Yayness! Hurray for intertidal trips!

One of the best things about intertidal trips is the sunrise. Especially if you're visiting an eastern shore.

No fanfare landing this morning, no amphibious stunts, and no boats or offshore islands too for that matter. It was a simple pre-dawn outing to the shores of Changi. Ria and a few other Beachfleas were there two days ago. She said it was better than Tanah Merah. For me, it was more of a recce trip since I haven't been there before. Company for the day was Ria, Tom from wildfilms, and Luan Keng from Raffles Museum. Yeah, only us few 'cos the NUS crew are having their exams.

I was amazed... there were no corals or sponges on the sandy shores, but the animals to be found was astounding. We saw many species of crabs and snails, sea stars and sand stars, an octopus, an elusive ever-colour-changing cuttlefish, a sea cucumber, lots of cute little pipefish, gobies, a few flatfish and flatheads, rabbitfish, toadfish, jarbua and other perches, and shrimps.

w00t whoohoo! I wonder when my next trip will be. You just can't get enough of these trips, even if it makes you feel like you're living today twice. Or maybe that's why...

All the sandfly bites and hours of sleep lost were worth it. :)


The first light of dawn... sunrise colours


The sun is still hiding...


Wakey wakey... put away the torches; the sun is up!


Tom videoing some flatfish


This flatfish...


Inky cuttlefish... it kept squirting out black jets of ink


Cephalophod time - an octopus. Hmm... the smartest invertebrate ever known? Hmm...


Pipefish... very well-camouflaged


A sea cucumber


Sand star

Ps.
Xi - how's that for a 3 hour morn in the field? You gotta come when you come. :P

posted by Husky @ 4/28/2005 04:23:00 AM  |