Packing time!

It’s time to pack as I will be away for a 4D3N camp from tomorrow to Friday.

NUS RAC CAMP! or Rovers adventure camp 09′.

Can’t wait for it… kinda excited actually.

Although it is planned for NUS freshies… it is opened to the public as well. Since I’m not from NUS and don’t have a chance to participate in their orientation camps… this is a good opportunity! Haha but I also enjoyed their Datuk hiking trip previously that’s why I signed up for this.

Amazing race, night cycling, kayaking, Pulau Ubin… wow sounds great! Although I’m not good at sports, who says non-sporty people can’t be adventurous? :P

My group will be Erebus, which stands for Underworld if I’m not wrong lol

I’ve less than a month left in Singapore so I better enjoy myself! My mum has been wondering where I get my energy from…  going out every other day. I’d say it’s better than staying and rotting at home everyday.

:)

Semakau 27.6.09

Since this will be my 2nd last Semakau trip until (maybe?) next year as I’m going abroad for further studies and that I’ve to pack my bag later for camp tomorrow, this will be an entry with more photos :)

Warning: Scroll down slowly, read bit by bit. You’ll know why I say so later on.

The 4th and last Semakau guided walk of June started off nicely with this scenery in the morning…

Black smoke and ship.

There were quite a number of photography enthusiasts among our participants for this guided walk :)

The sun had just risen behind Pulau Jong aka Bao Island, which is close to Pulau Semakau.

Semakau Landfill is situated in the southern part of Singapore and the boat passes Sentosa en route to Semakau from Marina South Pier.

As we walk along the sandy shore, there were many many creeper snails everywhere creating maze-like patterns in the sand. These snails’ feet produce mucus to help them move around.

Crossing the seagrass lagoon, the 5 Seahorses with their wacky poses were about to embark on a ‘better than Underwater world’  journey…  :P

The first sea cucumber found during that day was the synaptid sea cucumber. This sea cucumber is very delicate as it has a thin body wall and is not edible. It uses its feeding tentacles (bottom left corner of photo above) to ‘sweep’ around to collect food.

Perhaps, this moon snail (right) had just laid her eggs. The moon snail’s eggs are contained in the sand collar (left) so although it may not look ‘alive and kicking’, there’s actually plenty of tiny snails inside waiting to hatch!

Our hunter-seekers found the lined chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris lineolata) . At first, I spotted one lonely soul.

Then came another one in the opposite direction… ! Before you scroll down this page, what do you think they were planning to do? Is it……………

A) Greet and smooch? ♥

or…

B) Cheek smooch

Answer: They did A then B. hahaha! << highlight for answer

The nudibranch, which refers to naked gills, is a sea slug. They use the flowery-like gills on their backs to breathe. The two rabbit-like ears that you see on the front are rhinophores, which help them to sniff for prey in the waters. Nudibranchs are also colourful, to warn others that they are dangerous and distasteful to eat.

The front (left) convex side and back (right) flat side of the pretty heart cockle. Apparently, the heart cockle is a hermaphrodite which means it has both male and female reproductive organs! Having a pretty shell has its downside… people collect them… alive! It is only when they are alive that both shells stay together but take them out of their habitat and they will die. So what’s the best alternative? Admire them from photographs and leave them at peace.

Benefiting from algae is the upside-down jellyfish. The side that you see in this photograph is the bottom side of the jellyfish that is exposed to sunlight. Basically, this upside-down jellyfish harbours symbiotic algae among its tentacles as the latter photosynthesizes and provides food for the former. In return, the symbiotic algae receives shelter and protection.

One can spot fan worms in tidal pools as these shy animals spread their pretty fan-like tentacles in the water for filter-feeding. Details of their tentacles can be seen in the photo on the right.

Looking at us precariously was this spider conch, with its long stalk eyes and curved knife-like opercuclum out of its shell. The latter helps the spider conch to ‘hop on the ground and flip itself back to its original position when placed upside down. The spines at the side also aid in stabilisation, thus preventing them from falling over.

This snail is a beauty but vulnerable as people catch them for food and its shell!

With the tentacles all out in the water, this disk or turban coral (turbinaria peltata <- edit: Thanks Siyang for ID) is a hard coral due to its calcium carbonate structure below.

After the lined Chromodoris nudibranch, we also saw 3 other nudis: (from left to right)
Pustulose phyllid nudibranch, Black-margined glossodoris nudibranch, Black phyllid nudibranch

Beside the nudibranchs that the hunter-seekers found for us was a huge cushion sea star!

As we headed back to the seagrass lagoon area, we managed to see this hairy crab aka teddy bear crab. It is poisonous and not edible, different from the hairy crab that we get to eat in Chinese restaurants.

A picture tells a thousand words.

The wind was blowing rather strongly at that time and although I kept praying for good weather as I took this picture, I can’t help but feel this provided some respite from the hot sun earlier on during the walk.

My last Semakau walk this year will be in July. Will I get the chance to do hunter-seeking? *prays*

Haha we’ll see. Otherwise, it will be my last time guiding and giving the landfill tour. *tears*

nostalgia ;)