These two Mondays have been totally different in term of “bluishness”. This Monday gave me some kind of withdrawal syndrome as I did nothing but fix my car and some photos over last weekend, while last last weekend was packed with ReefWalk and HantuBlog dive (or perhaps I was too tired on that Monday to feel any bluishness). So, to get rid of the blue, what else can be better than reminiscing the event I miss doing on weekend?

After four months and a couple of oversea trips to Malaysian Borneo and Indonesia, I was finally back guiding on the Sep 29 ReefWalk. Last ReefWalk we bid farewell to Wai who has gone study at N. Carolina, USA. This ReefWalk we welcome back Jani, who has completed her MSc at Newcastle, U.K. *clapclapclap* Thanks to her and Dionne, we saw lots of AMAZING stuff during the walk!!!

what other Cs would you hunt & seek for in Singapore? no prize for guessing
these are mine: Cuttlefish, Clownfish, Catfish, Chromodoris, Corals, Cowries, Crabs, and er.. seaCucumber?

I’m not going to talk much about the sightings as Juanhui has probably summed it up nicely. Just throw in a couple of nudibranch(s) for your viewing pleasure:

blue dragon, Pteraeolidia ianthina

Chromodoris lineolata

Cap it with “the reason why we MUST wear proper footwear and avoid walking into water pool”:

my second stonefish in the lagoon

and something that puzzled me for awhile:

looks like toy-ball, feel like toy-ball, but should be a sponge

Of course, other than the creatures, we always enjoy

the satisfaction of sharing knowledge and passion,

the thrill of riding new boat,

and the FRIENDSHIP!

Guides out there, if you miss all these, join us come Oct 27, the very last walk of 2007 . Surprise awaits!

= MS =

What a glorious day it was out on Kusu Island on the 21st of April 2007. There was a high turnout of guides at the last minute and many OJT guides got a taste of guiding-full-on for the first time. They did a great job and were probably good enough without the last minute mugging at Marine South Pier. Participant turnout was great too, with very few no shows.

The skies threatened to open up on the way to Kusu but when we reached the island, the weather was perfect. A bit cloudy but we managed to catch the sunrise.

Critters were out in full force and I personally saw at least 4 octopuses (octopi?). I’m sure the participants saw at least one each. Apart from the anemones with shrimp and seastars (which have become resident sightings by now), we also saw a fire clam (wow!), a small squid (cute!), some jellyfish (yay!), onchidiums (slugs!) and many other thingies.

I had a wonderful time just pottering around before setting up the booth. Business was great that day and I even sold off one of the browsing copies of the Chek Jawa Guidebook. That was highly embarrassing- selling a tattered book with the words “browsing copy” scrawled on the front. But it goes to show that Singaporeans are getting very interested in our own local marine life. One participant even signed up to be a reefwalk guide on the spot.

If you wrote a blog post of that day, do let us know so we can link you on our blog! Read about some other people’s accounts of that walk:

cWitch’s multiply site

Juanhui’s blog

See you at Kusu Island next time!

Most of the nudibranchs that I’ve seen thus far are rather small probably less than 100mm but this spanish dancer which we saw on our 20 Jan ReefWALK beats them all.

Since many of them are brighly coloured, which indicates that they don’t taste nice, why aren’t most of them of such sizes? hmm…

Guides and participants waiting outside the carpark gates of the Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal.

Torches, something you normally don’t carry around, came in handy this morning … I bet the inhabitants of the lagoon thought that E.T. was visiting them

Limpets on a rock. Limpets are mollusks that seal themselves in with a small amount of water so they don’t dry out while the tide is out. In WW2, scuba commandos would sink enemy ships using “limpet mines” - mines that that had a strong magnet and were stuck to the bottom of ships.

Barnacles are crustaceans that spend all of their adult life on their backs … they stick their legs out into the water and filter food particles. Unlike the limpets (which has a single complete shell) the barnacle’s “shell” is composed of a series of plates. The hinged “doors” at the top of the shell lock tight when the tide goes out, trapping a small amount of water.

Some of the guides having a well-deserved breakfast after the walk.

This walk ended on a high note for the Reef Walk programme, as we celebrated the occassion of our 1000th visitor to Kusu. As previously reported by Ming Sheng, BWV was formed on 14th February 2004, Reef Walks commenced on 14th November 2004, and this was our 14th reef walk. A happy coincidence of the number 14!

Ying Ying, our 1000th Reef Walker! Congrats and thanks for your support! Also, check out MS in our BWV polo-T!

We also celebrated the graduation of our latest batch of guides, and also presented certificates of appreciation to people who have helped previously with the Reef Walks, either as organisers or as trainers.

Trond, one of our graduating guides, who is also doing his Masters degree at NUS.

Yihao, one of the many who received a certificate of appreciation (for his previous work in the Reef Walk committee).

As a final note, you will notice our guides spotted our brand new, hot off the press polo-Ts … a nice solid navy blue colour, the polo-Ts had a simplified BWV logo embrioded on the front, and, for those who requested, our names on the right sleeve. This would give our volunteers a greater sense of identity and presence at our events.

I am sure the next group of reef walkers will have as good a time as we did at the next Reef Walk on May 28. Thanks for all your support and see you all soon!