marine and environmental musings of a Singaporean girl
One of my favourite creatures to look at when diving are feather stars (Class Crinoidea). They just seem so alien-like and other-worldly sometimes that I can't help but marvel at them. Here's a super cool video I took of a swimming crinoid at Pescador Island near Moalboal, Cebu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojAA9ZLfmN8 Most of the time, feather stars... Continue Reading →
Hopefully going to find the time to dedicate a few posts to the amazing trip Gwen and I took to Cebu. One of the highlights of our trip was to watch the sardine run in Moalboal. Moalboal is located on the southwestern part of Cebu Island, in Central Visayas, the Philippines. We stayed close to... Continue Reading →
April was really exciting for me this year…my first time going out to catch a coral spawning event, and what’s more right here in Singapore. What's coral spawning you might ask? Coral spawning events are the biggest party of the year for a reef. Corals reproduce, fish get a buffet of tasty eggs and sperm... Continue Reading →
Today is World Migratory Bird Day! One of the best activities to join on the resort is the citizen science birdwatching program. Guests are given a photo checklist of common bird species around the resort as well as a pair or binoculars for them to record their sightings. This birdwatching program starts early…at 7 am... Continue Reading →
On Sunday, in lieu of the Earth Day celebrations, our team co-organized a local beach cleanup and mangrove planting event along the coast of the Pengudang village in Bintan. It was great to see so much enthusiasm from everyone. We had school groups participating, NGOs, even government officials as well and everyone signed their names... Continue Reading →
Today, we visited one of the local islands, Mapur. Mapur Island is situated within Kabupaten Bintan, an area of 4729.05 km² that is protected for its rich marine biodiversity. It is located approximately 16 kilometres east of Bintan and is famous for some dive sites such as the Igara Wreck that sits at the bottom of the... Continue Reading →
After my six month stint in the Maldives, it was time for me to return to an area closer to home. I was fortunate to have the incredible opportunity to work as a Conservation Specialist in the Banyan Tree Bintan Conservation Lab. In the Maldives, there's an incredible amount of research and monitoring done on... Continue Reading →
One of the highlights of working down south in Velavaru was that we were in close proximity to a place in South Ari Atoll that was frequented by whale sharks. It's been an absolute dream of mine to swim alongside a wild whale shark so I'd begged the dive centre to let me tag along... Continue Reading →
It’s hard to say why, but the reefs at Velavaru are doing exceptionally well despite the bleaching even that’s occurred. Corals seem to grow rapidly along the reef slope as well as within the lagoon! As Shameem and I took a snorkel out in the lagoon to clean some of the coral frames, we caught... Continue Reading →
Today, I start another exciting journey to the southern part of the Maldives, Dhaalu atoll, where I will be spending two weeks at the island of Velavaru. The marine lab at Velavaru has lots of work on its hands, I've heard that the rope nursery for the corals is doing super well and there's lots... Continue Reading →
