Survey of one site at Semakau proceeded smoothly today, despite the terribly murky waters in the morning. Visibility was only about 1.5m, but improved over time to become more than 2.5m. Water colour remained green all through the dive, unlike the almost-blue of the previous months. Water at the shallows was also hot … a scorching 31 degC. It was much cooler at the deeper transect (maybe 29 degC), and Sargassum was beginning to dominate the shallows. Seems to be early this year - will need to compare with our previous surveys to see if this is a “normal” occurrence for this site.

Thanks to Yan who organised the trip, and Zi Wee, Darryl, Rachel, Kee Seng and Eunice for volunteering!

Cheers, Jeff

Hi folks,

Hantu was surveyed by a mixed team of BWV old-timers and newbies. Thanks to everyone’s enthusiasm, we still managed to complete our work in a timely manner. The results of the coral surveys follow:

Cheers, Jeff

When:
Theory: 11, 16, 18 and 23 Dec 08
Practical: To be decided on the first day of the course

Time: 7pm to 10pm

Location:
Classroom 4, Botany Centre, Tanglin Core, Singapore Botanic Gardens

What will the course cover:
- What is BWV all about?
- What is the Reef Friends survey about?
- Basic coral reef facts
- Survey techniques

Cost:
The course will cost S$100. This will only cover admin costs (training materials, room bookings etc). It will not include costs for the practical sessions (there will be a minimum of two practical sessions).

Sign up:
Please sign up here.

Reef Friends Coordinators

With all the data in and checked, here are the results for the coral reef survey at Raffles Lighthouse on 11 Oct 08. Pretty awesome numbers for coral cover - along with the photos of animals we saw during the survey, makes this one of our best sites.

The shallow transect

The deep transect

Since Chay Hoon didn’t have enough time to take many photos, I thought I’d share these that I took while doing the general reef survey.

A school of three Many-spotted Sweetlips (Plectorhynchus chaetodontoides). I was told later by the fish surveyors that another two were under the coral head below these three.

Two HUGE Ceratosoma nudibranchs.

A fairly uncommon Lemon Damsel (Pomacentrus moluccensis). Last time I saw this was in 2003, I think.

NUS had a research project there are Satumu, using fiberglass modules as substrate for corals to grow on. The results, I would say, speak for themselves (at least for this site):

And despite Satumu being so far away from the mainland, you can still this, which I removed.

Gunny sack wrapped around a coral.

More stories and photographs on the Satumu dive at Chay Hoon’s and Hui Bing’s blogs, and also pictures on Raffles Lighthouse itself (OK, just the one, actually) and the underwater fauna that call it home at my Pulau Satumu set on Flickr.