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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for January, 2009Jan 13, 09 Comments Off
 helicopter-dive Hey gang, this is where I was at today, watching friends jump from a perfectly good helicopter? Why you ask? Well after one does so many dives on land and by boat you start looking and wanting new ways to enter the water, so here you go! The ocean was so rough today, I was thankful I was on dry land because even with all the diving I do those waves would have made me sick! Many of you know our friend Eveline, she was one of the crazies involved in this today so I was kind of there just for her. But as luck would have it the wind was blowing so hard and the waves were so big that they ended up being out of range of a good clear shot, I had to zoom this one a lot! The helicopter landed and two divers at a time held onto the side and off they went flying out to the drop zone, the fall was around 15 to 20 feet. Once out in the rough ocean these two divers (seen here) had to wait for six more to arrive, so the first ones in had to hold onto a line for around 10 minutes, after they all had been dropped they all went under and off they went on a nice dive. So like I always say, never a dull moment in our lives!
Sorry about the e-mail problems everyone is having, will get on that tomorrow, I have the fossils account open again now so it should all be good, the barry@coralreefphotos is giving us all problems?? It’s off to bed, my little bike ride tonight wiped me out! See ya, Barry
01-13-2009
Jan 10, 09 Comments Off
 split-shell Good evening friends, what a busy day I had! First of all let me explain this photo a bit. I did two dives with the sub today leaving them at 100 feet. Well on the second trip they came back with this very rare Split Shell collected at around 500 plus feet!! What Aimee is holding here is worth around $2000 dollars and has only been seen by a handful of people, is that cool or what? I know what your thinking, “how did they pick it up”?? Glad you asked. This new sub has a cool first of it’s kind robot arm on one side and now has a collecting bucket on the other side, it’s pretty much up to the sub pilot to get as close as possible then the person in front uses a joystick to operate the arm which had a small net attached and carefully dumps it in the bucket. My question again is, “why is something so colorful living in complete darkness and at such great depth”?? I was trusted to bring the shell home for a short time to my little indoor studio I made, and let me tell you I was nervous the whole time but had a blast shooting it! As I learn more about this shell I will tell you, am sure we will be finding more cool stuff as well so stay tuned.
I also did another great snorkel with our dolphins today, got some really fun pictures that I know everyone will love. I am up late tonight had to get these shell photos ready for Dutch to see tomorrow, this is a good case of there are not enough hours in the day!! That’s about it in a nutshell, I am really tired and headed to bed, hope you enjoy the beautiful shell, Barry
01-10-2009
Jan 9, 09 Comments Off
 goat-skull Good evening folks, something a little different for you all this evening. While hiking a new route at Saint Joris the other day Aimee found this cool goat skull just begging to be photographed! I swear that woman can find anything! The morning she found this I didn’t even have a camera so I had to grit my teeth and kick myself watching while she had all the fun with her new camera, you would think I would learn?? Well we went back there this morning. It’s quite a hike to get to, steep slippery cliffs, cacti everywhere, thorn bushes and razor sharp rocks, that was just a few of the obstacles we had to overcome to get to this new place. But that being said it’s well worth the blood shed as it’s photo heaven, really a cool area. Aimee has been taking some very creative pictures as well and I promise I will get those to you as well. The dogs had a blast other than having to pull an occasional thorn out of their paws, most of the time they can do it themselves but we are always there to lend a hand.
After our hike we stayed home and worked inside most of the day, I have tons of computer stuff that I always have to do, if not for me it’s for someone else. At 5:00 I went and picked up my bike from Dasia, Aimee got me tubeless tires for Christmas, can hardly wait to try them!!
That’s about it, Aimee is on her way back from Saint Joris for the second time today, there was a party there tonight for a friend of hers that is leaving the island soon. I have the shower ready to wash two dirty dogs again so I need to get going, till tomorrow, Barry
01-09-2009
Jan 8, 09 Comments Off
 mini-sub-in-curacao Good morning all, had an old Dell monitor burn out, but today I found another for pretty cheap. So let’s see, what’s been going on? Yesterday was my first day in the water with the mini-sub, I had forgotten just how cool that thing is. This little baby will dive to a depth of 1000 feet holding 3 people, how cool is that? This sub seen here is a rental of sorts or on loan until they get the real custom made one which should arrive in 3-4 months. That one will hold 5 people and be a bright red color, I can hardly wait to see it. I did three dives yesterday. The first one was to find a piece that fell off the sub the day before. They told me the general area and about what depth so off I went to find a needle in a haystack or so I thought? Much to my surprise I found the piece but in very deep water, it was at 120 feet instead of 60-80 as they had thought but never the less I found it and brought it back, everyone was shocked and very happy! The second dive was the longest, I was in the water an hour and a half. I started out by just holding onto the sub letting it take me along with it and when it slowed to look at something along the reef I would let go and swim to the front and take pictures, it was a lot of fun. Once they get near 100 feet I wave good-bye and again wait for them in 25 feet of water to return. The third dive was shallow and is your photo of the day. This is Dutch (left), owner and builder of the Sea Aquarium and his son Alex behind him, it was his birthday and this was his present. The other gentleman is helping with the sub and came here from Ohio I think, the sub is from Canada. So needless to say I have been very busy but it sure is fun.
I also have started riding the bike again, did a fun ride Tuesday evening with some friends it was short but fun! Aimee and I just got home from two hours at Saint Joris, we had a great morning and most likely will be going back there tomorrow as well. On the way home today I stopped at our local grocery store. Like everywhere we are using re-usable grocery bags that you have to remember to bring with you now every time you shop. Well today at the checkout I had a bag from Whole Foods that I picked up in Boulder, Colorado while in the States. It was laying on top of my food to be scanned and like everything else the lady ran it thru the scanner and a price came up?? She said the bag costs two guilders!! I tried and tried to explain to her that it was my bag that I brought in the store, I said look at it, read it, do you sell these here?? She just smiled and said you want the bag or not?? It’s two guilders! I was freaking out and finally asked to see her manager. The manager came over and it again turned into a big deal, he did tell her it was my bag but now they had to do all this stuff with refunding my two guilders (it’s like a dollar), geez what a hassle, for those of who live here you can feel my pain.
Have to get moving lots to do today, hope all is well, Curacao regards, Barry
01-08-2009
Jan 6, 09 Comments Off
 baby-dolphin Good morning guys, I was so exhausted from another day of free diving that I went to bed at 8:00! Yeah I know poor you having to swim with the dolphins while we are freezing our bunns off!! Well, someone has to do it? Remember baby Kayena? Here she is. She is now over a year old but still so much like a baby and still nursing! You would have to go back and find some older pictures I sent to see how much she has grown. I shot this while laying on a submerged platform, she is still a bit camera shy but with a little patience she will come pretty close. I did some fun snorkels yesterday with the dolphins again starting my own training of sorts in letting them get more used to the camera. Again I am not wearing a tank, just a weight belt, wetsuit, fins and mask and carrying a camera without strobes, and man oh man is it ever fun! So needless to say after all day of holding your breath it really makes a person tired but it’s well worth it!!
I am headed out to clean trails this morning because tonight I am doing a bike ride with a friend of mine. If anyone would like to join meet in front of Lions Dive Hotel at 5:15 should be a lot of fun. Oh yeah almost forgot, our mini-sub arrived yesterday! Actually it’s a loner, our custom made one will be here in 4 months but they will be using this one for training. I will most likely be doing more dives now with this thing inside and out so stay tuned!
One more thing, I will be changing my e-mail address in a week to barry@coralreefphotos.com please make a note of it. Any mail sent to the fossils@rapidnet.com address will be directed to my new one so fear not we won’t lose you!
Hey have a great day out there, see you tomorrow, Curacao regards, Barry
01-06-2009
Jan 4, 09 Comments Off
 flying-boobie Good evening friends, another shot for my bird lovers out there, this is the Brown Booby in flight! Look how cool his tail feather are?? I think I told you all weeks ago that we have two of these on the premise and I kid you not when I say you can walk right up to them and feed them. In fact moments before I took this photo he and I both were standing on the same three foot wide bridge. I had to walk by him to get to the other side and he never moved, he just looked up at me and squawked! The dolphin trainers hate these two because of their persistence to steal fish from the dolphins, they are relentless and can really be a pain. For me I look at it as a photo opportunity every time because they fly in circles above us making it very easy to capture them in flight. Aimee and I did spot a new bird the other day that looked like a booby as well but we never got a good enough look or a picture have been looking for him ever since.
Today I did three snorkels with the dolphins, just me and the camera! I have quit using tanks as they don’t seem to like them so it’s back to holding my breath and diving down, do that for three hours and man does it make you tired! I got to watch our big male Copan mate with Teresa today and from my view it was very successful, I think we can guarantee a baby 12 month’s from now! Aimee just made a great dinner, Inca and Indi are chewing on bones and I am almost falling asleep, talk to you tomorrow! Curacao regards, Barry
01-04-2009
Jan 3, 09 Comments Off
 fearless-dog-from-curacao Hey Guys, being that we got so many e-mails from yesterdays photo I figured what the heck send another! For some reason our little Indi seems to be a big hit I think even more than Inca? Oh that hurts just to write that? Good thing Inca can’t read! With the help of my own personal animal trainer we took this photo just a few hours ago down at our favorite beach. I was actually very surprised at how eager and fearless Indi was to climb up to the top of this piece of driftwood! Now Inca was a different story, yes she did end up doing it but had a kind of “freaked out” look on her face, but she did it just the same. For those of who have asked to adopt Indi well, we are way passed that now, she is part of our little casa and is here to stay but thanks for asking just the same.
Aimee and I both had a busy day at work, I did a dolphin dive with Aimee’s dolphins and took pictures but the visibility was terrible. Hope your all having a great weekend, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
01-03-2009
Jan 2, 09 Comments Off
 indi-and-inca Good evening friends how are we all doing today?? I am guessing that either everyone is still on holiday away from their computers or you didn’t do much for New Years?? We are still waiting for some stories. We just got home from doing a photo shoot down at the slave walls of a couple of our friends from the States and of course since we were there we also took pictures of the kids. Look how much little Indi has grown, really amazing huh?? Go back and look at the first one I sent and compare it with this, she still needs to grow into those ears? Indi and Inca are sporting their new dog collars I got them for Christmas from Orvis.com, they are great because their names and numbers are embroidered right on the collar! Indi’s doesn’t quite fir her yet??
Aimee and I started this fine day with a two and a half hour hike with the dogs and cameras, it was a blast! I tried calling our friend Cival to join but couldn’t get hold of him? We found so many birds this morning sitting on cacti, dragonflies everywhere, flowers and so much more, lots of cool stuff to send your way. Aimee and I are still feeling a bit drained from work these past few weeks it has been so busy and we are feeling it now.
Have a great weekend, it’s dinner time. Curacao regards, Barry
01-02-2009
Jan 1, 09 Comments Off
 flying-pelican Happy 2009!! Believe it or not Aimee and I both stayed up long enough to bring in the new year!! For those of you who have spent time with us you know how difficult that was for us, we are early to bed and early to rise! We did have a wonderful time at the Kieffer’s, lots of snacks and food and of course every kind of drink known to man, it was great. When the New Years count-down began Aimee started filming with her little camera and didn’t stop for at least 15 minutes, will try and get that put on You-Tube. The house we were at sits high above Curacao and could not have been a better place to watch the insane amount of fireworks going off, I can’t even describe it. I raced home at around fifteen after to check on the dogs, the music was still playing so that really helped to keep them calm.
This morning after slowly dragging myself out of bed I took the dogs for a fun 6 mile bike ride around the salt flats ending up at the dog beach for a swim. Our motto around here is “a good dog is a tired dog”!! So the rest of the day they slept while I backed up around 20,000 pictures that I have shot in the past 3-4 months on a new mini hard drive a friend brought us, I really do have a lot of photos! At 1:00 I went to work and did a private underwater swim with the dolphins. Yep just me and the camera, what’s better than doing a swim with your best friend! And yes those photos will be on the way soon, I promise! We just finished dinner, another delicious meal on the little grill and I am now sitting here eating Dutch chocolates for desert as I type, yummy! Well that concludes our first day of the new year, would love to hear some of your stories as well.
The fireworks are still going off, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
01-01-2009
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