September 8, 2008 
In case you missed our talk on Hantu’s marine life at last month’s IYOR launch at the Botanical Gardens, you can now watch the full presentation online! Three cheers for technology!
If you like what you see and would like the Hantu Blog to visit your school or office drop us an email!
Posted in Seminars, Videos 
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September 4, 2008 
Whalers haul dolphins aboard their boat from the blood-red sea. Source: OPS PHOTOS
For the first time ever, graphic feature-length footage of the annual slaughter of some 2,500 dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, has been captured during a unique yearlong covert operation. Full story
Posted in News 2 Comments »
September 1, 2008 
NowPublic is working on coverage of red algae being able to defend against sunlight, and has put together a collection of photos. The author came across The Hantu Blog’s amazing photo on Flickr (shown above) and has added it to their collection!
Posted in Announcements, Biology No Comments »
September 1, 2008
This is a video of one of the fishes I came across whilst guiding and Hantu over this weekend. This my first record of this fish and the first time I’ve noticed it. Unable to identify it, I sent a link of the following video to Kelvin Lim, Curator of Fishes at the Biodiversity Museum. The following is his reply:
Thanks for the movie! The fish you have there looks like a Brownback Dottyback (Pseudochromis ransonnetti). It’s a skulking, boisterous little cousin of the grouper, and is rarely seen on dives.
Don’t know if you’d mind if I post this record on the records section of the museum’s website ‘Nature in Singapore’.
The Hantu Blog actively contributes to the documentation and record collection of the status of our reefs and the observation of our native marine fauna. Our regular dive trips are integral to our finding the funds and opportunity to conduct such regular surveys. Your support goes way beyond the day-long dive trips and continues to have an effect on the education of the general public and the support given to academics and their institutions.
Posted in Biology No Comments »
September 1, 2008 
When we departed from our berth at RSYC this morning, the boatman looked into the water and said, “Today’s a good day to dive, the water looks good.” “Really?” I ask, half excited, half cynical. “The water’s been good,” assures Chay Hoon who often dives with the Blog, “I was in Kusu [Island] recently and the water was very good.” I was convinced, the water was good. I told all the divers on the boat, “Perhaps it’s your lucky day! All you first time divers are going to experience Hantu at its best!” And not receive the challenge that so many divers have had to when they decend into the mucky depths of our little gem of an island.
We chug along the Southern Islands, under the dark stormy clouds and hope that it doesn’t storm because the forcast has been at it all day, that there will be thunder storms with lightning in the late morning and early afternoon.
But when we got there the skies over the island were fair and things looked good. We rigged up excitedly and launched ourselves into the water, signelled OK for the descent and entered waters much murkier than we’d expected! GAH!
My attitude began to change. Nervousness, frustration, STRESS! With every dive I’m concerned that the new divers get a good impression of Hantu, and I don’t expect the visbility to be perfect, just not as bad. Today’s vis was challenging. Strangely, I was possibly the most stressed about it, despite having dived there over 200 times. Every dive at Hantu is like a box of unlabelled chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get. You hope and pray you get your favourite flavors, and when they don’t show up, you toss and turn over everything until you find the best that suits you. And that’s what we did!
As you should’ve already been able to tell from the pictures, we made the best of it! We don’t get the water conditions get us down! Because the reef and all its wonderful wildlife is still out there waiting to be discovered, photographed, and blogged about! It’s always fascinating the new things we discover – Chay Hoon spotted a nudibranch she’s never seen before today (and she sees a helluva lot of nudibranchs!) and I spotted a few fish which pictures I’ve sent to the Biodiversity Museum to get identified because I’ve never seen them before either!
Check out our gallery to see more awesome pix from our challenging dive at Hantu! We’re not afraid to tell you that our water’s aren’t clear because it’s the critters that we’re fussed about! Come join us for a dive and blow your mind away with an adventure and intimate reef encounters in Singapore waters!
Posted in Blog Log 2 Comments »
August 26, 2008 
The Hantu Blog lent its support to local marine group Cyrene Star Trackers by adopting a knobbly seastar at this year’s IYOR Reef Celebrations at the Botanical Gardens
Debby the Hantu Blogger picks out Bibi the seastar from the Star Trackers adoption board
The Hantu Blog believes that the marine protection movement is a dynamic one, and it takes all sorts of groups and individuals working within unique systems in the environment and society, to ensure a holistic approach towards conservation. We believe that support and understanding between local NGOs is an essential lubricant for direct or indirect collaborative effort. Whether you’re walking on the reef with the Blue Water Volunteers, doing Reef Checks with Reef Friends, volunteering with groups like Team Seagrass, Naked Hermit Crabs, or The Raffles Museum Toddycats, your work is essentially a cog in the system that keeps the whole engine that is the environmental protection framework, moving tirelessly forward and engaging every sector of society, and recognising every individuals unique skills, purpose and interests.
The Hantu Blog named it’s seastar Bibi, which is short for the Arabic word “Habibi” meaning beloved or darling. The name also has a Farsi and Persian origin, meaning “lady of the house”. A name that is both assertive and compassionate; a trait of many of our volunteers in Singapore, and around the world that dedicate their lives towards protecting the world and all its inhabitants.
To adopt your own Cyrene Seastar visit startrackers.blogspot.com
Posted in Announcements, Events 2 Comments »
August 26, 2008 A new report by Jeremy B. C. Jackson*
This year has been full of bad news regarding marine ecosystems:
one-third of coral species threatened with extinction, dead-zones spread
to 415 sites, half of U.S. reefs in fair or bad condition, increase in
ocean acidification, tuna and shark populations collapsing, and only
four percent of ocean considered pristine. Jeremy Jackson, director of
the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the
University of California, San Diego, synthesizes such reports and others
into a new paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, that boldly lays out the scope of the oceanic
emergency and what urgently needs to be done.
Posted in Announcements, Journals No Comments »
August 10, 2008 
Ria provides a comprehensive write up of the IYOR Launch at the Botanical Gardens over this weekend on the IYOR Blog.
She’s got lots of pictures and a run down of all the events and side shows that took places over the past two days. Meet the people who worked hard to get the event rolling and all the curious members of the public who had fun learning and networking. See what you’ve missed!
You can still be a part of the IYOR Singapore Celebrates our Reefs efforts because the year isn’t yet over! Find out how you, your school or your company can still be a part of the effort to safeguard the future our our reefs through becoming aware, or volunteering your time.
See more pix from the festival at the Hantu Blog Gallery!
Posted in Announcements, Events, Seminars No Comments »
August 9, 2008 
While everyone has glued to their TV screens on Aug 8 for the opening of the Beijing Olympics, some very busy people were fussing themselves at the Botanical Gardens for the official launch of the International Year of the Reef: Singapore Celebrates Our Reefs!
The Hantu Blog was amongst 7 NGOs present at the event to showcase the wonderful marine world of Singapore in an effort to spread the awareness of the threats, protection and action that is necessary to safeguard the existence of our precious reefs.
As usual, Raffles Museum Toddycats had an amazing display, stole the show for much of the day. Now, I’ve got to pack down for the day. More blogging and pix later!
Posted in Events 2 Comments »
August 5, 2008 
What would you do if you had some spare time on your hands? What would you do if you’ve been anticipating going diving all week only to wake up late on the weekend to realise you’ve missed your boat? Speaking for myself I probably waste time being upset at myself and get all stressed out and miserable for letting it happen. But those wiser than us put their time to great use, and then share their works to continue inspiring others. One such person with a fabulous heart and great artistic gift is regular Blog diver Chay Hoon. Check out her pebble paintings from last weekend!
More at her Blog
Posted in Events No Comments »
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