There's Lots to Say about Diving at Pulau Hantu

December 12, 2010

What do divers have to say about diving in the mucky waters of Pulau Hantu? Plenty it seems! Yes, yes, we’ve heard about the bad visibility. You don’t have to go to Pulau Hantu to know about that. The Hantu Blog’s keen-eyed and dedicated reef guides have been assisting divers from Singapore and around the world to see past the silt, at some of the most colourful and bizarre lifeforms to be found in Singapore.
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SWiMMS: Studying Singapore's dolphins, porpoises and dugongs!

December 10, 2010

Your dolphin, porpoise and dugong sighting wanted!

Today I received this exciting email about the Singapore Wild Marine Mammal Survey (SWiMMS) conducted by the Tropical Marine Science Institute.

Here’s the email:

SWiMMS, funded by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, aims to monitor the dolphin, porpoise and dugong populations in Singapore waters by establishing a volunteer network and reporting system. The SWiMMS research team needs your help.
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Posted in Announcements, Biology 2 Comments »

The Hantu Blog featured in Weekend ST

December 7, 2010

Photojournalist aims to raise awareness of rich marine life
in Singapore’s waters

SINGAPORE is not the first place that springs to mind if you are a diver looking for a rich and diverse underwater habitat – but photojournalist Debby Ng hopes to change that.
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Blog Log: 28 November 2010 Slugs, Snakes, Sharks

November 30, 2010

A rare opportunity to visit the waters of Pulau Hantu in the dark brought together some of the islands biggest fans – and we mean, a pair of 1.2m sharks and a serpent of the sea. Divers ooh-ed and ahh-ed all the way from our Southern Islands. While I was home nursing a broken elbow, I was receiving Tweets and Facebook updates about conditions and critters encountered at Hantu. Now, you and I can see what we both missed. (Above: Mushroom coral, the largest coral polyp in the world)
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Blog Log: 21 November 2010

November 26, 2010

Hantu Blog volunteers Cindy Tan and Lam Peimin take a group of divers out to Hantu waters and spots her first toadfish (above)! The toadfish is a sluggish bottom dweller of rocky shores and reef flats. It derives its name from the croaking sound it makes when it is disturbed or out of water. It feeds on small fishes, crabs and prawns, and has venomous spines. So don’t go touching it if you see it in a puddle on the shore! Divers only ever get to see the face of this creature, which can give you quite a shock if you’re surprised by it (it’s quite ugly!) but it does have a beautifully stripped body that’s really only seen if it’s caught.
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Blog Log 17 November 2010: Cold and stormy monsoon dive!

November 15, 2010

Lots of critters in Hantu despite heavy rains throughout the week and while we were out at sea today! Never a dull day at Hantu! (Above: Reliable chromodoris – we saw a few of these little slugs)
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Blog Log 7 November 2010: Part 1

November 7, 2010

It seems like the rains have brought down the visibility in the waters around Hantu, making searching for critters a whole lot more challenging (added to the challenge of my returning after having taken a 5 month hiatus)! Nonetheless, we managed to find a bunch of interesting things that I’ll be sharing with you over the next few blog posts. Swing by the blog every few days to check out what you missed at Hantu this weekend! (Above: Flatworm)
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A macro look at Pulau Hantu

November 7, 2010

Whoever said size was everything hasn’t taken a macro lens into the depths of Hantu’s waters. Our keen-eyed volunteer guide and dive instructor Jimmy Goh, takes a closer look at the treasures that are concealed amidst the colour and coral on the reef. (Above: Flatworm on gorgonian coral.)
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Blog Action Day – Coral Reefs of Pulau Hantu

October 15, 2010

Mention coral reefs in Singapore, and the first response you often get is, “there are coral reefs in Singapore?” I could’ve kept it my little secret, but it makes me too excited so I just have to tell the whole world about it – YES! There are coral reefs in Singapore! And you’d be surprised at the kind of diversity you will be able to encounter on the little patches of reefs scattered around our island’s waters.

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Posted in Events, Fisheries, Volunteers 4 Comments »

Blog Log August 29, 2010

August 31, 2010

By Hantu Blog volunteer, Jimmy Goh

The sky fell on us today, pouring rain drenched all the divers even before we could get on to the boat. (Above: Whip coral

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