Chek Jawa with jellyfish and otters!

Another glorious day at Chek Jawa with families and kids at monthly free guided tour of the Chek Jawa boardwalk with the Naked Hermit Crabs yesterday.

We saw jellyfishes and otters! These are more commonly seen at high tide! So it's not true that you should only visit Chek Jawa at low tide.


While we wait for the walk to start, the young ones learn a little about the tides and what we can expect to see from the useful notices at the Chek Jawa Information Kiosk.

Ley Kun aka Mama Crab gets all the people and guides in order so we can start the walk! Today we had nearly a hundred visitors, fortunately also many volunteer guides.

Then it was time for a group photo. Ian made everyone freeze so he could take a pano shot.

Joining me were lots of dads and their sons. The young gentlemen are really good a reading maps.

On the path we saw a forest cockroach. Unlike those found in our homes, the ones in the forest are quite pretty. They are very well camouflaged among the fallen leaves.

Every trip, I get slower and slower climbing up the Jejawi Tower. But the spectacular view from the top of Malaysia and Pulau Tekong is worth the effort.

Oh, monkeys are spotted at the boardwalk. They were quietly just sitting around and not bothering anyone. The monkeys at Chek Jawa are not used to people feeding them and thus leave us alone. So please don't feed the monkeys.

The little monkeys with pants on take a photo with the monkeys without pants on.

Another great find by the sharp-eyed visitors, a young Malayan water monitor.

As we reach the seaward side of the boardwalk there are lots and lots and lots of little crabs all over the sand.

The Coastal Boardwalk is now completely open after the completion of upgrading. This is where we made the Find of the Day! Where? There!! Lots of little cute jellyfishes with fat legs.

I failed to take good photos of the many things we saw. But Elizabeth has captured all the important sightings! Thank you!

I also missed the lovely green Oriental whip snake that Ivan's group spotted at the giant pandan. Sigh.

When we got back, Sumita told us that they saw otters! Wow! Here she is sharing the video she took of the otters.

And here's her video!

At the end of the walk, we have our usual fun drawing session. Some of us prefer to make things out of the paper instead. That's ok too.

Good to have a nice peaceful corner to yourself to unleash the artist within.

I'm always impressed by what the kids remember of the walk. Nethan aged 5 shared the highlights of his day at Chek Jawa.

More wonderful memories.

More memories as happy visitors take photos with their guide.

And here's more of the awesome art shared with us! Thank you everyone!

Oh dear, the 'Cheng Teng' tree next to the Coastal Boardwalk appears dry and crispy. I hope it will recover?Also called the Malva nut (Scaphium macropodum), it is listed as Endangered in Singpaore. More about it on Uncle Tony's Flora Singapura website.

But the water looks nice and green! Water the colour of tea is one sign of a plankton bloom.

The Naked Hermit Crabs will be conducting a special family evening walk at Pasir Ris mangrove boardwalk on 5 Dec (Sat). And our next Chek Jawa walk is on 12 Dec (Sat).