A Short Getaway.....

to Pulau Dayang for diving over the weekends. Went together with Cynthia (fellow Wildfilms crew) and her friends. And I discovered how small this world can be. It happened that one of her friends was a primary school mate of mine and another is my brother's platoon mate. A small world indeed.

Anyway, back to diving. It was dives with lots of finning (or maybe I am too used to the slow pace diving in local water) and not much chance to stop and wonder around to observe things (this is what I feel for someone who is more into macro stuffs). But overall, still enjoyable with great company of dive buddies.

So here's some pics that I have taken :



A giant Clam.



Fishy, Fishy, Fishy.



One of the many colourful Christmas Tree Worms.



Pretty Flatworm! I find it a bit mimic of the nudibranch, Discodoris boholiensis .

And this trip, I managed to see more slugs as compare to the previous trips here.



This is Chelidonura amoena. They seen to be in season and with some of them in mass orgy.



Some Phyllidia



Lots of Phyllodesmium briareum.


And this one which I am still ponder whether it is a Glossodoris sp or Hypselodoris sp. Anyone would like to help with the ID?

**UPDATE (29th May 07) : Finally found the ID of this nudi. It's neither a Glossodoris sp nor Hypselodoris sp. But it's from the same family of Chromodorididae. It's a Noumea crocea.

Last but not least, a Granular Sea Star (Choriaster granulatus)



It looks so huggable! :O)

Ubin Volunteers Get Together.....

Finally found the time to process the photos taken on last Saturday “Ubin Volunteers Get Together” session.

First of all, thanks to Adelle from Nparks for her efforts of organizing this “Get Together” session for the volunteers!

The “Get Together” session consisted of a BBQ dinner, slideshows, night-walk and a pre-dawn trip to Chek Jawa.

We have the BBQ dinner at the Volunteer Hub and paiseh to say that I didn’t take any pics except this one using my mobile phone cause I was stuffing myself with the foods. :OP

That’s some of us in the Volunteer's lounge eating and chatting away (L-R : Robin, Robert, Ron and Lay Kun).

After dinner, we have some slideshows showcasing the natural and cultural beauty of Singapore and Ubin. Ron did a presentation on intertidals, Lay Kun on the Wayang show on Ubin and moi did one on our underwater world. Hee…..some of the audiences were particularly very interested in this pic of flatworms mating. Sex sells, no doubt. :OP

The night’s still young when the slideshows ended and a group of us decided to go for a slow night-walk. We headed towards the West side of the island and walked mostly in the dark without using torchlight (we simply let our eyes adjust to the darkness).

Along the way, we tried to scare each other with things of all sorts from spirits to snakes. This somehow changed our slow walk into a fast one.

We dropped by Ubin Quarry too because some of us wanted to see the recently discover rock formation of Kuan Yin. Of course, the wish was not granted unless you have a super duper spot light that can be shone across the quarry. Thus, it’s best to pay a visit during daylight.

Our initial plan was to turn back after we reached Ubin Quarry but we decided to walk a bit further towards MCC Ubin Resort to see if we could find any fireflies. And we managed to catch a glimpse of ONE!

It was a fun walk. Hee…..and we managed to come back in one piece despite a scare from some dogs. And with no less or extra person. Phew!

By that time, we were all tired and proceed to dreamland. And after a 3hrs of Zzzzzz, we woke up for the pre-dawn trip to Chek Jawa.

I must say that I am very happy to see Chek Jawa on its road to recovery. Just look at these babies!



Small Carpet and Peacock Anemones littered among the Seagrasses.



Some of the stars are back! A very fast moving Sand Star on the Sandbar and two very beautiful Biscuit Sea Stars at the Coral Rubbles area. Of course, the ultimate wish would be that we could see the other two stars, Common Sea Star & Knobbly Sea Star, back again at Chek Jawa soon.

Besides that, we came across the Transparent Sea Cucumber and the Thorny Sea Cucumber too.


I was super delighted to see this!

Sponges!!! Tiny bits and pieces everywhere on the rubbles. Grow Sponges grow! And hopefully with your return, so will be my favourite Nudibranch. :O)

And highlight of the day for me would be this Allied Cowry on a Sea Fan.

As the Sun rose over the horizon, it's breakfast time.

And look like breakfast had just been served for this Carpet Anemone. It's tentacles had stung a Thunder Crab. We did not recuse the crab because firstly, it's dead and secondly, by taking away the crab, we are depriving the Carpet Anemone its food.

For My Friends.....

a clips to share with you. This is the first sampler from Wildfilms. Enjoy! :O)

A Slow Walk To Kekek Quarry.....

Was out with fellow Semakau guides visiting Kekek Quarry on Pulau Ubin this morning.

Well.....supposed to meet them at 7.30am but I overslept! Gosh.....when I woke up, it was 15mins to the meeting time! Oh no! :Oo

Gave Luan Keng a call and informed her that I will be late and will catch up with them in Ubin then (Right!.....no more late night surfing the internet until 3am for me). :OP

Anyway, I was lucky. I managed to catch up with them only a short distance from Ubin's town area. :O)

The plan was to walk to Kekek Quarry and stop once a while to check up plants and animals along the way. So here's my takes of some fauna and flora that Ubin offered.

First up......the Spiders!



Insects! Bugs and others!!! There's also some Cicada Moults.



Ron spotted some CUTEEEEEE Ladybirds! Here's one. Awwwww....isn't it CUTE?




Lovely flora.....



Along the way, we had a short break at this place.



There's a kitten playing around the house. Awwww....so CUTEEEE!



And we also found out an interesting thing from the owner of this house. He told us that at the Quarry (Ubin Quarry on the map) opposite his house, there's a rock formation that looks like a statue of the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin).



Hmmm.....it does look similar at the head.

Finally, after walking for Three and a half hours, we reached our destination, Kekek Quarry. Look at the scenery!




Beautiful, isn't it? Sadly, such beautiful place will soon be gone. Sigh.....

The tranquility of the Quarry with nature's own music of Straw-headed Bulbul's calls makes one so relax. Just look at Ron and Robert, they were having a dip in the water. Hee.....only their legs lah. :OP



And they were trying to attract the fishy to do a pedicure of fish reflexology with some Simpoh Air flowers. Well.....we wondered whether it's the flowers that are not attracting the fishy or their feet(smelly feet???)....even the red-eared terrapins paddled away when they were within certain circumference of the water where the feet were dipping. :OP

Anyway, it was a good day hanging out with a bunch of nature-loving peoples. Thanks to Luan Keng for organising the trip for the guides.