A New "Wreck" For Divers.....

After last night meeting on Project NOAH, a new "wreck" was revealed. Why do I say this?.....Because the boat with lot of holes had finally sunk. More details on The Hantu Blog

Mmmmm.....come to think of it, the relevant parties had somehow "accomplished" part of their inital plan (ie. creating an artificial reef) now. Why?.....well.....isn't there in some part of the world where old ships were sank to create artificial reefs?

A Nudibranch???.....

Sighted this during my second dive at Pulau Hantu on 14th May at around 3m depth. It was about 1.5cm. To me, it looks like the nudibranch, phyllodesmium briareum, from the Sea Slug Forum.

Anyone thinks otherwise?

** Update (27th May 06) : Reply from Bill Rudman of the Sea Slug Forum

Would It Be No Ah-dea Again?.....

The previous chat session with the relevant parties that initial Project NOAH ended with lots of questions unanswered. After waiting for more than a month, SEC (as promised by its Executive Director) finally called for a second meeting to discuss the issues again.

The following are the details for the second meeting:

Date: Thursday, 25th May
Time: 7pm
Venue: Hilton, Level 3, Vista 2 & 3

DRAFT AGENDA

1) Introductions
2) Brief Recap of NOAH Project as presented 12th April
3) Q & A / Feedback Session
4) Open discussion
· Collaboration
· Working towards a Blue Water Plan

RSVP required. Email : howard@sec.org.sg

Will rush down after work to attend. Mmmm.....just wondering how prepared they are this time round or are they still NO AH-DEA at all???

Dugong Sighted!.....

But not by me. :OP

Actually, heard the news of dugong being sighted at Pulau Ubin from one of the Nparks officers when I was there for Chek Jawa guiding on Saturday.

One of the constructors doing boardwalk construction last week at House No 1, saw the dugong in the water between the house's old jetty and Pulau Sekudu. He thought that it was a crocodile at first.

What a piece of good news! :O) Just hope that it will make Chek Jawa one of its feeding ground as there's a patch of Seagrass (Dugong's main food). Looking forward to hear about more sightings.

For more information on dugong, go to this site at Wildsingapore.

Just An Update.....

Just came back from my working trip to PJ to settle some outstanding accounting matters. Very happy that most of the things had been solved.

Tomorrow will be going for Chek Jawa guiding. Yeah! For it has been THREE long months since my last CJ guiding.

Planning a dive trip to Pulau Dayang again on the first week of June. Just checked with the Dive center that I usually go with on the availability of space. Guess what? It's FULL. Now waiting for another operator's reply. If not, I will just go for the land stuffs.

Pulau Hantu Over Perhentian (Cont'd).....

You guys must be wondering if this CRAZY person have regretted going to Pulau Hantu instead of Perhentian right?

Well.....Not at all!!! Take a look at what I have seen! :O)

Nudibranchs (Top-down) : Blue Dragon Nudibranch, flabellina sp, phyllidia sp, jorunna funebris. And there's also a glossodoris altromarginata

And I saw four of this today! It's the Ocellate Pipefish.

Then there's this little cute juvenile Harlequin Sweetlip. Very difficult to take this little fellow as it likes to wriggle among the corals. In fact, there were two during my first dive. The other one was much bigger but it swam away before I can get a shot of it.

Towards the end of my first dive, I saw this;

Can you see the shape of it? Here's from another angle;

Yes, it a Tigertail Seahorse.

And highlight of the day, besides the Seahorse from first dive, is this from my second dive;

It's the Coral Shrimp on a Sea Whip! A first sighting for me! :O)

Farewell, Keano?.....

Yesterday, Old Trafford bid farewell to former captain, Roy Keane, for his contribution to Manchester United with a testimonial match. As one of the club's finest players of all time, think this would be the best thing that United and the fans can do.

After more than 12 years at the club, he was given an abrupt departure in November 2005, over an infamous never-to-be-aired MUTV angry outburst.

And playing one final time for United, he set up the winning goal for United. United won 1-0 over his current club, Celtic.

Thanks Keano, for your contributions.

Farewell?.....Mmmm.....would like to see him back at Old Trafford again. Not as a player but maybe as one of the personnels in the management team.

Of Six And Eight Legged.....

Went to Pulau Ubin on Sunday after more than 2 months absence since my last visit. Met up with Alyce and we went trekking the Sensory Trail.

We were looking for bugs and spiders along the trail. And look what we saw :O)

It is always nice to be back on Ubin.

The next trip there will be on 20th May for Chek Jawa guided walk. The first weekend walk after 3 long months. Also hoped to see this four legged creature at the Infomation Kiosk again :O)

Going By The Situation.....

Sigh.....going by the situation, it will be at least another three weeks. What I can do now is WAIT. :O/

Pre-Dawn Trips Begin.....

Over the long weekends, Wildfilms started the pre-dawn trips for this season of shootings. Yes, that means that I will be going out to our shores at unearthly hours and have my sleeping routine upset again for at least the next four months.

On Saturday, we were at Pulau Sekudu. Managed to see quite a lot of stuffs. Lots of urchins, brittle stars, sea slugs, nudibranchs and a rarely seen sea star.

Nudibranch : chromodoris sp

Sea Star : luidia maculata

It has eight arms, canivorous and eats its cousins like urchins, sea cucumbers and sea stars.

On Sunday, we were supposed to go to Beting Bronok. But we ended up at Pulau Sekudu again. Why?.....Because when the boat broke down not one but twice on the way to BB, we decided that it was not worth the risks if it broke down again and ended up drifting in the straits. We might become illegal immigrants if we drifted into Malaysia's water or have soldiers looking for us if we drifted onto our restricted island nearby.

Anyway, we decided that Pulau Sekudu would be a safer choice and there you are, we were back there again. And it was definitely a good decision for we saw a lot of spectacular stuffs like different kinds of sea stars (we encountered the luidia maculata again), nudibranchs (chromodoris sp, gymnodoris sp and jorunna funebris) and a first sighting of this sea slug for me which was found among the seaweeds.

philinopsis pilsbryi

And of course, pre-dawn trips to Pulau Sekudu mean that you would get to see beautiful sunrise like this. Look at the COLOURS! Isn't it beautiful?


On Labour Day, we were at Labrador rocky shore. Were very glad that the seahorses are still there and so is the rare cowrie. Managed to find a nudibranch (armina sp) and a sea slug that look exactly like the seagrapes. According to the Sea Slug Forum, it could be a Stiliger smaragdinus.

The last trip for this round ended today at CFT. I can't make it due to work. Was given the suggestion to report sick so that I can go. But Alvin said that I won't succeed in faking sick because I am Chinese (you go figure out the reason behind this saying). Ouch!

Next round of trips is in two weeks time. All weekdays. That mean taking half-day leaves from work. But I might need to travel on that week so I might not be able to make it at all. :O(