Semakau Island Inter-tidal Coastal Walk
Yes, another first for me. Went for my very first inter-tidal coastal walk at Semakau Island or what a friend refers to as the Rubbish Island because of the landfill that's transferred from our incineration plants to reclaim the sea and built up land that we desperately need there. Pretty awesome process and steps have been taken to ensure that minimal destruction to the habitat and marine life at Semakau. We went for this walk on 5 November and left from West Coast Ferry Terminal. I didn't have the right gear for this but still went ahead. It was an eye opener for me as I had the opportunity to see creatures that I would normally not get a chance to see. We started with a short walk through the forest. Had to spray lots of mosquito repellant on ourselves cuz there were lots of mozzies. And also we had to keep to the path cuz apparently there were snakes hiding in the bushes.
Several minutes later, we reach the coast and there were lots of mangrove trees with the prop roots showing as the tide had gone down. You can only go for these tidal walks at certain times when the tide is really low.
As we walked along, we really had to be careful not to step on any of the marine creatures. And that meant looking now and watching where you put your feet down. Alot of the creatures camouflauge with the surrounding like these sea stars. Learnt on that day that the correct name for these little fellas would be sea stars...so sea stars they will be from now. Usually you will find five arms radiating from the central disk. If you look at the picture below, the sea star at the bottom right is trying to bury itself underneath the sand. And to the top, you can see an outline of the sea star. That shows that a sea star has successful buried itself and if you dig that spot, you will find it below.
On the underside of the sea star, you can see the mouth. The sea star will push their stomach out through their mouth and digest the prey.
And saw lots and lots of sea star and managed to spot one with *drum roll* six arms!! There were a few more along the way as we walked out to the sea so that was quite a treat for me.
We also some these male Fiddler Crabs. They are really tiny with one arm enlarged that they wave around to attract the females. You really cannot help waving back at them. But when they see you, they will pop into tiny holes in the sand. What you will need to do is stand still for a while and they will peek out again!
It was kinda horrid but when I saw these sea cucumber, first thing that came to mind was....DINNER....SOUP *laughs* I couldn't help it. Am a typical Singaporean. And so were the rest in the group cuz we started talking about how expensive these fellas were in the market. Our guide could only shake her head and shooed us to walk on (plus I think she wanted to make sure that we didn't sneak this home).
To see the corals, we had to go out further and that meant wading through a patch of seagrass. If we had proper shoes, this is when it would have come in handy. I just had normal sport shoes so my feet and socks got wet. Lesson learnt. Will scout around for proper rubber shoes for next walk.
The day just got more exciting when we saw some really colourful sea slugs. I was hoping to see them on our boat ride to Semakau. They are really cute. The first one is a Polka Dotted Nudibranch.
Have no idea what this slug below is called but it's real pretty. Anyone has any idea?
We walked as far out as we could to see some hard corals but unfortunately, the tide was coming in and the sun was setting so we had to head back. We couldn't hang around anymore cuz it would have been dangerous as the water level could go up real fast...time and tide waits for no man.
The above picture was the last shot I took before we headed back. I wanted to capture the contrast of nature in the foreground and in the back, thanks to man's activities, you can see constant flow of smoke coming out from pipes.
As we walked back, we had the chance to see a sea star flip over. It was quite a slow process but was interesting to see how it contorted itself to get back into position.
posted by Me, Myself n I at 3:06 pm
Several minutes later, we reach the coast and there were lots of mangrove trees with the prop roots showing as the tide had gone down. You can only go for these tidal walks at certain times when the tide is really low.
As we walked along, we really had to be careful not to step on any of the marine creatures. And that meant looking now and watching where you put your feet down. Alot of the creatures camouflauge with the surrounding like these sea stars. Learnt on that day that the correct name for these little fellas would be sea stars...so sea stars they will be from now. Usually you will find five arms radiating from the central disk. If you look at the picture below, the sea star at the bottom right is trying to bury itself underneath the sand. And to the top, you can see an outline of the sea star. That shows that a sea star has successful buried itself and if you dig that spot, you will find it below.
On the underside of the sea star, you can see the mouth. The sea star will push their stomach out through their mouth and digest the prey.
And saw lots and lots of sea star and managed to spot one with *drum roll* six arms!! There were a few more along the way as we walked out to the sea so that was quite a treat for me.We also some these male Fiddler Crabs. They are really tiny with one arm enlarged that they wave around to attract the females. You really cannot help waving back at them. But when they see you, they will pop into tiny holes in the sand. What you will need to do is stand still for a while and they will peek out again!
It was kinda horrid but when I saw these sea cucumber, first thing that came to mind was....DINNER....SOUP *laughs* I couldn't help it. Am a typical Singaporean. And so were the rest in the group cuz we started talking about how expensive these fellas were in the market. Our guide could only shake her head and shooed us to walk on (plus I think she wanted to make sure that we didn't sneak this home).
To see the corals, we had to go out further and that meant wading through a patch of seagrass. If we had proper shoes, this is when it would have come in handy. I just had normal sport shoes so my feet and socks got wet. Lesson learnt. Will scout around for proper rubber shoes for next walk.
The day just got more exciting when we saw some really colourful sea slugs. I was hoping to see them on our boat ride to Semakau. They are really cute. The first one is a Polka Dotted Nudibranch.
Have no idea what this slug below is called but it's real pretty. Anyone has any idea?
We walked as far out as we could to see some hard corals but unfortunately, the tide was coming in and the sun was setting so we had to head back. We couldn't hang around anymore cuz it would have been dangerous as the water level could go up real fast...time and tide waits for no man.
The above picture was the last shot I took before we headed back. I wanted to capture the contrast of nature in the foreground and in the back, thanks to man's activities, you can see constant flow of smoke coming out from pipes.
As we walked back, we had the chance to see a sea star flip over. It was quite a slow process but was interesting to see how it contorted itself to get back into position.
posted by Me, Myself n I at 3:06 pm
2 Comments:
Wow, Liza.
That looks like a pretty interesting walkie. Must get details from you one day!
If game, me will check when the next time they have the walk and we can go check it out. It depends on the tide timing etc. It seems each time you go, you get to see different things and even seeing the same stuff again would still be awesome :o)
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