25 February 2017

First Naked walk at Chek Jawa in 2017

I had a lovely day out for the first free monthly guided walk at Chek Jawa for 2017 by the Naked Hermit Crabs.
Monthly free guided walk at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
It's great to visit Chek Jawa at high tide! Otters were spotted from the Jejawi tower! Alas, I saw a large barge and workboat parked on Chek Jawa and small boats speeding through Chek Jawa waters.


We had a very enthusiastic and fun group of visitors with us! Not too large a group, so Ley Kun and I could do the walk together. Such a treat for me!
Monthly free guided walk at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Everyone's favourite desert topping comes from the Nipah palm!
Monthly free guided walk at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
A nice photo with a rather well camouflaged Malayan water monitor lizard! We also saw some Giant mudskippers, a Magpie robin, and pondered about how snails know when and how high to climb up a tree to avoid predators coming in with the tide. The highlight was spotting a family of otters (about 4 of them) from the top of Jejawi Tower!
Monthly free guided walk at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
In 2007, NParks had marked out the sea area around Chek Jawa and designated it as Chek Jawa Wetlands, see NParks Notice 5.2.180.1 dated 24 September 2007 (Winword doc).
Chart accompanying the NParks Notice 5.2.180.1
In this area:
i. No vessel or craft shall enter or remain in Chek Jawa Wetlands.
ii. No vessel or craft shall berth or moor at the jetty or floating pontoon or any other structure within Chek Jawa Wetlands.
iii. No vessel or craft shall land at Pulau Sekudu or anywhere within Chek Jawa Wetlands.
iv. There shall be no collection of any organism (including remains of an organism) or use of rods, lines, hooks, nets and traps within Chek Jawa Wetlands.
v. No person shall swim, bathe, snorkel or scuba dive within Chek Jawa Wetlands.

Despite the Notice, such activities continue to happen. In the short time that we were at the Coastal Boardwalk, I saw first one, then two boats speed past the Chek Jawa front beacon well within the area designated as Chek Jawa Wetlands.
Speeding boats within Chek Jawa Wetlands area
A fourth boat speeds past Pulau Sekudu while a larger workboat appears to be parked on Chek Jawa.
Speeding boat and boat parked within Chek Jawa Wetlands area
A closer look at the big work boat.
Boat parked within Chek Jawa Wetlands area
There appears to be a humungous barge parked on the northern side of the Chek Jawa Wetlands area nearer the mouth of the Johor River. More about how more is need to enhance enforcement of Chek Jawa Wetlands in this earlier blog post.
Barge parked within Chek Jawa Wetlands area?
Zooming boats may churn up seagrass and disturb dugongs that feed on them at Chek Jawa. On the Coastal Boardwalk, Ley Kun shares more about her encounter with a real life dugong during a Naked Hermit Crab walk in Oct 2013!
Monthly free guided walk at Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Chek Jawa has some of Singapore's last natural coastal cliffs cloaked in a forest of plants now rare elsewhere in Singapore. From the boardwalk, I saw what appears to be a tree fall and landslide.
Landslide at Chek Jawa coastal forest?
I am very glad that NParks is providing recycling bins at Chek Jawa. Despite years of effort by NParks, NEA still does not provide this service. So bravo to NParks for doing this.
Recycling bin at Chek Jawa thanks to NParks
It's always a joy for me to see kids at Pulau Ubin.
Kids at Pulau Ubin Jetty
On the way home, from the bumboat, I could see yellowing leaves and bare branches on the big Sea hibiscus in Changi Creek that was affected by the East Johor oil spill last month.
Changi Creek after  after East Johor oil spill
Signs of the oil spill are still visible at the Changi Point Ferry Terminal.
Oil stains at Changi Point Ferry Terminal after  after East Johor oil spill
But it was nice to see lots of fishes at the Terminal.
Changi Creek after  after East Johor oil spill
Goodbye to Pulau Ubin, until next time!
Leaving Pulau Ubin from Ubin Jetty

More photos of our walk thanks to Mohammad Juhari


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