Sunday, April 29, 2007

It's A Slug Day And More.....

for this morning Pulau Hantu's North Jetty dives. Fantastic Vis and Stuffs!!!

Check it out! The Vis!!! We were at about 13m depth and the vis was like at least 6-8m!


That's Wai, my dive buddy and Ming Sheng is our volunteer dive guide today.

And here's the FANTASTIC Stuffs that we saw:

The Nudibranchs!!! Lots of them!!!



There's chromodoris fidelis (red and white with Black rhinophores), phyllidia ocellata (yellowish with white bumps), bornella sp. (white body with red patterns and projections), a tiny dermatobranchus sp (white body with some brown dots and brown rhinophores), jorunna funebris (white body with black polka-dots), chromodoris lineolata (brownish with black lines), glossodoris atromarginata (yellow one with black margin) and cuthona sibogae (purple body with red and orangeish projections).

Think that's all the Nudibranchs that we have seen today? Then you are wrong. :OP

Here's a first sighting of this chromodoris species in our water for me today. It's chromodoris coi. The last time that I have seen this species was during my open water dives in Malaysia.



Also, I finally had my wish granted today! After missing out this nudibranch, ceratosoma gracillimum , during my previous two dives at North Jetty, I finally saw it! Not one but THREE(I think)!!!




I was going like The Count from Sesame Street like this; "One ceratosoma, AHHAHAHAHA! Two ceratosoma, AHHAHAHAHA! Three AHHAHAHAHA!" Well.....with the exception of thunder roaring overhead and lightning flashing of course. :OP

Okay, that's all for Slugs.

So, what other stuffs we saw?

Let's see.....There's two Gorgonian shrimps that Ming Sheng had spotted for us. A first sighting for me again!




He also spotted this Urchin Clingfish (sorry, pic abit bad cos very hard to focus. But the fish is the one that's with white and black strips among the urchin's white spines). Yet another first sighting! See Wai's pic for a clearer shot and other wonderful stuffs.



Next, it's the Flatworms.



And these: Octopus, Crinoid, Batfish, Cushion Seastar and a Red Swimming crab.



And UNFORTUNATELY (or is it fortunately?), we saw this too.



Yes, that's a PLASTIC BAG you are seeing. It was floating in the water and we all know how it got there. Can you imagine the consequences if it was a turtle (and yes, we have turtle in our water!!!) and not us that had seen it first? The turtle might think that it is a jellyfish and eat it.

Sighhhhh.....

And oh ya, Wai mentioned that she saw something with white spots moving behind a Filefish among the crevices during our first dive. And at that time, I thought that she was pointing the Filefish to me and I took a pic. Guess what? When I was processing the pic, I saw this:



It's a fish, black with white spots on the head. Mmm.....could it be a Comet?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sunrise Over Ubin.....

On the way to Pulau Ubin for Team Seagrass Transect at Chek Jawa last Sunday. A great way to start Earth Day indeed!



Who would not love to see such beautiful sunrise?


(Hee.....unless you are a vampire. :OP)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Happy Earth Day !!!.....

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Such Beauty.....


is yet again to be LOST in the name of economic development needs. Sigh!

The old wound of hers will once again be reopened. It has taken her years to heal the wound that humans had created from blasting and drilling. She had managed to cover the ugly wound scars with green patch of vegetations and this has in turn provided a sanctuary for many wildlife species.

With the reopening, not only her wound is going to get bigger and deeper but also a sanctuary lost for all those animals.

Do the bits and pieces that you are going to get from this old wound really going to help for your shortage? How much are you expecting to get? Are there really no other alternatives?

Time and again, we lost our nature areas to developments. Have we come to a stage that we chase for world-class buildings and infrastructures that we don’t mind having a 3rd world mentality when come to nature conservations?

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

A Step Faster.....

and I might not be on this earth anymore.
I was almost knock down by a MOTORCYCLE!
The traffic at the junction of Upper Changi Road East and Jalan Tiga Ratus (towards Singapore Expo direction) was heavy as usual (ever since the start of the Changi Business Park). Thus, in order to get to the other side of the road, one has to use the traffic light.
Since I have witnessed many time that cars still dashed across the crossing at this traffic light even it was RED, I always make sure that all cars had stopped before I make my move across. And today, when the light for vehicles was RED, the Green Walking Man lighted up and all cars had stopped, I made my move.
Just as I was about two steps onto the crossing, I felt something knock into my left hand and zoom across me. The impact was loud and hard as I immediately felt the numbness in my left hand. After gaining my composure, I realised that it was a motorcycle that had knock my left hand. I looked towards the direction of the motorcyclist and all he did was stopped, looked and zoom away (Does this consider Hit And Run?). I didn't have a chance to see his number plate.
Now I was left with a numbing left hand and I think I can see a black-green mark starting to form on my fourth finger. Should I consider myself lucky? That it was just my left hand that got knock. With that kind of speed that he was coming, I can't think of the outcome had he knock me down.
Think it's about time that I feedback the traffic situation to the relevant authority (Traffic Police?). For the time being, what I can do is to make sure that the traffic stop for at least a few seconds before I move and look at the direction of the incoming traffic when I cross the road.

Man Utd 7 AS Roma 1.....

8-3 on aggregate and into the semi-finals.


Monday, April 09, 2007

無言.安靜.....

"Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but SILENCE breaks your heart"
~~Anonymous.

Happy Happy Birthday!!!.....


Monday, April 02, 2007

Back Again.....

Sigh.....after 7 years, it is back to haunt me again. :O/