Saturday, April 3, 2021

Trip - Sisters' Island Again

Yawn... hi... Blog...

Yes... have to wake up early... like 530am...

Cold but clear sky... Non-stop yawning
Yeah as you read the title. TS invited me to go on the exploration of low tide on 3rd Apr 2021 on Sisters' Island. Last year, I explored Sisters' Island for the first time (blog link) with TS and it was fun! Today was an early low tide event. I can't wait to see what to find during the low tide.
I am ready to go on the half day event, leading a group of people.
Taking the early train means I can take pictures without anyone around, but only the last few stops. Next time I should be more alert so I can take more.
TS's Kindly Reminder below

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Critical items to bring
- Water shoe/boots for walking in the coral area
- Rain coat/Poncho + Waterproof pouch
- Personal cup (as TS will treat us some cold juice) and your own utensils (The meal will not come with disposable plastic. We Discourage anyone bringing disposable type) - Sun protection gears
- Enough water

Safety to yourself
This coral area though is within 2 lagoons. As you get further, rocks and terrain are more Rugged. Lots of rocks with sharp edges .... and some slippery if outside lagoon.
1) No running or fast walking & anyhow stepping! U could be stepping & killing corals >:(
2) Check on the surface you stepping - to prevent slip/fall ... if U fall and get a cut, it will be very bloody due to the sharp barnacles on the rock surface

Safety to the coral
There are many tiny carpet anemones on the shore when low tide, they don't look obvious to you. Once you step on them, confirm they will die & nothing happens to you.
And under any seagrass, there is likely a hard coral below - DO NOT step on any seagrass!
Looks for an open sandy patch to put your foot. If really don't have, look out for rock... but could be Unstable.

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From TS's messages, we know that we need to take care, enjoy ourselves and love our environment and nature. So I will have to be mindful towards it.

Managed to gather my team and we were ready to go. Yippee! First one to step on this deck.
It seemed like today will be cloudy day
hello everyone. My name is Jeff, I will try my best to watch out everyone.
As usual, I will have my selfie moment.
Good morning Mr Sun
ST John Island just woke up too. Sorry St John, today we are...
Sailing towards Sisters' Island
Good morning sisters. :)
Trying my best to step out from my introvert shell and become extrovert to interact but become a stupid clown... lack of charisma and aura. The members just smiled at me politely. Oh well... At least, I tried.
For now... I shall leave it to Mr Sun to entertain them.
Funny moment, I thought TS got onto the boat later than us but ended up, he arrived first.
Morning sea seemed clean and calm
Low tide was happening now!
If there is no one around, I will swim in it.
After my first experience, I think having a stick will assist me greatly throughout. Thanks to whoever left it behind and I will do so too.
Hmmm... I was expecting island monkeys should be out by now... But it seemed like they wanted to have a good sleep over long weekend.
For us, it was perfect that the monkeys can spare us from hiding our bags for the moment
Morning, Mr Tree!
Wow! Low tide! :D
What will we find today? Will it be more than my first visit? (blog link)
Oooo! It is a giant oyster! Never see one previously.
Big brain coral are more common and clearer when the sky is bright
It seemed like we weren't the only group who is doing such visit on this island.
The water was so calm and perfect for pictures as we just took our own sweet time to explore
Let's head out to the outer edge of the low tide before it returned.
Oh man! A gigantic Sea anemone!
Weird thing I spotted is this "kimchi-a-like" or discarded vegetables. I have not seen this last time... What is this... It is around a meter in diameter. As it took me nearly the whole morning to observe, it is actually a SEA ANEMONE! It withdrew its tentacles and become a different form of anemone.
Some nice interesting coral here and there
After a careful exploration and I had reached to the end of the tide, then looking back... Quite a distance away. I heard TS claimed there are two giant clams here but we can't find it...
Along the way, we only managed to spot one or two crabs, fishes, corals along the way...
Quite disappointed though...
Checking out another lagoon
Found our first giant hermit crab which managed to excite everyone
Some common sea slug with a small fly on its back
OH! YES! FOUND a small cuttlefish too!
Great thing was that this curious cuttlefish still swimming at a spot despite we crowded around it; but it was extremely difficult to capture.
Found a terminator skeleton by the shore. The red dot made it looks scary.
Let's play a game. Are you able to spot a living creature in this picture?
Yes! Finally got a close up shot for Bobby worm! We witnessed it grabbed somethings back to its hideout.
Speaking about hideout, can you see anything in the hideout? I hope you actually see a crab there.
oh wow! Managed to find a giant clam! Check this out! Look at its eyes! TS claimed that we can find two at the giant lagoon but we found the third one at some location. I decided to keep it a secret for this young clam.
After that, we returned to the main lagoon and found that two Giant Clams (oh no... I didn't take any pictures of those) as they are bigger and flarer than the one we found first. I indicated the two giant clams' location and keep the third one hidden. Hope no one will disturb that third one because it is surrounded by very dense coral system.
(Credit TS) Oh! TS's team managed to fin Mr Octo! I missed that out.
(Credit TS) Amazing! a Giant Otter swam here!
(Credit TS) It was a blacktip Reef Shark spotted too!
Wah check out my unevenly suntan here.
Overall, it was a fun to find some new marine creatures which I had not captured from the first time visit on Sisters' Island. :D Glad I can find some new creatures to add into my Sisters' Island List.

Jeff

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