Punggol Point, Aftermath of the Monsoon

Hello Everyone,

Upon seeing the short non-rainy window on sunday, and after convincing my father that the weather was great, and after consulting the weather and tide guru, which showed an approximate 1.0m low tide, we managed to reach Punggol Point...

 So here, it's obvious that the the skies are really really cloudy... a foreshadow of a rain maybe? :P

 The usual scene: the black boulders and sand. The tide was receeding at this time... Was on the verge of rejoicing when I noticed a number of people, bending over and picking up "something"... Wanted to approach them but they didn't seem friendly so I scrapped the idea...

 The monsoons seemed to have washed up tons of mangrove seeds! The beach was littered with them! Took a rooted seed home to try my luck at growing a mangrove at home. :P

 Now, this is an interesting one. Remember fighting over that white, oval-shaped thing in your Ice Kachang? Yup, its the ATTAP CHEE or NIPAH PALM. The ATTAP CHEE (CHEE = Seed on Hokkien) actually comes from this fruit that you are looking at. The white thingy is actually embedded within this woody seed pod. So, if you ever see any of these do try to grow them! :D

 There were also lots of BEAD ANEMONIES. The squirt water when you touch them!

 A badly eroded cowrie that was possibly a OVUM COWRIE. Would have been a beauty if it wasn't eroded...

 These few men were actually collecting VENUS CLAMS and GREEN TUA TOWS... They actually collected a huge plastic bag of them... tragically, they were not the only ones searching for the animals...

 Look! some of the common residents did not fail to disappoint!The GUAM FALSE LIMPET was the most common of the 3 (or 4) shells in the photograph.

 A BURNT MUREX! What a rare visitor! We usually do not see these shells along this coast... The last time i saw one was in BINTAN (do refer to my previous few post on Bintan... :) ) Tragically, he's really eroded... (Sorry, addressed it as a "he" for fun's sake! )

Another unusual visitor, the SURF CLAM. They are usually found in high densities along East Coast Park or Changi Bay...

 And our local representative shell!!! The SINGAPORE KEYHOLE LIMPET (Diodora singaporensis... :) )

 Oyster-farmers harvesting oysters along the rocks... This is good if you actually look at the density of oysters along this coast... totally freaky

 The sun sets... Dark arrives...

 And a DOG CONCH! Another injured (I mean, eroded) citizen of our shores... Btw, they are edible. :)

 Johore Industrial Region... There"s also Serangoon Island in the background...

 Punggol Point jetty... Usually the setting off and returning point for those going to OBS (Outward Bounds Singapore) ... I've been there! ;P

 

Well, although it did not seem like a really good trip, at least I managed to obtain some specimens... :) Hope that the next trip will be fruitful!

Reasons Why I Hate The Monsoon...

Hey people,

Firstly, I have to apologise for the long absence from this blog. Really needed the time to catch up on my studies and I did not visit the beach within that one month! So sorry.

Secondly, We have been having really crappy weather for the past one week or so. The monsoon has arrived so every day if it's not drizzling its pouring so yea... really bad weather for shelling. The tides have also risen due to the high amounts of rain deposited on our island... :( Although I did manage to visit the beach today, with relatively good weather, I would have to leave that to my next post. Why, because this post has been dedicated to informing everyone why they should check the tides and weather before visiting the beach..

 So here am I, on a Thursday afternoon. Just finished some activities in school and managed to convince my papa and mama to drive me to the beach. As you can see, the ripples in the pond are not caused by tiny fishes but instead, rain droplets...

 In any case, I decided to continue with the visit, making my way to the shore...

 And lo and behold, the SEA HAS SUCCESSFULLY MANAGED TO COVER THE WHOLE SAND BAR!!! So much so for not listening to the tidal predictions... (Btw, 3.2m)

 Even a section of grass along the upper shore was submerged! And worse still, NO SHELLS OR ANYTHING INTERESTING...

 Since I had no choice, I decided to check out the coastal vegetation at Punggol Point. Did manage to spot some COASTAL MORNING GLORIES in full bloom.

And of course, the high tides again.

Tragically, The rain got havier and I was soaked to the skin... (Ok, maybe not that wet) but still, it was a wasted trip to the Punggol Point... Moral of the story, Check the weather and tides before visiting the beach...

Punggol Point Trip 3

Hello!

   As promised, there will be a blog post on my shelling trips. So here it is, managed to visit punggol point again. One lesson learnt though, never go to the beach for shelling during high tide. I didn't have a really great shelling trip but did manage to find some shells that were never seen on the beach before. :)

 So here is the beautiful Sunset i managed to catch. Luckily, the weather was perfect for such photos. I got many of these. :)

 This is one of the usuals, the jingle shells. Found about 10 of these. Due to the high tide, i could only comb the upper swash line which is quite sad... T_T

 And here it is, a Lineated Nerite. This one's alive but i managed to find an empty one later. It was still high tide so speaks alot on the snail's ability to tolerate heat.

 The shell "colony". There was a Chinaman's hat shell but i decided not to pick it as it was a juvenile. :)

 And the pick of the day! An Olive shell!!! It was lying within a shell clump and i almost missed it! However, i'm not so sure if it is a native species since the sand here is reclaimed.

 The shell and coral.

 The coast was covered with sea almond trees. I used to use the dried leaves and soak it in water. It stains the water tannin brown and is really good for Fighting fishes.

 Sunset again...

 And again... i guess this is my fave . the beach looks so clean!

 And the water is really clean too! By now the tide ws receeding real quickly. The sand bar offshore was also slowly showing.

 The end of the shore. By now i guess it's 7.15pm. Suprisingly, the beach is pristine so is the water. Kinda like those in Bintan.

 Haha! Found this stick in the sand and wrote this on the sand. I also left it on the shore for those who sees it to figure out who wrote it! :P

 Barnacles. Acorn barnaclesto be exact. These guys managed to colonise the whole tree root. Btw, the whole tree is uprooted and long dead.

 The sand bar. It seems to inch closer to the shore after during every visit. I eventually managed to step onto it when the tide had receeded far enough.

 And just for the record, another Melongena Shell!!! This guy was feeding when Iyanked him out but I am really apologetic as it was totally an accident.

 This is Johore. Highly industrialised Johore. You can also see Serangoon Island in the centre.

 And at 7,45pm, i managed to take a snapshot of thewater beneath. Crystal clear. This is interesting... -From the Jetty.

 Worm Shell. Thit time, it is empty. (The last time I colected one still had its resident in it. Oops. )

Keyhole Limpet. You do see many of them along the shore d to the high number of sponges in the intertidal area in which they reputedly feed on.

And two lovely pink clams. the clam on the top is much richer in colour.

So here it is, the day's haul. It isn't really alot but i'm pleasantly suprised at the range of shells available since I have never seen many of these species around before. :)