The Dutch Navy Ship Van Amstel Firing

Good evening my friends, did you get the most out of your weekend?  Aimee and I both worked.  Living here has taught us many things, one being that it doesn’t matter what days you work when you live on a Caribbean island, everyday is a weekend!!

I received a bunch of mail asking about the canons they were shooting when coming into port.  Here you can see a puff of smoke up front off to the right from one or two of the canons firing.  You also asked if they were live rounds or blanks, good question?  They were shooting towards open water so who knows, I will ask my Navy friend as soon as I can and find out for you.  It seems everyone likes ships from the large response we got, I will try and photograph more ships and boats for you all in the future.  What’s kind of funny is we were all sitting along this wall waiting for it to arrive at 9:00.  Well it was 8:59 and I was thinking were is this thing?  Well, at exactly 9:00 it came in from around the corner as you see here hidden by this old fort. The spectators from the other side would have seen it coming but none of had a clue were it was until we heard the sound of the first blast!

That’s it, still struggling with my feet but I think they are getting better, will know more tomorrow.  Good luck with your Monday, Barry

February 8, 2009

The Dutch Van Amstel Navy Ship

Good evening from Curacao!  Here’s another fun shot of the Van Amstel with Outrabanda in the background.  When this thing was directly in front of me I could only get sections of it in my lens, it was that big!  Just moments before I shot this all of the Navy guys were saluting but I see only one guy doing it here, they must have gotten the “at ease” call when I snapped this.  I was thinking how cool it would be to be that guy up front as you slowly cruise into a new port with thousands of people watching, or if you saw the movie “Titanic” you could yell out, “I’m king of the World!!”  For those of you who have been here you know just how colorful this city is, they use any and every color known to man to paint everything!

It was a busy day at work, Aimee is still there but I will run and pick her up soon.  Hope you all are doing well, talk to you tomorrow, Barry

February 7, 2009

The Dutch Navy Ship Van Amstel Arrives

Good evening readers.  I had a really fun morning riding my bike into Punda and getting to watch the Dutch Navy ship the Van Amstel make it’s way into port.  Upon entering they did a 21 gun salute (or should I say a 21 canon salute) to salute the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles and it was loud!  This big beauty called the West Indian Guard Ship just arrived from Holland on it’s first trip ever to Curacao and is going to be used to fight drug trafficking in our surrounding seas.  There are around 160 crew members on board and will be in the area for the next five months.  It was followed by a state of the art Lynx helicopter, let me tell you guys that thing was cool!  To get to stand and watch this monster come into port with all those Navy guys and gals dressed in their finest whites while saluting was quite the sight, I really enjoyed this!!  I took a ton of photos this morning and want to send you a few more views, it’s hard to get the full effect with just one picture.

After following the ship as far as I could on my bike I rode back to the Sea Aquarium and spent the rest of the day at work.  I have been real busy getting the sub photos ready for the new Curacao Sub website, I will send you that link when it is ready.

For all of you asking about Sharon and Luke, all is going great!  I received one e-mail full of pictures of those two having a blast at Zion National Park in Utah, we wish them our best!

That’s about it for today, our little dog Indi got spade today and is laying here drugged at my feet, this is the calmest I have ever seen her!!  Have a great weekend, Barry

February 6, 2009

Mini Sub and Orange Sponge

Good evening friends, how was your day??  I am still limping around like a 110 year old man but made it thru another day.  Our on-site doctor looked at it again today and thinks I have something in there like a thorn or small piece of glass and it’s trying to work it’s way out.  I think tomorrow we may try as a team and dig that baby out, we will see.

I was very busy today again with the sub.  We had the ex-Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles meet us today at 11:30 for a two hour ride in the mini-sub.  So before she arrived I prepared the big underwater Ikelite camera for a co-worker who I am training to shoot underwater and got other cameras ready for topside pictures.  She arrived right on time and by noon she was off on her way on a grand adventure.  With my stupid foot I had to “for the first time ever” wave goodbye!  While underwater my friend taking the pictures “his name is Mayrond” was able to photograph a big remora that swam up out of nowhere and swam alongside the sub!  Mayrond told me his first thoughts were, “where’s the shark”!!  And he’s right, these fish usually attach themselves or follow large sharks or whales so he was a bit freaked out.  I will have to send you one of the photos it’s very cool!  He said the big remora just stayed with the sub for a few minutes and then decided this wasn’t for him and took off back into the darkness, quite the story.  Our ex- prime Minister had a blast!  We had photos printed in an album waiting for her when she got out, we don’t mess around.  Dutch “the owner of the Sea Aquarium” told me this lady played a big hand in helping them get the aquarium going eight or nine years ago, so anything we can do to pay her back is all good!  This was Mayronds first dive with a big camera and the sub and he really did great, if you see give him a big pat on the back!

Your photo this evening is another I shot a few days ago as the sub did it’s “reef tour”.  It’s funny yesterday I mentioned “poor visibility” and got tons of mail about that.  Yes folks we consider this “poor visibility”!  Most days we can see 60-100 feet in any direction, on this day as you can see it’s not as good, but yes I agree it’s still better than most of the cold lakes or rivers many of you are forced to dive, I feel your pain!!

Dinner is calling, see you tomorrow, Barry

February 5, 2009

Mini Sub over Sea Fan

Good evening guys and gals, so sorry about the poor communication but I have been soooo busy!!  Yes so busy that even I could not squeeze in time to send you a note!!  Today was my third day back at work, I am over the Dengue but have a really sore foot that is now completely wrapped in gauze and bandages!  We have a doctor working for us now and believe it or not he will be our new sub pilot as well, so lucky me I get my foot looked at by an expert now everyday, cool huh?  Well, yesterday I did a long “photo shoot dive” with the sub, sore foot or not I had to be out there as our little sub is heading back to it’s home in Canada in just a few days!  We are still getting another sub delivered “custom made” but that will be 3-4 months down the road giving them time here to build the facility that will be needed to house this little beauty.  The dive was a blast other than my throbbing foot and the poor visibility caused by stormy seas.  We had arranged to meet the sub in different areas around the reef to photograph it in a “reef type setting”.  Normally this sub is so deep so no diver could follow but this time we stayed in 30-60 feet, it was great!  I have a bunch of different poses for you and will send more.

Aimee just took the dogs and went with Eveline and some other friends to a new dog training class somewhere on the island and won’t be home till late.  That leaves me to fend for myself for dinner, those that know me know it’s gonna be fast and easy, unlike my wife and momma I do not cook!!

Hope you all are well, have to run, yeah I know I always say that, Barry
February 4, 2009

Dutch Island Girl

Hey gang,  here’s a fun story.  This is Sharon and she is on her way as I type to visit a lucky friend of ours who lives in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Actually she is meeting him in Salt Lake City first and then I think they may eventually head back up to Rapid after seeing the sights along the way.  Who is this mystery man you ask??  It’s our good friend Luke Kretschmar!  Yes many of you on my list know Luke and know how great he is!  Well for the past few month’s I have been playing “match maker” and I think I have done pretty well if I do say so myself, they are going to make a great pair!  Sharon is from Holland and loves snow-boarding and skating so those of you who know Luke know that’s right up his alley!  So tomorrow they meet for the first time ever face to face, is that cool or what??  I wanted all my Rapid friends to know about this in advance so you can really welcome her when you see her around town, will try to keep you posted just in case you can stop by and say hi!!  Have a great time you two!!

I did go back to work today, I felt pretty good other than the hurting foot but even that is getting better.  It’s very late for me almost midnight, talk to you tomorrow, Barry

February 2, 2009

Cara-Cara

Good morning friends, I am still at home waiting now for my infected foot to heal other than that I am cleared for take-off!!  I had a bad split in my heel from dry feet and it got super infected!  I am taking meds for that and do have it lightly wrapped, good times!

Yesterday it rained harder and longer than I have ever seen since I have been here!  Aimee said it was like Omar.  The skies opened up and never stopped!  Our driveway looked like a raging river, the front balcony was flooded, water came in under the doors and thunder and lightning like I have never heard before?  The dogs and I snuggled on the couch while this was going on, you couldn’t even hear the TV which was on full blast, it was raining that hard!  At one point I thought about tying all the driftwood furniture together and using it to go get Aimee after work but realized without a small motor of some kind all I would do is float out of control down the street, so I gave up on that!

This is a beautiful Cara-Cara Aimee and I found together over by the airport sitting alongside the road waiting for breakfast.  I always tell folks if you want to see these cool birds of prey in action go to the North side, it’s much more open making the hunting easier for them and the picture taking easier for us.

See you tomorrow, Barry

February 1, 2009

Colorful Fishing Boats at Canoa

Good morning friends,  I thought I would send you something a bit on the abstract side for a change, hope you like it??  These are the fishing boats that are always parked at Kanoa on the north side of the island.  I would not be surprised if that pier is now completely broken or underwater because when I was last there it was not looking good!  For you surfers on the list this is our main spot on the island with a break.  I have been here many times when the waves are perfect for riding and for some of you “long time readers” you may even remember a photo I sent years ago of our friend Rocio surfing a big wave right in this very spot!

Feeling better and better each day, I got a card from all my co-workers yesterday, that really made my day!  One of my friends wrote, “keep whatever you have away from us” ha ha!!  I laughed so hard it hurt!  Have a great day, Barry

January 30,2009

Curacao Barrel Cactus

Good morning from sickville!  I am feeling better today but now have some sores on my feet keeping me from doing much walking, if it isn’t one thing it’s always another!  Aimee and I both went into the doctors office this morning, I had to make an appointment with a foot specialist and Aimee had to do a yearly physical thing.

Your photo this morning is for our good friend Joe in Rapid City who has asked me for this photo more times than I can count??  It’s funny when you live around certain things like these little barrel cacti that you just get used to seeing them and never really take time to shoot them??  These were found high above the water at Saint Joris and was very difficult to get to, probably one of the reasons my feet look like they do.  As you can see these mega sharp cacti grow anywhere and they especially love these pitted limestone outcrops.

Hope your all doing well, feels like I have been at home for a whole year??  See you tomorrow, Barry

January 29,2009