Jellyfish and Otters at Chek Jawa on 21 Nov 2015

We had a wonderful outing at Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 21 Nov! It is the year-end school holidays, and we tried our best to accommodate as many visitors as we could. We had a huge turnout of 74 visitors. FANTASTIC!

We split the visitors into 7 groups led by a guide each, and off we went exploring the mangrove and coastal segments of Chek Jawa. The visitors were excited to see so many animals - jellyfish, otters, monitor lizards, carpet anemone, crabs and more!

Read on to find out more.

Just below the boardwalk, the fiddler crabs were scuttling all over the place.

It is mesmerising to watch the fiddler crabs interacting with each other on the sand. The male fiddler crabs are very easy to spot because they have an enlarged pincer on one side, and a normal-sized pincer on the other side.

The tide was relatively low that morning, and we had good views of the seabed from the coastal boardwalk. There was so much to see! We saw lots of fishes, a giant carpet anemone and a large crab that was trying its best to blend in with the sand. It did marvelously well with the camouflage act because we just could not take a decent photo of it! (nice excuse for not having a photo!)

The kids were so excited to see lots of jellyfish in the water. Here's a pink one.

And here's a transparent white one. Don't you think it's beautiful? In total, the kids in my group counted about 10 jellyfishes.

Now for a very special close-up look at the jellyfishes. This photo collage belongs to one of our guides, Jonathan Tan, who took the photos during the walk. I'm lost for words. Simply beautiful!

Photo credit: Jonathan Tan

Sumita's group had a very special sighting too.... they saw the Ubin otters swimming out at sea! Here's a video clip of that sighting. This is exactly how otters cover so much distance. They swim far out at sea to move from one spot to another, in a safe way. They are great swimmers!

What a glorious day spent at Chek Jawa! The Crabs wish to thank all our visitors for their wonderful support. We also want to acknowledge our volunteer guides who came to share their love for Chek Jawa with everyone. Jonathan, Sumita, Ivan, Ian, Alyce, Ria, LeyKun - thank you!

The Naked Hermit Crabs have 2 more nature walks in December before we take our annual break from guiding:
- evening walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves on 5 Dec (Saturday).
- morning walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk on 12 Dec (Saturday)

Hope to see you at our walks.