Hermit Crab in a Vase Sponge

Good evening my cyber friends.  Have any of you ever had to start your vehicle with a can of starting fluid??  Well the reason I ask is when I was at work yesterday one of our construction guys was trying to start the old Sea Aquarium pick-up truck that is used for just about everything!  Instead of starting fluid he grabbed a can of bug killer, opened the hood and spayed it into the carburetor??  It was just plain o’l roach/ant killer and with a turn of the switch it started right up!  I think the look on my face said it all, I just stood there in shock.  I asked how’s that possible?  They told me that the ingredients are almost the same as a can of starting fluid and it’s ten times cheaper, crazy huh, give it a try I bet it works!

Aimee and I started this fine day with a two hour walk with the dogs, ha you thought I was going to say three hour walk huh?  After we got our dive gear together and took off to Caracas Bay in search of squids which we never did find.  Aimee did find this beautiful crab having lunch at the “Open Sponge Cafe” and called me over to check him out.  He was just sitting there in his very mossed over shell munching away at little bits of alga and could have cared less about our presence, normally they are very shy and are only seen at night.  We found so many scorpionfish today including one baby one that we took photos of using the magnifying glass, it’s pretty cool!  The water is still freezing cold, like 79 degrees, we were both very chilled by the end of the dive.

It’s still raining in Curacao!  We are now on our fifth month of rain, I was going to go riding but was unable to after our last down-pour at 4:00.

Many thanks for all the great compliments they really help to keep me going!  Till tomorrow, Barry

03-12-2009

Caribbean-Parakeet

Good evening all,  it’s strange writing two of these in the same day, now I know why I try so hard to do them at night.  Today at work I walked out to take pictures of a dolphin swim when I noticed a baby blue tang (fish) laying up on the concrete along the waters edge.  Wait this has a happy ending!  I said to myself “oh poor little thing, how did you get up here” thinking it was dead!  I gently poked it with the tip of the umbrella I was carrying and he moved!!  I quickly dropped the umbrella, gently picked him up and tossed him back in the water.  As I watched he first just kind of floated sideways but minutes later after swimming in circles he started to swim normally and after five minutes of wondering what just happened he took off, is that amazing or what?  I saw him 30 minutes later in the same spot swimming in and out of a little cave.  He would have had to jump almost 2 feet out of the water to get up there and no I do not think this was a suicide attempt!  But weird huh?

Here’s a bird that drives me crazy!  These beautiful Caribbean or Brown-throated Parakeets are scared of everything making it very difficult to get close to them.  I took this picture out of my car window yesterday, if I would have gotten out he would have been gone!  These birds are usually always in pairs or in groups and can easily be found, just listen for the loud squawking and follow the noise!

Aimee went with Eveline tonight to her three hour dog training class somewhere on the island.  I am guessing it’s a long ways away because every time she goes we have to put gas in the car the next day.

It’s time to get the o’l grill fired up for a chicken wing fiesta, I’ll talk to you all tomorrow, Barry

03-11-2009

Pederson-Shrimp

Good morning,  I got caught up in the movie “Fracture” last night on HBO, great movie but after I had no energy left to be on the computer.  I again had a busy day starting with yes, you guessed it a three hour trip to the ocean with the dogs.  I am still working on my “shoe tree”, collected another 100 flip-flops yesterday and piled them next to my tree just need to tie them on.  While I was there I decided to pick up a pile of nice driftwood that Aimee had hidden for me up high on a cliff a few weeks back.  I got it all loaded in our big dive bag and attempted to lift in onto my back, it was heavy!  The first step I took I slipped on some loose rock and down I went rolling down the side of the cliff alongside the waters edge landing with my butt stuck into a big barrel cactus, ouch!!  I just laid their motionless on my side still with the 40pound pack on trying to pull the cactus loose from my body, I was stuck to it!  Inca came running down and started licking my face as if to say it’s going to all right, never seen her do that before she seemed really concerned!  Well after getting the pack off I managed to stand back up, I then had to strip down (not a pretty sight) and slowly pull out spines one by one, I think I got them all it feels better this morning.  After about 30 minutes of crying like a baby I got myself and the wood back to the car, I let Inca drive home!

Your photo is a little Pederson cleaner shrimp sitting on a nice purple anemone, found this on my last trip to Small Wall with Mark.  These little shrimps are everywhere and always a joy to photograph and if your real still may venture over to check you out.

Very tired this morning from more trail cleaning last night followed by another bike ride.  I also spent three hours yesterday working on our new table, this baby’s gonna be heavy!

Talk to you tomorrow, I have to get to work, Barry

03-10-2009

Cacti-Shadow

Good evening,  here’s a fun picture compliments of Aimee and her great eyes!  She is the one responsible for finding this cool shadow made from a single leaf projected onto the top of beautiful barrel cactus.  We found this on one of our many hikes around Saint Joris early in the morning.  It’s so important for me to have help finding photos to take above and below water, four eyes are better than two!

We did a fun family bike ride this evening with the dogs, it was only four miles but we all had a great time!  I have started working on my driftwood furniture again, trying to finish this monster table that’s been just sitting here waiting since Christmas, I have to get it done!!

Sorry so short, it’s late and I am wiped out.  Sunny Curacao regards, Barry

03-09-2009

Green-Turtle

Good evening friends, I did a super fun dive with the World famous Dive Bus company today at a place called Small Wall.  Usually this is a boat dive but it can be done by shore or by starting at Directors Bay and swimming out to it like I did today!!  I was the only one who swam out, the others all walked along the coast, there was just no way I could have walked that far carrying my big heavy camera and all my gear, I float better than I walk!  The first thing that was spotted was this beautiful green turtle!  He or she was around two feet in length and was just as majestic as they come, they are just so fun to watch!  There was a slight current today and the water wasn’t real clear but that didn’t stop us all from having a great time.  We ended up starting at the tip of Small Wall and diving all the way back to Directors Bay following the beautiful wall the whole way in.

Last night I did a bunch of trail cleaning.  I swept most of the bad areas on the World Cup course and started on the Calabash.  After an hour of that I went on a one hour ride to enjoy the fruits of my labor, it was great.  I am slowly getting back into shape and love the new bike I got from my buddy Dan in the States, it rides like a dream.

Talk to you tomorrow, Barry

03-08-2009