Hello friends, remember me? Well I finally made it to South Dakota but not with my luggage, they are still looking for it! My trip was terrible to say the least, it was one problem after another and in the end I was able to get a flight out of Chicago via United instead of with American Airlines. I arrived late last night flying thru a terrible lightning storm and finally got home at around midnight, traveling seems to just be getting worse and worse! The good news is, I am alive and all is well here. South Dakota is so green and beautiful and tomorrow I drive to Wyoming to start my week off by hiking in the field looking for fossil ammonites, I can hardly wait! I spent all day doing errends with my friend Dan like sending my camera equipment off to Ikelite to be repaired, going to the bank, meeting friends for lunch, shopping and going thru tons of old mail. Most of my friends here are laughing at me because I keep saying how cold it is yet they say it’s warm, will take some getting used to!

Here’s a fun shot of two different colored Trumpetfish hanging out together. We have four colors of Trumpetfish here in Curacao, yellow, red, brownish gray and my favorite, blue. I have been trying for years to get a photo of all four colors together but so far I haven’t had any luck but I am still trying!

I will try and send out another note from Wyoming tomorrow evening so please check back. Very sorry about the poor comunication this week, not even sure if Aimee got our internet fixed at home yet as well.

Have a great evening, Barry

Good morning from Curacao! Still no internet at home, trying to get UTS to come out and do a repair is close to impossible, maybe today?

Yesterday I worked and tried to finish my last minute shopping list. I leave tomorrow morning at 6:00am and will arrive in Rapid City, SD at around 5:30pm, that’s a long day of travel and I have to get on three different planes.

Here’s a fun shot for you all today, this is a macro shot of the tail of a large Stoplight Parrotfish. Saturday night when Aimee and I went diving together instead of seeing coral spawning we found countless other cool creatures instead. Once the sun goes down, Parrotfish like so many other reef fish seek shelter for the long night ahead. During most dives we see countless Parrotfish laying under coral heads or hiding in some of the coolest spots you can imagine, the trick is not to wake them. Most divers end up spooking them or waking them up because of their bright lights, the trick is to find one and use soft light and then slowly move in close. I found that using diffusers over my lights allows me to get very close at least most of the time. The other trick is to never go night diving too early because the fish are still not fully asleep and are spooked a lot more easily!

That’s about it, see some of you real soon, I am going down in the sub right now for a photo shoot with friends. Have a great day, Barry

Hi friends, another day without internet, again so sorry but it’s out of our control! Yesterday I had a fun morning with the dogs at Saint Joris, that was my last walk with them for 3 weeks, I haven’t even left yet and I miss them already! While there I did some needed trail work on my new single-track which seems to be getting used a lot now and is starting to look great! The shores at Saint Joris are once agin filled with drift wood and it’s obvious no one is collecting it anymore, not even me.

Curacao has really been heating up this week and with little to no wind due to hurricanes in the area, it’s down right HOT!

I spent yesterday building some driftwood items and packing and before I knew it the day was gone! I left the house at 4:50 (HOT) and left on a 2 hour bike ride. I stopped at a friends on the way and we both rode for an hour together out around the edges of Saint Joris and on my new trail, it was a real fun evening!

Here’s a photo by request today. People are always asking me for pictures of buildings in Curacao, so here you go. Like all buildings here, this one is old, big, colorful and just down right beautiful, one could shoot buildings here all day and never get tired of it.

That’s it guys, have a wonderful Monday, Barry

Good morning all, once again I apologize for the messed up daily blogs, we still are without internet at home!  Yesterday was a very busy day. I first took the dogs for a long two hour walk with our friend Joey down to the salt ponds via the Barry/Arjan trail and did some trail cleaning along the way. It was so hot by 9:00 that we both said, “that’s it”, we were pretty much soaked to the bone from sweat and the dogs were running from one shady spot to the next.

After getting home and washing everyone and eating breakfast I then headed out for some last minute shopping before I leave Wednesday morning and that ended up taking up a good part of the day, it seemed like I went everywhere!  While at work yesterday I brought home my camera gear, tanks and dive gear and at 9:30 last night Aimee and I went for a fun night dive hoping to see some coral spawning. The bad news is we didn’t see any spawning, the good news is we found lots of other cool things to photograph anyways!  We ended up being out there for an hour and a half, I keep forgetting how much I love and miss night diving!  We got home at around midnight and after cleaning our gear and taking apart the camera we finally fell into bed and we were both asleep in seconds!

Here’s another fun shot I got the other day while out touring the reef in mini-sub style!  We found this giant red barrel sponge with this beautiful black crinoid attached to it’s rim, it was picture perfect!

Lots to do today, be back tomorrow, Barry

Good morning all, still no internet at home so we are unable to send out any daily e-mails.  We will try again on Monday to get someone out to help from UTS but I think that is being unrealistic.

Yesterday was another very hot day here in Curacao, I think our summer heat has finally arrived!  I did one reef dive with the sub yesterday but had a hard time as the current was running fast!  There was coral spawning last night but I did not go, maybe tonight, I went for a nice bike ride instead.

This is a small school of Goatfish I found yesterday all having breakfast together. I finally got a shot of their Barbels as they were searching for food in the sea-weed. Much of their day is spent digging in the sand, they use two fleshy whiskers called “barbels,” located under the tip of their chin, to search for prey hiding in the sand.  These fish are Carnivores, they feed on shrimp, crabs, bottom-dwelling invertebrates, clams, and clam worms.

That’s it, sorry again for the brief mail, I just have so much to do today before I leave for the States.  Talk to you tomorrow, Barry

Good morning friends, OUR INTERNET AT HOME IS OUT!  Yesterday Aimee tried and tried to get someone to come out and fix it but no one came!  UTS and TDS are both two of the worst companies on planet EARTH, “that’s our TV and Phone providers”, trying to get repair service is just plain awful!  My poor Aimee waited all day for them to call or come by but no such luck and ended up almost in tears at the end of the day as they had her on hold for hours.  These are the things we hate about living here.  So not sure when it will be fixed, just keep checking back here for updates.

Yesterday I did two dives again but having some camera problems, I will be taking all my gear with me to the States soon for repair.  This is a little Peacock Flounder I found in our bay yesterday and just had to stop and take a photo.  I am always amazed at how well they blend in with their environment and how cool they look just laying there on top of the sand.

Again sorry about the short e-mail, I am at work and need to get ready for a sub-dive.  I hope all is well with everyone, I am sure I have a million e-mails waiting by now.

See you tomorrow, Barry

Good morning all, my internet is out at home so I am unable to send any e-mails out, I am doing this from our computer at work!  Living in Curacao has really made Aimee and I aware of how much we take the basic life essentials for granted. There are many days here when the power is out all day, we have no gas for the car, internet comes and goes on a daily basis and tying to get something fixed like the t.v, or car can be just plain crazy. Aimee is off today and will try and get someone to come fix our DSL but I told her good-luck with that.

Yesterday we did two training dives during the day but the visibility here is still terrible!  Our first dive was down to 100 feet and soon after we spotted a big Lionfish that we had planned on going back to catch on the second dive but never found him due to poor visibility. We have coral researchers here at the moment from all over the World getting ready for the late night coral spawning that will take place this week.  I think tonight is the first night but not sure yet if I am able to make it, having some camera-flash problems.

Here’s a beautiful Iguana we have at work, he sits right there on that rock most of the day basking in the sun.

Sorry so short, see you back here tomorrow, Barry