Paying respects to our Big Sister

It has become our tradition to survey Big Sister's Island during the Lunar New Year. Part of Singapore's first Marine Park, the island is closed for enhancement works till end March 2024. We did our survey with permission from NParks.

The shores seem to be well, with corals and lots of colourful marine life still thriving here.

Four-clam day at Pulau Jong

Kelvin Yong's stunning drone footage illustrates the beauty of our last unspoilt island. This is what our Southern Islands looked like before they were reclaimed. 

Dubbed the 'char siew pau' island because of its cute dumpling shape, Pulau Jong has a huge reef flat that is exposed at low spring tide. This reef flat together with the domed island is said to resemble the silhouette of a Chinese sailing junk, thus 'Jong'. Although it lies near petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom, the Landfill and major shipping lanes, the island is still very much alive.

Seagrasses flowering at Sentosa!

A small team surveys the living shores of Sentosa Tg. Rimau on LNY Eve.

Fortune smiles as we 'siam' the wet weather, and see massive blooming of seagrasses on the shore! Kelvin flew the drone which revealed features that I didn't know about this shore. My last survey here was in Apr 2021, although the team surveyed in Nov 2021 and May 2022.

East Coast seagrasses with possible dugong feeding trails?

There is a shallow lagoon at East Coast Park which has slowly been taken over by seagrasses.  Although the high shores were crowded during this long weekend, we had the intertidal almost entirely to ourselves during this brief evening tide.

A long narrow sand bar sticks far out from the high shore, with lush seagrasses growing on the edges into deeper water. I saw many furrows that might be dugong feeding trails. Also many interesting marine life, while the team encounters a stonefish!

Mussels taking over Pulau Semakau (South)?

We survey the seagrasses and shores at Pulau Semakau South on a lovely evening low tide. 

The corals seem alright. Although Tape seagrasses have not returned and vast stretches remain bare of seagrasses, there was good seagrass growths near the landfill wall. It was worrying to see Horse mussels continue to expand on the shore.

Dragon explosion at Seringat-Kias seagrass meadows

Evening tides resume! We survey Lazarus Island and the artificial Seringat-Kias lagoon (also called Eagle Bay by boaters). This Saturday evening, the Bay was packed with boats!

The seagrasses still grow lush here, and today, they were teaming with Blue dragon nudibranchs. We also saw special sea stars, sea anemones and other marvelous marine life.