Changi Point marvels

We awoke to lighting and thunder and pouring rain. But we still headed out for Changi Point.

Although most people think it's dead, Changi Point is one of our favourites. In the past, it surprised us with nudibranchs, mantis shrimps, lots of peacock anemones and sea pens among seagrasses and seaweeds. It reminds us very much of Chek Jawa. One of the most spectacular sights on Changi Point that we have not seen anywhere else was a pile of 50 or so sea urchins, perhaps mating?

We were apprehensive this time around. There is heavy dredging going on in Changi Creek. We were afraid this would have smothered our favourite beach.

But this tiny shore continues to surprise us! The rain died down to a drizzle, then stopped completely. In the cool morning light, we came across these marvelous creatures...

The Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundata) is not often encountered.
This must be my first time this year! There were two of them (of course mating),
the other larger and with a much shorter tail...strange.

Among the seagrasses nestled small Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla sp.) not much larger than the seagrass blades themselves.

A pair of Pebble crabs (Family Leucosiidae) were mating! I haven't seen these crabs for nearly two years! The shore was also covered with small Thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis). Some were tiny, less than 2cm long. Among the feathery 'fronds' of a seapen was a tiny polka-dotted porcelain crab that often shelters in these sea pens.

We saw two different kinds of flatworms! My first time for Changi, although we have seen them on our other shores. There were also lots of fanworms. Out of the water, the feathery fans stick together making the animals appear to be bizarre blossoms. These worms are segmented like our more familiar earthworm (you can see a few segments in the photo above) and live in tubes.

But the most amazing find was this large seahorse. It's probably a papa seahorse as he had a big pouch. The shore also continues to be home to many peacock anemones, ball sea cucumbers and the other creatures we commonly see in the past. The seagrass also still looks healthy and happy.

Changi is very much alive!

Today, we also saw two men with a large changkul digging large holes on almost every patch of exposed shore in search of worms.

The guys dug up 4 large holes before my constant nagging drove them away. They only managed to find two worms after digging up a total of about 10m by 10m of shore.

We went through dugup areas and found sliced up sea cucumbers, peanut worms, carpet anemones, and other creatures. Seagrasses and mounds of tubeworms were also dug up. One of the survivors was this little Gong-gong (Strombus canius).

Shortly afterwards, another guy walked up with a yellow bucket to check the fish
traps he no doubt laid much earlier...

This stretch of Changi is popular with fishermen and there were lots of fishing lines left on the shore. As usual, these trapped crabs who die a needless and painful death.

The Unforgotten Paradise

Our Sunday started off with a long ride on the bumboat to this particular reef, which we'll simply call it BB. It is only exposed at very low tides and thus, WildFilms usually never let go off such opportunites to check out what's on it. Everyone was excited because the last time we went there was in 2004.

As it was still pitch dark in the early morning, we couldnt recognise where we were in the sea. We estimated our location by judging the lights from the opposite island but we still couldnt find that patch of reef. Everyone started to panic & rushed to the side to help locate ourselves in the middle of the sea. The boat tilted to the left very much but that wasn't the point. We were lost!!
We decided to nagivate around to continue searching, but to no avail and Ria decided to switch to Plan B - Sekudu, but suddenly someone exclaimed:"Is this the one?" With a closer look using our torches, everyone replied affirmatively. We've found BB!!

We unloaded all our stuffs as we landed and wandered off immediately so as to make use of the super low tide as much as possible.

BB was very muddy.Our feet sank in by 20cm at every step we made. Despite so, we could still see life on it!

We had the allied cowrie
crinoid
soft corals
purple polka-dotted flatwormsea urchin (Diadema setosum)nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae)with eggs at closer lookan unidentified nudibranch an UFO (Unidentified Fishy Object)& many many more!!

Kok Leong found an eel hiding in a hole and we decided to remove the piece of rock that covered the opening to take a closer shot of it. But slippery hands of Kok Leong dropped the rock into the hole, murking up the water & causing the eel to retreat further into the hole. The crew screamed at poor Kok Leong as he made the most innocent face of the year.

Something about WildFilms trips. We always get to see the most beautiful sunrise of everyday.
Our time on BB was very limited, given the fact that we'd spent near half an hour trying to locate BB and the fast rising tides, we had to leave before we drown ourselves.

Back on the bumboat back to mainland, all were tired, thirsty and hungry, but we still looked very energetic, chatting about the animals we just saw.

We hope to have more chances to visit BB and continue to discover life on it. It will, however, be next year when we'll have extremely low tides again. Sigh. Fortunately, we managed to find its location and enjoyed our Sunday at BB.

Till next year (or hopefully soon) we meet again, BB! =D

The Crab and I

Hi. First off, let me just say that if you ever go with Wildfilms to Labrador, be prepared for some 'gymnastics' and low wall hurdles...

So there I was, merrily looking here and there, when out of the corner of my newbie eyes, I see....


Yup. Turns out he's a common resident in our shallow, subtidal areas. The fuzzy wuzzy pilumnus vespertilio is pretty darn cute. Can you see his 'ittle red eyes?



Guess he had enough of the papparazzi. Time to hunker down in a cozy little den.






"Can't a crab get some privacy these days? Sheesh, you humans and your happy snappy digi-cams". Ah well, time too leave Mr. Crabby alone I guess...

Bats in the Belfry

We had a visitor tonight, courtesy of the fruiting trees outside base camp. He has now been dubbed Bruce the Bat. We noticed his pile of droppings this morning, but didn't see him. So when we heard suspicious plopping sounds shortly after Battlestar Galactica ended, we rushed out to have a look.


Cynopterus sphinx

And then we ran for the gear..


Since we have no long lens, we had to get as close as possible to get all the details.


Can you see the bat up there? It nicely cooperated by flipping itself over, hanging by its arms on the ledge, and relieving itself.

It missed the printer and the cupboards (barely), so Ria decided to be nice and not implement any of the evil anti-bat measures we were contemplating earlier.



As this post is being written, Tom is busy watching the bat (hopefully with his mouth closed), just in case it does something else, now that we've set up the lighting and settings properly.

Ursula's cave

Remember the Mermaid that finally arrived in the mail?

Now officially dubbed Ursula (with reference to the fat witch mermaid in The Little Mermaid because it weighs a ton), it has a new home!


Wonder how much the whole contraption weighs.

Guess we'll find out soon enough..

Crabby Rescue

Moon was shining bright above our heads on this particular morning of another super low tide. As excited as always, we set off immediately in search of the butterfly fishes and the stone fish, just hoping we can catch another glimpse of them, but, Chay Hoon pointed at something on the bottom and exclaimed...

"Pots!"
To our horror, we saw a pot with 3 crabs in it. Poaching in Chek Jawa!

Chay Hoon followed the line that laid along the bottom & she found a second pot. More pots as we walked with her. Within that 30 minutes walk, we'd unfortunately lost count of how many pots had actually been laid but we realised that it actually stretched from the middle of the coral rubble, all the way out into the water! That's a very large area covered!

The unlucky crustaceans trapped were mainly the orange swimming crab (Thalamita anisodon),the flower crab (Portunus pelagicus) and the stone/thunder crab (Myomenippe hardwickii)and one of the flower crabs even had roes!

According to Tom, he claimed he didnt see any pots on Thursday early morning and thus, he concluded that the pots were probably placed on Thursday night. This was a sigh of relief. If the pots were placed longer, more crabs would have been caught!

Luckily, Chay Hoon brought along a pair of scissors and cut the nets...and crushed the metal frame
We continued to release all the crabs from most of the pots and reported to NParks, requesting them to remove all the pots from Chek Jawa as soon as possible to prevent ghost fishing.

After the crabby business was over, we returned to our normal routine.

We are so happy to see the crabs waving their pincers as they danced in the moonlight.
WildFilms rescued pot-trapped crabs!

Butterflies on the Beach

This morning, the shores were full of butterflies.
Butterflyfishes that is.

We regularly see the Copperbanded butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) on all our shores. This pretty fish is sometimes seen in a pair.


But it is not common to see the Kite butterflyfish (Parachaetodon ocellatus).


This morning, however, we saw lots and LOTS of them!


What is even more amazing is that they appeared to hover near Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla sp.). Carpet anemones will eat fishes, crabs and almost anything that gets trapped in their sticky tentacles. A few creatures like shrimps have been seen living safely among their tentacles, but I haven't heard or read about these butterflyfishes living in the same way with Carpet anemones.

We saw about 15 of these butterflyfishes swimming above two Carpet anemones.


Elsewhere in other pools were the same butterflyfishes, in twos or threes. This is the first time I've seen so many of them at the same time!

More Butterflyfish Facts...

False eyes: When seen sideways, the large ‘false eye’ on the dorsal fin of the butterflyfish fools predators into thinking that it is a big fish! And if a predator does attack it, the butterflyfish unexpectedly swims ‘backwards’. Its real eye is concealed by a colorful band. The flat body of the Butterflyfish makes it almost disappear when seen from above or head on. Being very flat, the butteflyfish can also slip into narrow cracks.

Long snout: Butterflyfishes nibble on or small creatures found on the bottom such as worms. Those with a long snout like the Copperbanded butterflyfish can probe crevices and other hiding places and uses the snout like a pair of chopsticks. Others use their shorter snouts to nip off soft food. Other Butterflyfishes may also eat sponges, fish eggs, plankton and small algae. The snout of a Butterflyfish has brush-like teeth: they belong to the Family Chaetodontidae -- 'Chaetodont' means 'bristle-tooth' in Greek.

Unfortunately, these were not the only flies we encountered on the shore...we were plagued by sandflies and other biting flying bugs. They were so thick at times we were choking on them as we breathed in.

At the same time, Tom had a disturbing First Sighting; see his entry on the Ubin Volunteers blog. Just when we thought it was safer in the Northern Shores and that these these creatures were only found in the Southern Shores...

In a few hours' time, we'll be out there again to discover more marvels on our shores.

Octo-Love: Tentative Tentacles

How do octopuses* do it?
With eight arms, mind boggling possibilities spring to mind.

5am: It's a full moon. We are on Sentosa and it's Octo Party Time.

But first, we have to FIND the octopus.

Here's one!


But wait, why does it have one tentacle stretched out like that?


Waaay at the other end of the tentacle is ....

... ANOTHER octopus.


Something is going on here!


After a while, Miss Octopus turns brown and decides to leave the scene, after puffing a few choice words. But Mr Octopus still keeps a white tentacle in/up/on her, even as she moves about.


As she forages among the stones, pretending to ignore him, he still keeps in touch. Though always at a safe max tentacle-length. He is obviously a bit nervous. Octopuses often turn white when stressed.

As she disappears under a rock, he comes a little closer.



While he is looking down the hole she disappeared into, she extends a tentacle out from the OTHER side of the rock to feel him herself. It seems all girls know how to play hard to get.

We don't really know if they did IT after all.

Well, at least we now know, octopuses hardly hug.

Sentosa was crawling with life. Mating with each other, eating each other, generally
having a blast.

*Octopus Grammar: One octopus, two octopuses. NOT octopi and certainly not octopussies.

The Science of Octopus Love: Octopuses are generally solitary creatures that avoid each other. But during the mating season, the male will wander in search of females. The male octopus has a modified third arm, usually the third right arm. This arm has a spoon-shaped tip and a groove along the length of the arm. He inserts the tip of this arm into the female's oviducts (place where her eggs come out) and inserts small packets of sperm (spermatophores). She stores these until she is ready to lay her eggs. It is believed that she mates only once, while the male mates with as many females as he can. He dies soon after the mating season ends.

Opening of Pulau Semakau - More Pics

We didn't get to do much filming today due to the rain, but at least this means I don't need to name all the equipment that I haven't been formally introduced to yet. So here's what we did in between filming bits and pieces of key moments.

Ivy & Chay Hoon seem to have gotten up on the right side of bed this morning:

But we couldn't say the same for "Mother"...

We were to be seated on Deck 3, which was supposed to be 'open-air', but instead we travelled to Semakau in style...

L-R: Chay Hoon, Bernie, Dionne, Tom, Ivy n her reflective --------, and Danwei.

Apart from a light drizzle, it was a clear and cool day on Semakau. After the Opening Ceremony, we were given picnic baskets packed with goodies:

Packed fried rice + mee goreng + sambal prawns + sweet & sour fish + chicken + vege, packets drinks, grass jelly, an apple, M&Ms and a small towel.

As pretty as they looked, the baskets were quite cumbersome, especially since we had to carry 2 each on top of all the equipment we were lugging, to feed the advance party from BWV and Toddycats who had taken the earlier ferry in. One of the Toddycats joked that we should have brought a bamboo pole to carry all the baskets and bags, and Tom regretted not bringing monopod, but some of us were rather happy carrying 'em baskets...

Chay Hoon, Ivy & I - going to the 'pasar'?

Even Tom...

When it was time to leave, we boarded the bus without Ria, thinking she was probably in the "VIP Coach". Ria however went back to the BWV booth to find everything packed up and everyone gone. I don't think we've heard the last of that yet.....

Semakau is Open!

Today, WildFilms, the Blue Water Volunteers and the Raffles Museum Toddycats represented the intertidal interest group at the Opening of Pulau Semakau for recreational activities.

It was pouring at the jetty! But when we arrived at Semakau, the weather lightened up. Eventually, it became a cool perfect day.


Prof Peter Ng turned up in the appropriate attire...for a romp in the mud. But it appears he had the last laugh as probably his feet were probably the driest of all of us.

When we arrived at Semakau Landfill, the usually austere buildings were decked out in balloons and there was a beautiful tent. Even the little ones had a fun time at the opening ceremonies.

Also invited were about 100 former residents of Pulau Sakeng; and the other two interest groups who have been looking into activities on Semakau: the Sports Fishing Association of Singapore and the Nature Society (Singapore).


Minister Yaacob officially opened the Landfill using a fishing rod to unveil the plaque. He later also gave out mementos to former Sakeng Village residents.


WildFilms, as usual, field savvy and taking the opportunity to take a short
break.


The bus tour was great fun with Mr Loo as our guide as he brought us to the tip of the landfill which had a great view of Raffles Lighthouse and the other outer Southern islands. On the way there we pass the booth where Blue Water Volunteers and the Toddycats have set up.


The Toddycats with NEA friends are at their touchpool. The Toddycats had come the day before to gather specimens so visitors could see and touch what can be found at the Semakau intertidal (Apparently, the Toddycats saw a whirlwind while they were there, see Siva's habitatnews). Unfortunately, it was high tide today so we couldn't bring visitors out to the shore.


Minister Yaacob is quite taken by the sea stars at the Toddycats touch pool...


...and he is even adventurous enough to nibble on the fruit of a mangrove bush. The elderly (and more experienced) Pulau Sakeng resident next to him later told him it was not yet ripe. "No wonder it's sour" Minister remarked :-)


The Blue Water Volunteers were also busy at work with their usual happy booth. Here taking pictures with NEA staff who worked so hard to make this event a succcess.


And Zeehan answers some questions and shares her experiences on our shores and
seas.


Minister also visited the Sports Fishing Association of Singapore booth where he takes a closer look at how fishing lures are made. The folks at the SFAS believe in catch-and-release and also undertake fish tagging.

NEA had arranged for everyone to have a picnic lunch in a huge basket, go cycling and to fly kites. There was also a fishing competition; and drawing event for the kids.


After making fun of his old schoolmate's effort at trying to fly a kite, Minister also gave it a try. With not much more success :-)


Some brave visitors even wandered off to the edge of the mangroves to have a closer
look at them.

It's fabulous now that Pulau Semakau is official opened!
For more about Semakau and our adventures there, see the Semakau Survey homepage

The Semakau Survey in the news!

On our Semakau Survey 26 Jun 05, we were joined by Teh Jen Lee, New Paper journalist and Chek Jawa volunteer; and Mohd Ishak, award winning photographer with the New Paper.

Their report about Semakau came out today, with some photos of Chay Hoon, and eeeks...me.


Here is Chay Hoon, with our trademark orange case, decked out in full body anti-sand fly armour! The most sensible thing to do when traversing the forests and mangroves of Semakau...

full report is on wildsingapore

The Not-So-Little Mermaid

Tom rips open the box that we've been waiting for soooo long.


Wow! She's a pretty thing isn't she! (Luci is waiting in the left corner to get a chance to mark her)


And quite manly too!


She feels like she weighs 5kgs. Quite a Big Girl (But of course to WildFilms this is nothing, since we are used to hauling several car batteries out for lighting)

With the NSL Mermaid, we can now shoot in 30m of water...which doesn't happen much at low tide, true.

But at least now cam operators can actually see what they are shooting and avoid silly situations like this....




Time to put the NSL Mermaid together and RTFM (Read The ****ing Manual)....
....but there's nothing like a manual in the box!

and nothing on the website either.

Time to call Dr "Let-Me-Fix-It" Low for a house call

(We of course first tried Mr Lee, but it appears he's out of town)

The guys eventually figure out how to put her together. Now time to fill up the bath tub and see if she is indeed watertight.

Meanwhile, there is some above water testing now, to the accompaniment of submarine sound effects courtesy of Dr Low.

We realise the bath tub plug don't work too good. We might need to use the washing machine...But wait! We find that putting a can of 100plus works nicely as a plug.

And she is pronounced waterproof!!

The guys are not very impressed though. Apparently, the assembly needs to be improved with strings (to pull out the cam) and a bunch of taping here and there. Sigh. All our equipment seem to require a whole bunch of jury-rigging. I suppose no one is crazy enough to abuse equipment the way we do.

Alvin, if you want to save the Girl, better come home soon before she gets seriously mangled...

Goodbye Manis

This evening, we had to say goodbye to Manis. She was very ill for a while. Stopped eating for more than two weeks. Serious organ failure. The vet said the prognosis was not good for a full recovery. I thought it best to let her go with dignity and before she is in serious pain.

Fifteen years ago, she came into our hearts (Kah Meng's and mine) as a little ball of fur. Eyes still blue, not yet 4 weeks old.


She grew up into a beautiful cat with a kinked tail. And an equally kinky personality.

Mostly gentle and sweet, she could become a ferocious beast when provoked. She used to taunt the neighbourhood dogs into coming close enough to the gate so she could slash their noses.

Unlike the other cats, she was always dignified and sure of herself. All WildFilms crew at Base Camp had to make way for her when she wanted to sleep THERE. Usually in the middle of the most comfy bed, on people's pillows or tucked up into the equipment bags. Leaving white fur in the most inconvenient of places.

She loved to get into all kinds of places where she wasn't supposed to.

Oops, guys...looks like our laundry basket is 15 years old too!

I will miss you dear Manis.

The crew, however, are not rid of pesky cats. Base Camp remains infested with them.

Lucifur the Prince of Darkness (whom we call Luci so as not to alarm people) is still drooling over everything and everyone. Especially reference books and video equipment. And sometimes our lunch.

Poor Luci is FIP positive and has a long-term gum problem. This causes him to drool constantly, in long stringy gobs. Sometimes a gob would hang 4-5 inches from his mouth. He would sit there oblivious and still try to look cute. When the end of the gob eventually drops off, the string of slime would recoil around his face. So cute right? Well, although the rest of the crew go ga-ga over slimy slugs; they don't seem to have the same reaction to slimy cats.

Perhaps it is another of Luci's little foibles that doesn't endear him to their hearts. Part of Luci's treatment is regular jabs of steroids. This makes him feel very manly, whereupon he will mark his territory, especially on new objects. Such as crew belongings (backpacks, sandals, clothes, towels), video equipment (especially new ones). Btw, the steroids have resulted in severe hair loss so he's not as handsome as he used to be. (As an aside, this adds credence to claims that balding men are more manly than furry men).


And of course there is Ginger. Who strictly rations the canned drinks at Base Camp.

Old grandma of 16 years, Ginger remains the healthiest of the lot, sprightly and quick. She is still the best hunter of them all and recently presented the crew at Base Camp with a fresh kill of zebra dove. Not sure why it was not appreciated. Perhaps the loose feathers and blood didn't help.

Cats.
What will we do with them.
What will we do without them.

Casualty Lists for July 6-11 Series of Trips

Casualties this time round were limited to damage to some of the primary members of the crew, and almost all of the events happened away from any trips:

Alvin picked up a bug in Cambodia, and had to recover in a horizontal position for more than a week prior to the trips' start date. On the one trip that he managed to join, he was coughing so much that he caused us to worry about infection.

Han Peng was involved in a crash, and managed to walk away from it, thank heavens. He seemed to have no visible injuries, but his reaction times seem to be slower than from observations of him made during previous trips.

Wai and Priss came down with food poisoning due to something they ate while working together. Both had to put away their cameras on Labrador, climb the gate, and run to the toilet. The greatest indignity? One mosquito bite on the leg. Guess where the rest were?

Ria had a headache the size of Jupiter starting the week before the trips' start date. I think we need someone to knock her out with something stronger than the tranquilizers the doctor gave her. Or convince her to rest, while the rest of the crew head out without her. The line in Spiderman goes: You're not SuperMan you know.
It applies here. Someone has to help me keep her inside when she feels like that.

Ria's cats also had various problems of their own. I think we would have heard if they had taken a turn for the worse, and since there is no news, I'll assume good news.

Other than that, the usual compliments of cuts, bruises, aches, general pain, and the agony of looking forward to a week of "normality".

This is the Singapore we want...YAY!!!

National Day is just next month & we had decided to make a 1-minute clip to be sent to CNA for the production of a documentary called "The Singapore I Want". Wai came up with an absolutely good idea, which is to use red knobbly sea stars to make the Singapore flag. And thus, we headed to Sekudu on 2 consecutive mornings to get the shooting done.

The night started out with intensive packing of equipment

Tripods,cameras, lights, just everything! even a 'stuffed chinchilla'.Hmmm...

We had full 'boat' on both mornings, exactly 12 people during the trip. We were told to dress in either red or white to show our patriotism for the country but we werent told to sit separately according to colors!!

It just happened naturally.

As soon as we reached Sekudu, all of us got into our normal routine.
In search for animals! And, of course, the stars of the day - the red knobbly seastars.

Awwww...beautiful sunrise!!!


We were extremely lucky. We found more sea stars than we expected and we tried to arrange it into a crescent and the 5 stars as similar to the Singapore flag.

But they just kept moving around =
Our first morning was rather dull. Wasnt as wonderful as the previous Sekudu trip. What we saw was just nudibranches, nudibranches & more nudibranches
But on our second morning, something attracted us all to a common spot.

What was so attractive huh?

Bet you didnt know. We got a snake!

Dr Chua found the file snake (Acrochordus granulatus) & Ria was so excited about it. Soon after, almost all the crew members rushed over. Ria said that the last time she ever encountered a snake during her trips was one year ago!

Wai seemed to love the snake very much

"Wow~~It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo CUTE!!"

Tom, on the other hand...Erm...

Either he's trying to stink that snake to death with his bad breath or just wanting to eat the snake up. Poor snake.

Haha. Just kidding.

Just minutes before the tide came in, we finally reached the climax of the trip. We were to shout "THIS IS THE SINGAPORE WE WANT....YAY!" with extreme enthusiasium but we all kept laughing at how fake we tended to sound in front of the camera. Oh gosh...

So, let's try imagine us screaming that line in all types of expression. We even tried the Ah Lian style, just trying to sound as local as possible, and I think only the "YAY!" was the only thing that could not make it. Errm...*embarrassed*. But we tried very hard already!!

The recordings done on the second morning looked better, probably coz we had become so experienced in shouting the lines over & over again. Of course, all of us were very happy with the recordings. Thumbs up, everyone! If possible, your big toes too! When we are happy, Mr Froggy is happy. So are the sea stars.


Back at Ria's place, we cleaned up everything & slacked at corners where we viewed our tapes.

We laughed ourselves to death while watching coz of the failure to express ourselves successfully in enthusiasium and hitting each other in the face and bottom as we raised our hands in the air. But we believe we can make it better...... next year?

We arent sure if our clip will be broadcasted, which apparently depends if the documentary producers from CNA survive from exhaustive laughs while watching our clip, but... let's just glue our eyes onto the TV on 9th August, yeah?

Sekudu was fun. Shouting that line was even more fun! Good job everyone!

Can I have one clap? *clap*

Two claps? *clap clap*

Hmmm.. that sounded familiar...
=D

Here's an addendum to the post by Cynthia above, in which the silly stuff that happened to us on Sekudu was recorded.

Han Peng is here observing the movement of seastars... You can imagine how long he was sitting there....


Han Peng provides the quote of the week:"You have to know what equipment to carry!"
Observe his soup scoop, with which he picks up delicate creatures, and the chair/box on which he sits, with which he also carries unknown quantities of snacks, drinks, and secret weapons....



Attaching the "dead cat/chinchilla" onto its pole is more challenging than you think... Have to pay attantion!




A shot of the framing being done near the "Frog Rock", in preparation for the actual filming.




And STRIKE A POSE!
Karen, Siti, Cynthia and Wai, acting.... I think the word to use is "cute"....



You can tell that Wai is very happy to be selected for some duty or other...



Get back to cleaning that Frog!



Faces have been deleted to protect the guilty.

Stuff to Do With Food

This is the bottom shelf of Ria's fridge.

What is the food used for?
Coke and 100Plus at the back? For instant fuel in the field, and there tends to be very little water in base camp, so..... also for hydration needs.

The apples, are not for eating. They are for rubbing on the front of the underwater housings so that sea water does not stick to them.

The catfood? That's for attracting critters like Eunice.




So.... What do you use food for? Eating? How boring.

Breakfast Revolution!!!

Breakfast to Wildfilm crews is having something edible before the start of any trip. And since we always leave the base camp at unearthly hour, breakfast can start from as early as 1am. Thus, if there is anything edible in the fridge, we will stomach it. And most of the stuffs that went into our tummy last season were frozen foods that just need a button on the microwave.

After a season of frozen stuffs, stomachs want a breakfast revolution this year. (Just imagine them holding up signs : We want PROPER foods! We want REAL foods!)

So there you have it, a breakfast revolution from :


This was what we used to have for breakfast last season. FROZEN garlic bread (The brandname had been distorted to avoid being sued by the manufacturer). And yes, this FROZEN BREAD has been in the fridge since last season and is waiting for its useful life to expire in the coldest corner of the world (Hmmm...I mean fridge).

AND.....presenting...



Hot, cooked and yummy breakfast for our stomach. Now, we have toast breads, ham, cheese, egg omelette, fresh greens (the list goes on...). And all this was made possible due to the heroic actions from Pris and her fateful sidekick, Wai [The smiling stomach said a Big Thank You!]

Atoning for the previous generations' sins.

(the alternative title to this blog entry is, "Paying Penance on behalf of Dad")

Dad always so kindly gives me a lift to base camp on the nights before our early morning trips. This time, he gave me a ride to pick some stuff up, which I left there. Ria and Tom took the opportunity to meet Dad, so Dad will know that at least I'm spending quality time doing important stuff with decent (and seemingly normal) people.

Now, one thing about Dad, he loves to chat, and he loves nature, wildlife, and *ahem* poaching, so it was only predictable that he shared stories with us there, outside base camp. See, it was because of Dad I got my nature-streak in me. When I was young, I'd be knee-deep or butt-sunken in mangrove mud, digging for bivalves, or out in the water, netting lots of yummy flower crabs. Thanks to Dad, of course, I got to see Singapore beyond the fast-paced, modern and expensive city it was. There was always stuff to do on weekends, - fishing, cast-netting, walks in the nature reserves, or simply a picnic in the botanic gardens. We sometimes struggled to make ends meet, but I was greatly blessed when it came to experiences like these.

Those who've met my dad, realise he cannot stop. Chatting that is, so one day, when we have time and maybe some coffee and lots of B & J, we can interview him. Maybe even re-enact his old days out on a sampan with him in tattered white t-shirt and straw hat a la olden-days' fisherman. *LOL* Or we could take him along on our trips and catch him in (poaching) action, and see what we could do with the footage. Tom must promise not to take my dad clubbing, cuz even though Dad is pesky, I still love him very very much. (and he gives me rides to base camp!!)

So dad is responsible for my love of getting mucky and slimy, but as Ria pointed out, Dad is/was a poacher and my efforts, however small, in conservation of the BioD in Singapore, is probably to atone for his past "sins". Ria also mentioned her paying penance on behalf of her dad who used to be something like mine. What he did, I cannot recall now due to short-circuited brain.

Perhaps we might see Dad out on our trips with us, he has expressed interest and is willing to transport slimy crew and equipment on his car too! Hmmm, I wonder what are the chances of converting this old poacher...

Comments From A Reader

Earlier today, I met one of our readers.

The comments included:
1) How are you guys? Recovered yet?
2) Your blog.... Very interesting, especially in the week after the trips...
3) What new injuries this time?

My replies were:
1) Somewhat recovered, one week with the trips, and one week to recover, just in time to abuse ourselves again, I think is quite alright... Though I can't speak for some of the other members of the crew...
2) We are too tired to post during the actual week of trips, and are trying to keep up with backend stuff like dubbing and logging, which, by the way, we are way behind... AGAIN. Anyway, limited internet access at HQ, so....
3) This one is also with the Blue Water Volunteers, since some of us cross over to help them out from time to time. We compare the most dramatic injuries, like the 10 mosquito bites on an elbow, the anemone stings on the back of a camera operator's hand, and the pus-leaking gashes on one of the more gung-ho member's legs. Also the various stings that we're eventually going to get or have alrady gotten... Hydroid, stingray, stonefish, stargazer... Like someone once commented on our crew: "It's not a matter of IF we get stung/bitten/eaten/chomped... It's just a matter of WHEN... And by WHAT..."