Urchin sings too?

This is a very interesting field of research.

I have been hearing a lot of clicking and fidgeting sounds in highly-urchin infested HK waters. Little do I know that they really do come from urchins!!!

I know that not only mammals, whales, fishes, crustaceans make sounds underwater but now urchins too???

Wonder what indications do they present?

I miss being a very curious marine biologist. It is boring working with rocks... Too safe.

Photo : The Age

The Oceans by DisneyNature

Strongly recommended.

or the link : http://youtu.be/uXLbQrK6cXw?hd=1

You and Me

We left our footsteps at Aonang.

Faith would lead us back there.

Rreebbeettt !

Rreebbeettt !!!!

Female in the male league

Very few can guess what I do when I go to work.

Specifically, nobody can believe what I did when I work.



My recent work took place at various mangrove locations in Borneo.

• Planning fieldwork.
• Exploring virgin mangroves.
• Assisting sampling.
• Purchasing equipments.
• Implementing ideas.
• Learned about land surveying.
• Snapping pictures.
• Middle person.
• Communicate with officers, staffs and labourers.
• Representing the university.
• Entertaining officials.
• Showing foreigner around.
• Filtering cigarette smokes.
• Paying for meals.

I have a team of man collaborating with the fieldwork. Most of the time, their expectation will underestimate me. Or they just have the tendency to neglect my presence. But I do not mind because I do have the mindset that both sexes are equal. Or at least, shown to be so. Those man eventually respected my contribution and how I take my stand.

That makes my work revolving around MAN all the time. Possibly because few woman are as interested as I am in doing what I do.

I found that I can do personal assistant, secretary, clerk, manager, interpreter, translator, surveyor, photographer, research assistant, food decision-maker, labourer, map reader, slide manager, peacemaker, financial planner, accountant, marketing officer, IT, 2nd-hand smoker and babysitter - ALL AT ONCE.

I am basically drained out with what I have.

Finned Whale Shark Left to Die

Man's Greed & Shark's Ill Fate

Man & Shark from alexhofford on Vimeo.

My first four seasons

End of Summer...

Autumn...


Winter...
Spring...

It's Summer, again...

I once stated in my FB :

I'm made for summer... shaped for autumn... built for winter... refining in spring!

And I still think, I shine best at Summer.

How time flies...

An urchin's revenge

I swear that the urchin chased me.
And I succumbed to it's attack.
It's my fault that he has to sacrifice his spines.
Into my calf.

Dive hazards occur naturally for each dives. Accident happens when we are less alert and concentration reels beyond 100%.

DIVE ALERT!

Urchins. There's a sea of them in HK waters. Well, I bumped into them in all my research sites. Maybe they coincide with my niche of study. Their proliferation are highly prompted by nutrient enriched waters. I would say, transboundary water circulation from neighbouring areas eg Pearl River Delta, China.

These polluted waters travelled all the way from southeast China and spans their strength across Hong Kong towards the Pacific Ocean. Extensive travelling they have got there.

During one of my dives, I accidentally-carelessly-innocently-unwantingly-regretfully dropped a piece of my weight onto an urchin!! And crushed, the urchin became. I felt really bad and embaressed by the careless mistake I did. All I can do was just stare, because I can 'tput the crushed urchin back into one...

A few days ago, I was again diving in a massive urchin bombshell at Lamma. The water was good with visibility 1m or less. We were lucky because there was a little sunshine. =)

Lamma actually gave me a good look about Hong Kong. There's so much to see and to discover in these turbulent waters. I've never thought that I would find biodiverse array of soft corals, frogfishes, porcupines, goats, unicorns, nudibranchs, variety of anemones, xmas trees, etc in such an environment. But like I said, HK has got hidden treasures at hidden places.

I was so occupied admiring a puffer fish shielded under a rock that I did not notice an urchin moved its way towards my back. As I turned around to check out on other divers, and with one finning, my calf ended up with 13 urchin's pricks......... It was a forceful blow as I was kicking my way to turn around. Just imagine urchin penetrating 5mm....

I swear, the urchin was not there when I waded through the rocks....

................................................
And the urchins lived to tell their tales.

7.0-mag earthquake collapses Haiti

Haiti, the poorest nation Western Hemisphere which is prone to disaster was strucked by a powerful earthquake on Wednesday, 13th Jan 2010. The strong earthquake demonstrated no mercy to the 2million population of Haitians with deaths amounted to 100,000 people.

It is the first major destructive earthquake documented in 2010, and yet there are ongoing predictions of earthquakes all over the world. With these sequence of tectonic movements, we know that the Earth is constantly shifting and alternating the boundaries down under. Some call these 'The End of the World" or "Armageddon". But scientists have lots to share in terms of environment and Earth's histories.

I'm sure, this has nothing to do with development, just pure natural disaster. We should look back to Earth's histories in order to understand it more.

Let's pray that Haitians have faith to hold on and rebuild their nation.

Turtle Blogathon!

They stay up all night to raise funds + educate on turtles + chat with friends! This fun activities is one of the first in its kind that I've heard of!


HOW YOU CAN HELP??

Just click into this website from 9pm [25th Oct] until 9pm [26th Oct].

All you have to do is CHAT about turtles! And leave the rest to them! Aren't they kind to us?

Or you can opt to publicize this fun event! Ask questions on turtles to your family and friends, and have them posted to the bloggers [below] !


WHO ARE THEY??

Turtle lovers who consist of blogger, environmentalist, conservationist, student, lecturer, animal lover, journalist etc.... who have been working hard so many years to make the world a kinder place for turtles. They have been struggling at length to educate and to conserve turtles. Their website is where you can learn all about the Turtle Conservation Centre (TCC')s effort.

Photo credit : Chan Eng Heng
Here the turtle warriors are, getting bucked up for the blogathon!!!
From left, Fong, Pelf and Chan with all their turtle signatories.

WHAT TO DO NOW??

It's your chance to do charity this weekend! So, CLICK here.

&

Have fun starting tonight!

Disastrous September

Manila Typhoon Ketsana. Padang, Sumatra 7.7-magnitude earthquake. American Samoa earthquake tsunami. Storm hits and landslides in Vietnam, Cambodia.

Mid September kicked started abruptly with some sprinkle of rain and strong wind in the capital of Phillipines. The rain gradually picked up as monstrous wind carrying storm hit Manila and instantly forced the country into a state of calamity as claimed. Typhoon Ketsana swept the countrymen off their grounds and left them to struggle for life, until now. Deaths are still mounting up.

The storm travelled west and demonstrated its supremacy on Cambodia and Vietnam. The typhoon continued to rain floods and destroy houses while uprooting the soils. Deaths ensued.

American Samoa is almost flattened out by a tsunami triggered by 8.0-8.3 magnitude quake. The island remains in chaos and the damage is extensive. More than 90 people have been confirmed dead and the official number is still rising.

History repeats itself in Sumatra after 5 years of silence. The Pacific Ring of Fire reigns it's absolute power once again with a magnitude of 7.7 on Ritcher scale on the south of the island. Indonesia, is once again put to test after the devastating Tsunami in 2004. The earthquake rocked little Padang and show no mercy eventhough a tsunami was not in the picture. More deaths are recorded as people are believed to be trapped under piles of fallen concrete buildings and structures.

The quake force a tremor to be felt in high rise buildings throughout Malaysia. Tension arised.

In memory of tsunami 2004..

And this is only the month of October.