Happy slugging at Jong

Today's trip brings me to one of the southern island's reef.
The set off time was later in the morning at 06:30, more sleeping time for me.
When the team reached the island, the sun had already risen and it was bright.
The amphibious landing means getting water to as high as knee level or even above it.
Having gone through my 3rd amphibious landing, I find it quite fun and the water is cooling. How wish I could take a dip.
Back to the field trip...

This southern island is visited annually by the team. It is a rocky reef with dead and live corals growing on a large area. I got to see some how some of the corals look like when they are submerged. Usually I see them exposed and their polyps retracted.

The first coral I saw is the Broad feathery soft coral. What caught my attention was the polyps, moving and curling at their own pace.

Broad feathery soft coral

Soft and silty Changi Beach

Despite today being a school day, I still signed up for a field trip session.
Three ladies went to a rocky part of Changi Beach to explore.
This shore we visited used to be very rocky, but it is now rather silty and the substrate can be quite soft.

The shore is covered with shells of bivalves. They are dead bivalves though.
Even though there are many dead bivalves on the shore, I did see some live ones.

Some type of cockle. Notice how the shell tails off on one side.

Cockle - a small and a medium size.

Pretty Bean-shaped venus clam.

Cyrene Reef - Land of Sea Stars

I had my first step onto Cyrene reef today.
Cyrene is a submerged reef located in an industrial triangle consisting of Pasir Panjang container terminals on the mainland, petrochemical plants on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom.

Image from WildSingapore

Pasir Panjang Container Terminal

Pulau Bukom

For submerged reef, there is no proper jetty or docking place for boats to stop. Luckily, we just have to transfer to a dinghy from the main boat to get to the reef.

Marine "Gardeners" of Chek Jawa

At 5am this morning, I left my house for a morning trip to Chek Jawa.
This is not my usual morning shore trip session.
A small team is heading there for manual work to help Siti with her seagrass experiment.

It is my first time travelling to Chek Jawa before sunrise.
Luckily, prior notice was given and the main gate to Chek Jawa was open when we arrived.
While making our way to the pontoon, the sky was starting to light up.

On our way to the pontoon.

Crabby-venture, anemones and snails at Sentosa

This stretch of shore I visited today is no foreign land to me.
Had been here twice but never once have I stopped to observe this shore.
Today I took a closer look at this marvelous part of Sentosa.

The hairy green seaweed (Bryopsis sp.) greeted us when we reached the shore. It was everywhere.