Semakau Inter-tidal Walk

It was more than 2 years ago when I last visited Pulau Semakau before the closure for the work on 2nd phase of the last landfill of Singapore.

This time round, I'm happy to be able to share all the beautiful wildlife of Semakau shore with our Emeritus Senior Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong.

This photo was taken after the walk... wefie time!  :)

A very familiar trail that we have to go through before reaching the shore.

The fun begin the minute we hit the shore. Common sea star can be seen everywhere on the shore which is very uncommon over the main land Singapore.

Is the season of Sargassum seaweed during this time of the year. Large part of the shore are covered with them.

Is good to see so many sea cucumber around.

Another snake like sea cucumber that we saw taking shelter over the Sargassum seaweed - Synaptid sea cucumber

Upsidedown jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) is also in season. Saw many of them almost every few steps.

Saw this very bright colour Carpet anemone.

This Hairy crab can camouflage very well be it under water or on dry land.  When under water, their hair will break their outline so that they don't look like a crab!

This Noble volute is laying egg.

We also saw quite a number of nudibranch such as Polka-dot nudibranch, Gymnodoris & Bohol nudibranch.

Another real "Star" attraction is this Knobly sea star. They are no longer found on main land due to over collection by beach goer.

Managed to find 'Nemo'! We still have  wild clown fish in Singapore. Semakau is one of the place you can see them without getting wet with your dive suit/tank.

There are huge & soft. Used to see it when I was diving and is now expose during low tide.

Cuttle fish! So cute to see them swimming in the water.

When you see red colour... Warning! This red egg crab can not be consumed and their toxin will not be destroyed with heat (after cooking).

The sun about to set as the tide return... another great day on our shore.

Do Not Litter

My last Semakau trip on Saturday, 15 December 2012 was indeed my best trip so far! Despite the delay by thundery shower before the walk, we saw a lot of interesting marine animals!

This trip was even more special as we get to share the rich marine life of Semakau with our Prime Minister – Mr Lee Hsien Loong.

After getting all our gears, we arrived at the starting point (entry to the inter-tidal area)  and are ready for actions!

The guides from Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research posing in-front of the landfill.

 30 minutes before the scheduled time, dark cloud gather really fast, looks like thundery shower is coming soon.

When the hunter seekers (scout team to look for marine animals before the arrival of guests as animals in the wild are not staying at the same place compare to those in the captivity) head out to the shore, the sky is even darker.

It started to rain, and rain very heavy. Luckily, the rain stop after about 45mins and the walk continue as planned.

We were sharing with Mr Lee about all the unique animals that we saw at Semakau while waiting for the rain to stop earlier and one of them being the heart shaped cockle. I guess is our lucky day, we found not just one but two of them!

 Semakau have the largest  seagrass meadows among the Southern islands.

 Mr Lee take a closer look at the heart-shaped cockle.

 Posing for a shot with five Singapore largest knobly seastar.

Is been our pleasure to have our Prime Minister with us this afternoon. I would like to take this opportunity to wish Mr & Mrs Lee Hsien Loong a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

 Message from the PM. Please do not litter, especially in nature areas!(photo from PM's Facebook page)

 Thank you Mr Lee for this lovely photo! (photo from PM's Facebook page)

Nature Wonders at Semakau

Every trip is different... indeed! This is how I will describe my experience of visiting Pulau Semakau - an offshore island situated at the southern part of Singapore. It is also one and only landfill in Singapore.

It was heavy rain when we arrived at the island but soon clear up and give us a perfect cooling afternoon to explore the shore that is very rich in marine animals.

Semakau is full with all kinds of seaweed such as this Coin seaweed.

Beautiful flatworm

Hairy crab that is so well camouflage

Zoanthids that with very nice pink! They are colonial anemones.

Semakau is one of the only area left in Singapore that we can find this huge Knobly sea star

There are so many of them on the island!

Jelly like egg capsule

Another very beautiful sea anemone

The corals with their polyps out underwater and I'm not even diving! 

Giant clam...again, animals that usually can only be seen while diving!

Another beautiful flatworm swimming in the water.

Bohol nudibranch (Discodoris boholensis)

Red swimming crab putting up a defensive stance

We saw a total of 3 giant clams today.

Polka dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris) on their favourite food, blue sponge.

Today is a very fruitful day, we saw another very colourful rock boring giant clam!!

Another not so common Heart cockle.

Volute that still busy laying egg.

A very well camouflage Sea horse!!

A very common sea star on the island.

A baby Coastal Horseshoe crab - they look similar to Mangrove horseshoe crab but with a triangular tail instead of round.

Bristle worm coming out from their burrow.

Although this trip is not a birding trip, you just can't ignore them - a Brahminy kite

A rare Great-billed Heron (Ardea sumatrana) was feeding on this very rich shore

There are just too many things to see on Semakau, I', sure I will see different things again the next time when I visit Semakau!