Pasir Ris-visited 12 June 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Local narcosis.Tags: intertidal walk, Pasir Ris, Singapore
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I finally visited Pasir Ris beach at low tide – I’m not much of a low-tide walker, preferring instead the weightless-ness of scuba diving, but Pasir Ris, for all it being a “developed” park, still held many wonders.
Our organiser for the walk.
The first thing we noticed as we hit the beach was the greenness of the inter-tidal area. Seagrasses mixed with the green alga Ulva were common around the rock bunds. Here and there, as busy as bees, were various snails, worms and hermit crabs, getting on with life, eating (or being eaten), making out or making eggs, and generally trying to run away from the big lumbering behemoths trampling on their turf.
Scattered amongst the green Ulva seaweed, hermit crabs!
Green, green grass of Pasir Ris!
Snails gliding over the green mass of seagrass and weeds.
Even with eight legs, this octopus couldn’t get away from the paparazzi!
The seastars too seemed very active today, although how they co-ordinate so many feet to move so fast, is still beyond me. But I suppose having many legs is better than just two, as we encountered the remnants of the last visitor to these shores.
A “biscuit” seastar looking quite appetising as we were getting hungry!
Residents of the two-legged variety were also out in force, despite the gathering storm clouds, preying on the local shore life. Many a worm or marine snail sur-”combed” these predators.
The approaching storm clouds did not deter the beach combers from scouring the inter-tidal area.
I was surprised by the fairly large amount of rubbish on the shores, comprising mainly plastic bags. One wonders where they came from? No surprise were the fishing lines, which criss-crossed the inter-tidal zone like a spider’s web. What makes fishermen think that their line will not get snagged on rocks or other things when they fish from shore is a bit of a mind-boggler.
Shufen and Kevin providing a reference to the amount of rubbish we saw. Lots of plastic bags.
Cheng Puay trying to gather up loose fishing line that criss-crossed the inter-tidal area like a spider’s web.
Alas, the impeding storm forced us to cut short our visit (along we had been there for almost two and a half hours already), so we made a hasty retreat to Changi Village for a well-earned treat of carrot cake and nasi lemak.
More pictures here.
Weh out there! 1 June 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Overseas high.Tags: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Pulau Weh
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Our little adventure to Pulau Weh, located off Banda Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, was a big surprise! Despite the two-boat dive limit, the dive guides there were more willing than willing to tough it out with us one-and-half-hour divers, and I must say that even though we didn’t spot as many “critters”, the dive spots were so full of other things to occupy your time that we had a hard time leaving the water!
Batu Tokong was probably my favourite dive site for this trip – upon entering the water, we were greeted with clouds of fish – fairy basslets, red-tooth triggers, sergeant majors, fusiliers … it took our breath away to see the symphony of colour and form before our eyes.
Clouds of fish, especially the anthias, greeted us on almost every dive!
Schooling Collare butterflyfish …. so brilliant!
Even in the depths, reef life thrived, as the rows and rows of seafans spread out, and down, before us to more than 30m. Whip gorgonians were also plentiful and for once, the water was clear enough for me to capture a decent enough image to show how extensive they were.
Seafans, many even larger than this one, were common on the reefs.
Even the house reef, just a hop-skip-step-and jump away from the dive centre, was full of interesting creatures. Staghorn corals were everywhere (as were the urchins), and on the sandy flats in 18m of water, we chanced upon well-camouflaged seamoths and flying gurnards; but we missed the elusive mimic octopus and the “ambon” scorpionfish.
A cloud of cardinalfish covers what I called the “magic” rock.
Urchins aggregating on the sea floor at the house reef.
These two rabbitfish were usually hanging out by the anchor of the guide line that the dive resort used to guide its boats into shore.
Usual creatures roam the house reef, like this eel (not sure if it is a moray or a snake eel).
Some of the sites were not so friendly, however – Panting Penutung and The Canyons (on the western side of the island), for example, were difficult to get to due strong winds and rough seas. Some hearty souls tried for three days to get to Panting Penutung, succeeding on the third try, and rewarded with (besides the seasickness) with the sighting of a hammerhead. At another site, aptly called Arus (strong current in Bahasa), a few of the divers saw a manta.
We learned later, over an iced tea, from Aris, one of the more experienced dive guides, that whale sharks and mantas used to be fairly common before the tsunami, but nowadays, only the mantas have been spotted, and not too many at that.
Our stay was far too short to get a good feel of the dives sites. What we saw of the place was good enough that we are now planning a second trip (hopefully in July) there.
