On 30 Apr 2006, the Blue Water Volunteers celebrated their 1000th visitor to Kusu Island’s ReefWalk! It’s especially special because this is the 14th public ReefWalk and… BWV was formed on the 14th of February, 2004! and ReefWalk on the 14th of November

This is a significant milestone for the BWV, as we are still new, young (at least at heart), and of course still a lot to learn. Not to mention that all volunteers have their own full time commitment, be it in work, study, family etc. Having guided more than 1000 people to the reef in their backyard, in less than 1.5 year, is definitely something worth cheering for. It also shows how much people love us
Of course these can never been done without the support of our very own volunteers. Commemorating our 1000th visitor rewards the effort and countless hours you put into training, meeting, preparation, emailing, etc. to make all these happened. And most importantly, it acknowledges our passion, faith, and whatever we’ve done for what we love…

Coexistence of nature and development, and human who trying to seek balance between

Special thanks must also go to our sponsors WildSingapore and PADI-AWARE. Without their funding, we would not achieved our primary objective, which is to raise public awareness on the marine environment of Singapore, and produce a cool breed of guides, who manage to translate complicated facts into digestible information for their laymen visitors, as well as making learning fun and exciting.

To sum up this post, let’s see what some of our visitors said:

“It has been a really intriguing and enriching experience! Thanks for organising and look forward to more“, Ying Ying (the 1000th RW visitor
“WOW! Seeing coral without diving - great, awesome!“, Ranee

“This is an excellent walk! Well worth the ‘waking up at an unearthly hour’! It’s amazing how much nature & marine life exists in S’pore. Thank you for organising the walk“, Seetha

“Thanks for bring alive a seemingly dead place! We had fun!“, Ber Luen & Gwen

Well.. We thank you all for your support!

*Akan datang* Look out for the personal account of this special walk from Papa Jeff, the papa of BWV and RW.

Interested in joining RW or BWV? See our website, join our mailing list, and be the first to know of the latest happenings!

Yes, BWV reef guides were out once more at Kusu Island on 29 April 2006 with a group of 24 teachers and their families from St Anthony’s Primary. The school had asked BWV to organise the reef work as one of the activities of the school’s Science Department’ s ‘Environmental Awareness Through Care and Protection’ project this year.

It was great to be with these enthusiastic teachers who decided that at least for that morning, they’re on the listening end of the talk. Besides the usual marine life found at Kusu, this time we saw an exceptional number of Portunus pelagicus a.k.a. Flower crabs. However, none of the crabs are for picking.

Well, we didn’t spot any dugongs during the walk. Dugongs were previously common and there were some encounters in local waters. But we’re hopeful that with increasing environmental awareness and polution controls, some will take permanent residence one day the waters off our Southen Islands.

We also had a group of BWV ReefWalk trainees who were there for their practical test! And four of them will be awarded their certificates of graduation at the next public ReefWalk on 30 April 2006. And if you’re wanna know more about becoming a ReefWalk guide, visit our website or drop us a note.

The rehearsal (by kukubird):

Welcoming us were the common sea stars (Archarster typicus)

Trond explains the stars

Yong Xiang talking about the Napolean’s Hat seaweed (Avrainvillea sp.)

The anemone shrimps (Thor amboinensis) checking out on the budding reef guides

Our first sighting of a sandfish sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) at Kusu!

Sasirat showing a hermit crab(?)

I can live here, forever..

Accompanied Ria and the Wild Films crew to Kusu Island during the early March lowtide together with a bunch of students from Duke University and their professor, Dr Dan Rittschof.

That was great fun! It was almost like attending an outdoor marine biology class, and Dr Rittschof provided several fascinating details on the marine life that we found on the inter-tidal reef flat. I was so absorbed and caught up in trying to distill as much information as I could that I finally gave up trying to take pretty pictures at the same time :).

But managed to take a few below, happy viewing!

The moon snail- placid-looking but a ferocious predator of smaller snails

For some reason, the tidal pools seem to be full of flatworms, all trying to meet each other? Maybe the water was full of pheromones, or the new moon is just such a romantic time.

Love is in the air….

…And for these nudibranchs too!

We found a nice big sea hare next to the jetty pillar to round off the evening. This one squirts purple ink!

Up on shore, a ghost crab freezes in the glare of our torchlights. A rare sight!

nov 5 was a special day for a couple of reasons, namely because i like that day, and mostly because it was our RW family day. the time where guides bring their families and nag about not taking sea-shells home and where new trainees tag along to learn the ropes. and where else better to spend a lovely saturday evening than in the serene, scenic shores of Kusu?

“i toldcha today is JUST FOR US“

“i’m a yellowbird today.. u can see me from far far away..”

there was a huge turnout of about 90 participants, mostly guests of guides and trainees. considering the massive downpour of cows and donkeys in the morning, we were all quite happy for the clear skies in the evening walk. it was pretty encouraging to see so many new trainees, all of whom i don’t recognise. doesn’t matter tho’, different people, same heart for our environment. i’m a bit annoyed with dusk walks because the sun seems to disappear too fast before i can talk enough about the sand and why sea shells should be left to hermit crabs.

anyway, we saw a net in the lagoon stretching from the shore all the way to the breakwater. and 2 flowercrabs stuck in the net, apparently still alive. bernard said his group saw 5 flowercrabs and a flatfish which was half-gone. unfortunately we didn’t have any means of setting the crabs free but i had a perfect specimen to talk about soft-shelled crabs. i always love the stunned silence after they find out soft-shelled crabs are poor, vulnerable crabs who just wanna grow bigger. this crab that was stuck in the net snapped at us quite menacingly after i tried to prod it to see if it was still alive. we also saw a number of carpet anemones, the most interesting one was in the midst of eating a couple of ikan bilis and an entire crab! that definitely kept my group entertained for a while. and to think that it eats with and excretes from the same place… was asked how the gentle-looking carpet anemone could actually devour such a huge crab, hard shell and all. teaches us not to judge anything by its appearance huh. (especially the female species). fascinating things, carpet anemones. especially when they’re in the process of eating some ridiculously huge things like crabs, fish, shoes, itchy-fingered participants…

chee han & may spotted a peacock anemone in the darkness, submerged underwater with its tentacles swaying gently with the currents. proof that anemones aren’t all that ugly and squishy looking after all. this particular one is one of the nicest i’ve seen in our southern islands.

our overstayers (i.e. campoverniters) saw 3 ghost crabs on the beach later that nite. prettiest things ever. one was blur enough to think that its shell camouflaged with the sand so well such that the 7 eager beavers crowding around couldn’t see him. it scuttled away quite fast the moment our orang asli (aka MS) put it down. now such long long eyes you have, grandma crab? why, all the better to see you with my dear…

no reefwalk’s ever complete without food, critters and company (in order of importance)

food never stops. very rude ar, this photographer, take pix of people with their mouths full. but i must say, the boat ride back to clifford pier took a different route, and we were treated to a nice sea view of our classy, overpriced cbd buildings.

i’ve always loved boat rides. especially those on scenic routes. p/s: thanks to ivan and MS for most of the pix!

Since some of you just can’t get enough of my corny jokes, here’s a few more to get you aching all over till the next time we meet!

What do you call a sea slater’s aunty?

- Ah-soh-pod


For my fellow Star Wars fans…

Why was C3-P0 laughing on the shore?

- Cos he was hanging out with hydroids


What do you call an albino peanut worm?

- Kacang putih