabulous reefs at Seringat, Saking and many other reefs that have since been reclaimed.

Pulau Hantu is ringed on the northern side by the industrial installations on Pulau Bukom and Pulau Busing.
The reclamation works off Hantu seem mostly completed.
On the way home, we saw more construction going near Pulau Busing. Possibly an extension to their pier? The area was full of odd temporary buoys that made it difficult for small boats like the one we were on to negotiate. The boatman feared the route might eventually be closed.
We hope all these developments will not hurt the beautiful shores of Hantu.