Day Trip to Sisters Island

My first outing with fellow docents - a trip to Sisters Islands! It's my first time visiting this little island of Singapore.. There're so many places in Singapore I'm still so unfamiliar with.

We gathered at 8.30 am at Marina South Pier, and reached Pulau Subar Laut, or Big Sisters Island at about 9.40 am. We chartered a boat, so the more people going together, the cheaper it is.

Me at Pulau Subar Laut!

A scenic view

A panoromic view, with the Small Sisters Island opposite.

There's a little legend behind the name of the Sisters Island, read here if you are interested. The low tide was at 10.30 am, the best time to go down to the water and look out for interesting marine life!

Some of the docents were very experienced people, so they were able to point out stuff and explain things to newbies like me.

I learnt that starfish have their mouth and anus on the same hole, and apparently mate through the same hole too. What a multi-purpose hole they have.

Mating Starfishes!

The shellfish below was trapped by a netting. Actually there were two shellfishes trapped on the same netting. Poor them, but now they are free :) .I learnt that this thing can shoot darts!

Trapped shellfish

This sea slug was very well camouflaged on a seaweed, thanks to a keen-eyed docent to spot it! Check out his reddish eye and polka-dotted body! You have to hold it like this to see all the details, but you have to make sure it is always in water.

Sea Slug

A sea cucumber, expensive festive food that I probably haven't tasted. Maybe I tasted accidentally before, but it's something I would rather not eat. 

Sea cucumber

Check out the feather duster worms on a brain coral!

Feather duster worms

Look at this cool purple hermit crab! His shell is cracking already, time to look for a new one.

A hermit crab who has outgrown his shell

We flipped this thing over to look at the inside, but it appeared to be a bit stressed out by this and was stretching out trying to flip back. So we quickly took a photo and flipped it back. Is this a whelk?

A whelk (?)

This has to be the best catch of the day. I'm so proud of it because this is one of the few marine life that I actually spotted myself! It wasn't very easy to spot things especially when you don't know what to look out for, and it take a bit of patience. This little guy was hiding suspiciously between the crevices, and I waited for probably 15-20 minutes for the water to become high enough such that it has to climb out! The wait paid off because I saw 3 of them in total during the wait! Such a cool colorful crab. It was so difficult to take a good picture because the water kept sweeping past and this guy wasn't being very cooperative.

Hairy legged crab! (I don't know the name)

I've always heard that Singapore has a rich diversity of marine wildlife, but this is the first time I'm checking them out in the wild myself! It was such a rewarding trip, definitely a place to revisit in the near future!

P.S. Though you see hands in the photo, I don't really touch the marine life - for my own and their safety. The creatures were handled by experienced people who knew where to touch and where not to.