Serpent on Semakau

I was all hunched over, focusing on a tricky butt shot of a sea cucumber. This particular sea cucumber has teeth around its anus ... which is understandable as all kinds of free-loaders from fish to crabs just love to hide up a sea cucumber's behind. I'm sure even sea cucumbers don't enjoy having unwanted guests up their butts.

Butt I digress...

Just as I'm getting that perfect butt shot, I run out of disk space (of course). After a quick swop of flash cards, I stoop back down to get a good closeup of that elusive behind and got a viewfinder full of snake instead! WOW!

She was a beauty. 1.5m, slim and slender, smooth and cool. What's not to like?

Quietly and elegantly, she checked out every nook and cranny among the corals for breakfast. She even sniffed out my bootie!

Most other snakes get me all excited, but the sea snake makes me feel all calm.

Alvin thinks it's because their black-and-white pattern has a hypnotic effect as the snake glides around in the water.

Also called Yellow-lipped sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina), these fascinating snakes are not uncommon. I've seen them on our shores, usually at night towards the end of the year; on Sentosa, Kusu Island and Pulau Hantu. This is my first encounter this year.

These snakes can swim well, using their tails which are flattened into a paddle-like shape. But they have to return to land to lay their eggs. They generally breed on coral atolls and rocky islets where they may gather in large groups during the breeding season. 5-9 eggs are laid by each mother. The babies look just like their parents.

Sea snakes eat fishes and fish eggs. Eels are among their favourite prey (I guess because these just slide right into a snake).

The snake has a highly toxic venom that is fatal to humans. But it is a gentle and docile snake and will not bite if it is left alone.

The weekend trips to Semakau were magical. Lots of new creatures from nudibranchs to frog fishes. And the company of a really great bunch of crazy people.

Will now have to cope with withdrawals from low tide trips until the evening lows start in December...

Interesting find

The heart-shaped clam we found today is known as a Heart Cockle or True Heart Cockle (Corculum cardissa).


The reason why it's so flat unlike the normal cockles we eat is 'cos it evolved in such a way that its shell flattened out, and became thin enough for sunlight to penetrate through. It needs sunlight because of the symbiotic relationship it has with zooxanthellae, which isn't very common in cockles except for rare bivalves like the Giant Clam.

That's all I could find out about it, 'cos everything else I searched for online was in undecipherable scientific gibberish... So I don't know if it can be eaten, or if its rare or endangered, though it seems to be quite common in the Philippines.

Semakau - The Land-full of Dreams

Come to Semakau, the island of sleep beyond your Wildest dreams.

After a night of fun:

And a day of fun-filled activities:


Choose from our wide range of sleeping accommodations on our sandy shores:


Or relax at Costa Semakau, luxury open-top chalet:

T.O.P. soon!

Be treated like sleeping beauties as we cater to your every need with thoughtful accents such as, ultra-soft huggable pillows:

And your choice of eyeshades or waterproof blanket:


Light refreshments served in between naps:

Slumber packages start from as low as $39.99 nett!

Opt for the exotic 'Guatidur Samakau' Group Package:

Or select from our must-have treats for insomniacs - the die-die-sure-can-sleep 'Anyhow, Anywhere' range.

Without rain-cover:

Or with rain cover:

Without rain-cover:

With rain-cover:

And you wonder why some of us insist on staying awake throughout a trip...... Especially those with cameras. Heh heh... Catch you around another time :o)

Who said Semakau is only full of rubbish?

When we looked at the orangey-red sky above our heads,having hair blown out of shape, rubbish flying around and signboards crashing onto the ground, we all knew it was an omen. Mum wasnt happy. And to make her pleased as soon as possible, we had to look for the real jinx

*Bernie came out of the washroom*
"Oh, what happened? Why like that after I came out of the washroom?"
"OHHH...So it's you!"

Despite of this, the WildFilms crew, together with Semakau guides, set off. We board the most luxurious boat, with TV, leather seats and air-con. Water was very choppy and everyone was bouncing up & down on their seats. 15 minutes later, we reached Semakau Landfill.

Mum wasnt pleased yet. Lightnings flashed across the sky, brightening the pitch dark area. We put on our ponchos and walked for 2km before we reached the jungle entrance.

Robert led the way until he stopped. Oh no, another bad sign (for me especially). The moment he stopped, I froze. I just knew it. SNAKE!! We couldnt figure what snake that was because it was too dark but Robert managed to describe it as being black with yellow spots, but soon after, the snake escaped and we continued to trek through the jungle.

All of us reached the shore safely and gears were distributed among the guides.
We saw quite alot of animals like: a juvenile frogfish

A nudibranch (Sinuate ceratosoma)
A baby cuttlefish
Sand deposit by acron worm
A scrabby platydoris of palm size!A baby mudskipper& many more!

Now, who said Semakau is full of rubbish? We have animals here!!

The sun came out from the other side of the island but its first ray of light looked just as beautiful as everWe packed our stuffs to leave as the tide came in and we had to walk the long way again.I guess everyone was practically dragging their feet. Thankfully, the landfill staffs came for us with a small trunk and minivan & transported us back to the jetty! Weeee~~

Event of the day:
We were so poor after paying for the boat-trip to Semakau that Alvin volunteered himself for a ransom in order to recieve more money for future trips

HAHAHAHA
Just kidding

When the going gets tough...

...the tough get long lectures from their moms, or wives, or loved ones...

At last Saturday's ICCS at Kranji mangrove, Wai was asking around for army insect repellent, and finally had to settle for a milder type. We wondered and asked why she was suddenly so 'religious' about insect repellent as she sprayed this stuff all over her arms and legs. Her reply: "My mom made me promise to do it". Huh? Oh ya, dengue bug going around.

I thought about how it'd be like if my mom was living in Singapore with me... She'd definitely ask the same of me, and probably even make me walk around in some sort of homemade net-like bodysuit. And the nagging would follow, day after day. And I'd probably tell her something like, "If crazy people like us don't do it (film in the "wild" or go "wild" every full moon), who will?"

I lived a very happy but rather 'protected' childhood. 'Protected' from "the sun's harmful rays", and anything dubbed 'unladylike'. The only time I had contact with 'wild' creatures was on family trips to Malacca or Fraser's Hill, or settle for my brothers' pet grasshoppers, spiders, etc. Wasn't much of a sporty kid either... only ECAs I took part in were 'nerdy' ones like Astronomy, Chess, Librarians, Literary & Debating Society, 'Dikir Barat', Young Catholic Society, with Volleyball & Swimming being my only sporting ECA. So you could say I got through the first quarter of my life literally without a scratch. Yup... fair & smooth skin, no scars from PE or sports, no wild tales of being bitten by animals or insects.

Now, however... (This is where the SFX of my mom doing the "tzt, tzt, tzt" sound comes in). I guess quite a number of those like me are simply making up for lost time. Sandfly bites and scars as huge as 20cent coins? Ah, it'll pass. Scratches, scars, bites, close shaves, blunders... all part & parcel of the fun of our Wild adventures ya? No doubt we're not really risking our lives big time like filming in some war-torn country or a region plagued with disease, but still... If everyone stayed home waiting for the next guy to get the job done, would the world actually be a safer and better place 'cos no one lifted a finger in the first place? Or would we all still be like cavemen, freezing from the cold 'cos we're waiting for the next smart ass to start a fire?

"A ship in a safe harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for." - William Shedd

Evaluating Ursula...

And she passes! With flying colours - they flew away from us really quick as we descended....


Alvin making a few minor adjustments.


Shooting a phyllid.

Apologies for the weird green colour. My idiot-proof point and shoot camera doesn't have a manual white balance function.

Other things spotted at Hantu today included some seahorses with babies (Darwin got some really artistic shots of them which I hope he will get around to posting *poke*), nudibranch, flatworms (don't know if Ivy or HP took any pictures), nice corals and loads of fish. Feel free to add on to this post...

My personal favourite:

Unknown Gymnodorid (I think). A bit out of focus but the best one I have, unfortunately. My camera was having a really bad time trying to focus today.

There was some weird platform next to the jetty, with some mechanical looking devices on board. Wonder what it was for. There was also a lot more rubble than I remembered from the last time I was there, especially to the left of the jetty if you're facing the island. Wonder if it's correlated? By the time I surfaced it was too dark to get a shot. Wonder if anyone else thought of taking a photo of it.

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore 2005

The annual International Coastal Cleanup took place this morning & we headed to Kranji Nature Trail to check the event out!

We were the earlist to arrive, followed by the staffs. At around 8am, most of the participants,mainly students from various schools, arrived and we set off to the shores soon after.The students from different schools were allocated different sites where they had to collect trash from the shore & we decided to film the NUS students to see if anything interesting would happen.
I guess the NUS students were very happy about it.Look at their cheerful smiles!

Everyone was really doing their jobs, picking all the rubbish from the surface & some even tried to get it out from underground!& this was quite a lot of rubbish from just one point of the site!
The NUS students were having fun but the students from Victoria Junior College (VJC) seemed to be having more fun!The site they were allocated for ICCS consists of really soft mud which sinks up to knee height.

Some of them walked out further bravely to collect rubbish but unfortunately they were...
STUCK!

Another group of 'rescuers' approached them but...
they were stuck too!! I have no idea whether I was supposed to laugh or not but it'd obviously showed their power of unity and great friendship. *thumbs up*

And when some of them managed to get out of the mud, it's time for a big, victorious muddy hug!Others, however, managed to keep surprisingly clean!
Tom & Bernie interviewed some of the people involved in ICCS.
The bags of rubbish reminded me of a song."Bah bah black sheep have you any wool?"
"No sir, how about bags of rubbish, a stove & a giant tyre?"

A helper from Singapore American School (SAS) came towards me with a large trolley of rubbish& said:"If there is a fine of $500 for littering, then someone owes me a lot of money!!Sadly, the cam-recorder which I was holding couldnt pick up sound. =(

Rubbish were weighed for data collection
& these were the whole lots of rubbish collected by all of the participants at Kranji Nature Trail!
& there were more bags of rubbish to come!
Woah~

The muddy students cleaned up& the tired ones rested.
The event ended at about noon. All of us were tired too but we enjoyed today very much. I hope next year's ICCS will be just as interesting as today's, or maybe more interesting. =)