Thanks, Dawn, for organizing this trip. Dawn was quite amused by the fact that this was my virgin trip to PU, and constantly find chance to laugh at me.

Taken at Chek Jawa. From left: Me, Dawn, Dewei, Choo 

Once we reached PU at 1 plus, we took no time to hire the bicycles and started cycling along the dirt tracks. Weather wasn’t good though, and it started pouring heavily after an hour or so. We continued cycling in the rain, until we reached the newly opened HSBC Volunteer Hub where we took shelter at.

One of our objectives was to visit Chek Jawa to view the seashore life (as it was low tide yesterday), but we were disappointed to learn from one of the drink sellers that it was close to public yesterday. But, fortune smiled on us when we met an enthusiastic Chek Jawa guide, who offered to bring us to the shore and show us around. There are many people who booked for the free guided tour for few months in advance, and we’d just succeeded in gate-crashing! LOL

Ok, below are some of the pictures I’ve taken from the free guided walk. Do enjoy them. (I’m not a biologist, so don’t expect too scientifically correct descriptions from me. )

This is fiddler crab. There are lots of them hidden beneath the sand. Look how big it’s right pincer is, compared to the tiny left pincer? Only male fiddler crabs have pincers of uneven sizes (female ones have equal sized). One of the main purposes of these huge pincers owned by the males is to attract the females.

These are barnacles found on the rocks along the shore. These animals start life as free-swimming larvae and eventually compete for the best rock to settle down on. It is interesting to note that since barnacles are immobile, the males have super long penises that can project across several neighbours to search for an ideal partner to mate. (Wow..)

This is a close-up shot of a carpet anemone. Sea anemones form a group of water-dwelling, filter feeding animals of the order Actinaira. They are closely related to coral and jellyfish. They are poisonous and actually sting too.. so don’t touch them!

A macro shot of the carpet anemone. 

This sea anemone is more specifically called the Peacock Anemone. Bright colours make it look attractive.

A tiny squid (sotong) that’s the size of your fingernail! Haha, not a very good picture, but post it up for record sake.

A star fish. We found many lying around, and Dewei took one up to examine the under-side.

This is how the beneath looks like. The underside is covered with hundreds of tube feet, which it uses for walking around, for attaching tightly to rocks, and for holding on to prey. Looks like some juicy delicious jelly though. lol

I can’t remember the description of these two thingy, but they are some kind of snails.

Well, let me end off with another "cheating" picture (as said by xy, yw n daryl). Overall, the trip is real fun!

Edited: To learn more about Chek Jawa and shore life, click here. 

The week has passed by very quickly yet again, and what an eventful week it was. Went for 2 macro trips and as well as Pulau Ubin yesterday (Sunday).

Currently still working through the photos, so I guess I’ll post them up when I’m free. Let me just share one shot that I’ve taken at Chek Jawa.

(The green green thing on the land is seaweed.) 

Ok, I hear people crying foul again. This picture is actually a superimposition of 5 photographs taken at the same spot but with different exposures. A program called Photomatix is used to create a higher dynamic range to bring out the vividness of the scenery.

So, do you also consider this cheating? Bleah!!