Sunrise doesn't last all morning, a cloudburst doesn't last all day.

I took some photos of the sunrise at Tanah Merah shore the last time i went there:


There are mix responses to these photos - some people thought they werent taken in Singapore, and some people thought they were pictures of sunsets.

and i like:

and


and some nice pictures in sentosa:

And this reminds me of that thunder cloud in the short film before the movie UP!:


Nicely summed up by George Harrison:

Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Sunset doesnt last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away

Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
Its not always going to be this grey

Hope you guys liked this random post (:

More than just Orientation Games & Tanning Sessions: Sentosa with TeamSeagrass 21/8

Traditionally, Sentosa is the place I associate with tanning sessions with Chai and Anty, playing lame and very wet orientation games and well, basically anything touris-y and commercial. Pictures i take usually looks like this:

I think its an automatic reaction - whenever a peacock/peahen/peachick/peawhatever appears, everyone will whip out their cameras and frantically start snapping away. Unfortunately, I am too, a victim of such a reaction.

or these:

However, there's a 'wild' side of Sentosa that many of us overlooked. I was lucky enough to discover that non-commercialised side of Sentosa last Friday with TeamSeagrass. There is a stretch of intertidal-shore and a patch of coral rubbles at the western end of Sentosa. I wouldn't blog about the specific location, will explain myself later in the post!

The idea of us going there at 5.45 AM, is not simply to poke around that exposed patch of coral rubbles during superlow tide. We were there to work! (yes, work!!):

Here's Chun Foong and Jia Rui at their site, writing down the data,

and there's Kah Ming and I, probably trying to differentiate seagrass from seaweed there:

(photos of us working taken by Marcus)

Being the new-bird, I was assigned to pair up with Kah Ming, who very patiently explained the procedures to me. Broadly-speaking, what we did was to note down the percentage of Seagrass in a particular site, with the aid of the above ingenious grid. The type of seagrass, and the amount of algae found on the seagrass were also noted. These datas are collected a few times annually to monitor the health of our natural seagrass.

On top of this, TeamSeagrass is part of a global Seagrass monitoring organization based in Australia, and thus, by collecting such data, we are also contributing to the study of the global patterns and distribution of seagrasses.

Now you may be wondering, what's so great about Seagrass, aren't they just plants growing in the water?!

well, firstly SEAGRASS is NOT SEAWEED. It's like comparing your garden plants with those annoying dandelions that grow everywhere and smoother your plants.

this is a picture of a certain species of seagrass:

and these, my friends, are seaweeds:

(pictures credited to Marcus Ng)

I know I know, its hard to tell them apart and being a geographer, I'm especially lousy at that. But don't worry! We'll get there eventually : D

anyways, my point about seagrass is that, they are very important as they:

#1 Provide a nursery for young fishes to mature

#2 Are home to many marine species (fact: five times as many fish live over seagrass beds as over seafloor made up of mud and sand)

#3 Decrease coastal erosion

I know the first 2 points are frightfully important, however, Im more inclined toward the 3rd point.

Coastal erosion is damaging to beaches (and effect which Ivan has blogged about) and the trees on the shore. With Seagrass beds, the root network consolidate sediments and reduces wave energy. Hence, protecting the shore from further wave erosion.

To illustrate points 1 and 2, here are some intertidal organisms spotted that day:

This is an anemone, really pretty green frills it has!

and the Lightning-Dove Snails, they enjoy forming clusters. Kinda sweet in a weird way (Jiayi, stop tearing your hair out).

And this huge Red-Egg Crab that was strangely camera-friendly. Its color warns predators and probably humans crab-eaters that it is poisonous and it will be ill-advised to consume it. My mom thought it was cooked HAHAHAHAHAH.

and also, several species of Corals, both soft corals:

kah Ming thinks they are known as "Deadman's fingers". I love the name!!

and hard corals.. or is this an anemone, im not sure:

There are really more organisms there, but I didn't manage to photograph them, probably because I was too fascinated with the Sedimentary Rock Cliffs there. You can refer to the teamseagrass blog for more pictures of the marine creatures!

So exciting!!!!!!!!

CLIFFS IN SINGAPORE - now, isn't that something new! and of all places, in SENTOSA. the most commercialised tropical island on earth.

The post is getting too long, and I have an American history lecture tomorrow at 10am HAHAHA so let me keep you in suspense. STAY TUNED! (:

Here's a teaser ^^:

Love, serene!

Special Thanks to:

-Marcus for guiding, Kah Ming for putting up with my newness and teaching me many many things, Chunfoong, Abby, Joo Yong and Jia Rui for sharing this experience with me (:

-the water monitoring team led by Chenko for sharing this with me as well!

We would shout and swim about, the corals that lies beneath the waves: Tanah Merah 25/7 (II)

The previous post introduced some of the many critters at Tanah Merah, and of course i harped on the rubbish i encountered. to prove my point that Creeper Snails are really everywhere (i have a weird obsession with them im not sure why) :

Here they are again, crawling all over this poor Sea Urchin, which can be commonly sighted at Changi but hardly at Tanah Merah.

anyways, we also saw some interesting Anemones on the shore:

like this very plain Anemone above that they nick-named "Bob", due to its lack of features (however, no one has yet to identify it).

and this one quietly buried in the sand, waiting to strike. i would have missed it if not for Liana's sharp eyes.

I especially love this one here. how some of suction/tentacles are opened and some are closed.

For many people like me who didnt know, Anemones arent as innocent as they look. they are actually pretty fierce predators. they look pretty, however, they can sting and release toxins which are highly toxic and likely fatal to fishes and crabs. This gives the Anemones its 'sticky' and kinda soapy feeling when touched.

A particular group of fishes, the Anemonefish (a very creative name), are immuned to their stings. yes, Nemo the clownfish belongs to that group.

Well, since i quoted the Beatles song as my title, i will have to talk about the Coral Garden right next to Tanah Merah Jetty.

its right on the other side of this seemingly friendly seawall:

no biggie people, just climb over it and you'll get to coral land!!!

okay im kidding. please DO NOT attempt to climb this seawall if you are on your own. the stones are coated with algae and sea muck, making it really slimy and slippery.i swear i nearly died climbing over it. i was distracting myself by talking to ivan and he said he would write me a nice epitaph if i die haflway. so, DO NOT climb it on your own. on the other side:

i have to admit it was worth it. i never thought i would ever see something like this in mainland singapore. coral rubble, live corals, rocks rocks and more rocks. it was semi-heaven for me.

These are corals i believe, but i was too far away perched precariously on a lone rock, to take good pictures. i was too scared to step down in case i step on a Stonefish.

and i believe this picture below is a coral rubble:

Im sorry to say this, but i never knew that corals are living creatures till i took the Biophysical Env of Singapore module in NUS. i just thought they were pretty marine structures. BUT i now know corals are alive! and they (*refers to textbook):

- thrive in clear, warm waters and are mainly found in the tropics. (this is where geography comes in!)

- feed on plankton and other tiny swimming animals which they immobilize with their stinging cells (kinda like the anemones)

for more a more detailed post on the Coral Garden, visit Koksheng's blog! i kinda freaked out halfway and went back. so i didnt get the great pictures that he did.

anyways, tomorrow for the geography of tanah merah shore! please stay tuned.

love, serene!

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hi hi hi there!

#2 Rocky candidate

This rock came from the White Chalk Cliffs of Dover, England. The cliffs are of very fine grained Limestone. If you look at the first picture (Click to enlarge), the grains are really tiny.

This Limestone consist of:

- Calcium Carbonate (the white parts), which depositions of skeletal remains of planktonic algae and other sea-bed dwelling organisms come together to form sediments of CaCO3.

- Flint (the black reflective parts of the second picture)

- Quartz (small colorless crystals of the third picture)

Limestone is a sedimentary rock, meaning it's made of various minerals being cemented together over time. and whats so special about this particular stone is that, the entire cliff was once below the ocean.

Since the calcium carbonate part came from depositions of sea-dwelling creatures, it is evident that tectonic activites over the millions of years uplifted that part of the seabed upwards. and the years of weathering then, exposed the chalk cliff!

beautiful isnt it? (:

(source: answersingenesis)

Thanks John, you couldnt have chosen a better rock! (:

If you were an ocean, I'd learn to float: Tanah Merah Shore 25/7 (I)

On a bright and early Saturday morning... okay scratch that, on a DARK and REALLY early Saturday morning, 4AM:

(this is the view outside my window)

i crawled up, looking forward, to my first unguided intertidal trip to Tanah Merah shore. according to Kok Sheng, its the best mainland reef in Singapore. i just have to see it for myself

Firstly, some background info on the Tanah Merah area. "Merah" means "Red" in malay, and Tenah Merah was once famous for its red lateritic cliffs.

okay, dont get all worked up over the word "lateritic", it simply means weathered material rich in aluminium and iron. Thus, giving it a reddish tinge. The cliffs, i suppose, are now gone, after massive reclamation occured in the early 1970s. what a pity ):

sometimes development really compromises the natural environment, and unfortunately for singapore, natural landscapes are often placed behind development, due to the Brown Agenda that Singapore adopts. I.e. the government is more concerned with end-of-the-pipe pollution monitoring, instead of conservation.

nevertheless, the reclaimed shore is still brimming with life:

Like these flat heads, a black one and a BW stripped one. i love how they are so placid. unlike some of the other gan-chiong fishes which totally freaked out when we walked a little closer.

we also saw this very very very cute Sweetlip fish. it looks sleepy! im dedicating this picture to the Sweet Leaf karin (:This is one of the very gan-jiong fishes im talking about - a Flat Fish (note different from Flathead). go a little closer to it and it will swim away, rather violently.

And this is a Rabbitfish. its very much alive, i assure you, for it is submerged in the shallow water. however, it attempted to kill itself a couple of times. and we had to nudged it back into the water, and it would violently swim out again. it happened like... 6 times.

'Rabbitfish'- the name makes it sound pretty harmless. however, the spines on the fins contain venomous glands that will sting if touched. its a defensive tool instead of an offensive one, as they are herbivores.

The shore is literally covered with these Creeper Snails, i tried to avoid stepping on them but to no avail. Liana also showed me these very beautiful Dubious Nerite Snails (yes thats their real name DUBIOUS huh) :

they are so incredibly tiny! i thought that they were simply larger grains of sediments. however, if you noticed, each individual snail has different markings on its shell.

This is an orange Moonsnail, so pretty!

This is an Acorn Worm (up). it 'eats' the sediments and extracts the organic materials in the sediments and later passes the rest of the sediments out (down).

This is a Fan Worm when its closed up. And when it is opens, it looks like this:

and another Fan worm of different color, incredible arent they. i used to think that all worms are gross till i saw them.

and there is my favourite, the Peanut Worm:

they are burrowing creatures, and here is an example of a kaypo worm poking out to the surface:

we later saw a whole bunch of different crabs on the shore, most which i cannot identify. like these:

#1

hahaha look at their eyes!

#2

#3

and this is a Moon Crab:

and a very fierce Flower Crab which tried to giap Liana:

its amazing isnt it. that all these could be seen on a reclaimed shore, filled with litter:

(i cant write a proper post without commenting on the rubbish i see) and notice those black dots around the rubbish? they are really the Creeper Snails i mentioned above.

this post is getting a little long hahahaa.

stay tuned for the next one, on the anemones and other critters that we spotted (or at least they spotted HAHAHA). and also the physical geography factors behind it all! This is only the beginning!!! (:

Love, serene!

Special Thanks to: Koksheng for organising this trip, Liana, James and Ivan for company (:

Special Thanks to: Ria for helping me figure out what is wrong with my blogger dashboard!!!

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On a completely unrelated note, ive started a rock collection. my friends who went travelling picked up many many rocks for me along the way. and after every post, i'll talk a little bit about one of them.

so the first candidate:

this is a volcanic rock and it came from Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand. Serchung picked it up for me when he was there for some army training thing (a very convenient valentine's day present).

IT WAS ONCE UNDER THE EARTH'S SURFACE!!!!

okay anyways, Mt Ruapehu is a very active stratovolcano. Its eruptions are explosive in nature, very much UNLIKE those in Hawaii, which eruptions are more subdue. an example of an eruption at Mt Ruapehu:

(source: http://www.craigpottongallery.com/gallery)

the lava (magma = molten rock under the earth's surface, lava = molten rock on the earth's surface), is Andesitic in nature. Andesitic, meaning it has marine mineral influence, as the mt ruapehu is form when the Oceanic crust subducts under a less dense oceanic crust.

This process injects the ocean water into the molten rock (magma) mixture and when the molten mixture comes up to the surface during an eruption, it cools to form the rock i have.

did i lose you guys there? (i think jiayi just fainted). a diagram wld be good here:

(source: USGS)

This process is still taking place today. as one plate continues subducting under the other. it has been taking place over millions and millions of years. HAHA and i have a bit of that history sitting on my desk right now. (:

i love plate tectonics and i promise there will be more of such stuff to come.