Sentosa Seagrass Transect Day!

Finally, after all the preparations, it is The Day!

More than 40 volunteers turned up early this Saturday morning to document the seagrass on the last natural shore of Sentosa. The weather is wonderful, we manage to get to the shore safely and the fun begins!

All ready for action, the teams headed out all across the shores.


Laying out the lines.


Taking photos of the transect squares.


Counting the percentage cover of seagrasses
(taking special care to avoid including the Awful Algae).


This requires careful observation and recording.




Dr Raju is everywhere, taking down the GPS readings
of important points and doing a survey of the shore.

After the work is done, we very carefully walk out
to the outer shoreline as the tide receeded to a real low.


And explored many of the wonders out there.

Among the many things we saw, was this huge soft coral that looks like a pile of surgical gloves. We also saw octopus, jorunna nudibranchs, lots of hard corals, slipper corals sponges, and other marine life.

Meanwhile, Joseph Lai and his team are checking out the coastal flora. All the way from around the corner of the Tanjung Rimau beacon! No wonder we didn't see them for some time. I caught up with them as they explored a rocky pool with hard corals, fishes and other stuff.

It is quite challenging to survey this rocky cliff. Binoculars are needed. Here, the coastal flora team tries to bring down a bit of a rare plant sticking out of the tall rock face. As always, Angie's everyready umbrella saves the day, with a bit of throwing.

The team is most excited by the many rare coastal plants that can still be found on Sentosa's natural cliffs. "Podocarpus heaven!" Joseph exclaims. We await his wonderful photos and stories on his eart-h website

Also going on, is Siti's Team Seagrass doing a more complicated rectangular transect.

Throughout the day, the NParks team as well as the GIS team were everywhere lending a hand and giving advice. Thank you!

At the end of the day, we take a look at the frogfish that
Chay Hoon of wildfilms has specially found for everyone.

Isn't it so cute?!

This little fish has a lure at the top of its head to trick potential prey into coming closer. Whereupon the prey is engulfed in its huge mouth. Someone exclaimed "Oh dear, it's so well camouflaged, I might have stepped on one!"

As we gather back on the shore, we look at the photos of what we have seen.

Some kind people succumbed to my bullying to give an interview to wildfilms. Thank you! Sharing your thoughts will help other people understand how everyone can make a difference for our shores. We don't have to be scientists or specialists. Anyone can help.

The tide has come in and we turn in our data sheets. Some teams have been so diligent that they've done extra lines. And on own-self made data sheets! That's very impressive!

We take some group pictures. Here is Siti and her Team Seagrass
in their awesome special t-shirts made out for the event.

And a giant group photo! Thanks everyone!

Special thanks to the field commanders, Shoop and Albert;
Tiong Chin for driving in the working team; the NParks team for support;
and the gallant medvac team (thank goodness we didn't have to activate you guys).

At the end of the transect, two questions...

How do you wash what seems like several kilometres of tape
without ending up with a tangled mess?

...and what will happen to this wonderful Sentosa shore
with the impending developments at Pasir Panjang?

The transect will help provide a better understanding of Sentosa's last natural shore and thus changes that may happen to it. Each and every one involved in the transect made a difference. Thank you!