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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for May, 2009May 16, 09 Comments Off
 orange-elephant-ear-sponge Good evening from Curacao! I started the day off with another “deep dive” in search of more fun sponges. I was joined by my friend and co-worker Candy (seen here) as a dive buddy and a model, two for the price of one! We had a great time down there kind of just moving from one sponge to the next, will send you more examples in the next few days. These are one of the most beautiful sponges anywhere and are called Orange Elephant Ear Sponges. This was taken at 100 feet and unfortunately at this depth we could only hang out and look around for a few minutes, it’s just amazing how fast your time passes down there! Candy is a Dive Master and Instructor so to say I was in good hands was an understatement, she is as good as they get! After shooting this we headed up to safer depths. We then stopped at around 30 feet for more photos near a big sunken propeller where to my disbelief Candy found a big red seahorse! Unfortunately I had the wrong lens so no seahorse photos for you but may go back tomorrow morning for another quick look. The visibility was close to 100 feet today, it was just a perfect morning for a dive.
I worked the rest of the day and am now ready to call it a day. Many thanks for all the great notes, we always want to hear from you! Sunny regards, Barry
05-16-2009
May 15, 09 Comments Off
 stationing-a-baby-dolphin Good evening all, ever wondered how they train baby dolphins?? It takes patience! And a lot of it! This is baby Pasku with our trainer Junior doing a pretty good job at what we call “stationing”. Stationing is done by getting the dolphins attention by putting your hands out over the water and getting them to stop what their doing and focus their attention on you, it’s like a dolphin stop sign. Once stationed like you see here a different hand signal is given and if done correctly they get a tasty fish. Now in baby Pasku’s case, he got a fish for just stopping long enough to look up at Junior, this was his first step and he did great. They usually take their little fish and swim off at top speed and then seconds later toss it in the air, playing with your food seems like way more fun than eating it? And usually if they play with it long enough one of the big snappers will grab it or a waiting frigate bird will dive down for a free meal leaving our little dolphin wondering were did my fish go??
I did a macro dive this morning, got some pretty cool shots but not really what I was hoping for. I swam by the new fish I found yesterday he was still there, this time I stopped and took a nice vertical shot, I like it more than the horizontal.
Not much else this evening, see you tomorrow, Barry
05-15-2009
May 14, 09 Comments Off
 spotlight-goby-gobiosoma-louisae Good evening all, we found a new fish! This is a Spotlight Goby and from what all the books and research say there has never been one of these reported in our Southern Caribbean waters, so that’s pretty cool! He is only about an inch in length and is identified by the perfect little yellow spot on the top of his nose. I first saw him yesterday from high above and knew immediately this was something different. He is living inside a Touch-Me-Not sponge but came out and perched himself on top long enough for me to take his picture. Not only is this sponge poisonous if touched it is covered in little white sponge worms, can you see them?? Look down into one of the two holes, those white things along the sides are all worms and are commonly found in association with these Touch-Me-Not sponges. Aimee and I did a deep dive this morning so I was able to re-take his photo as yesterday I had the wrong lens. We dove to around 100 feet this morning looking for new sponges and found a treasure chest full of them down there, need to go back ASAP with my wide angle lens. Because of rough seas overhead the overall visibility wasn’t that great but still very enjoyable, it was a short but fun dive.
For lunch we went to the new Tony Roma’s that opened a few months ago and it was great! We have been home now close to four hours and we both are still stuffed, man was it yummy!
That’s about it, we are taking the dogs hiking now for a few hours and then calling it a day. Have to run, Barry
05-14-2009
May 13, 09 Comments Off
 wild-parakeet Good evening friends and family how was your day?? I first want to thank all of you for the compliments! I was a bit shocked by how many of you liked the dolphin picture today, we received a ton of mail regarding that one?? Heck I’m just glad you guys are still out there keeping us company after all these years, we really enjoy reading your feedback.
I worked today but Aimee was off. I was able to do a dive with her at 1:00 being that we had no 3:00 programs so off we went on another “sponge locating dive” and had a blast! The moment we went under we realized how clear the water was but soon found out why, mother nature had turned on the current! We dove down to 50 feet staying low to the reef but still fighting the current head on. If you think just diving in current is hard, try to take pictures as well, there’s a challenge for you! Aimee would signal me to come over and shoot whatever she had just found and I had to find a way to stay in one spot long enough to do it, which is just a matter of body positioning and a little luck. Both of us really enjoyed this dive but burned our tanks up fast because of how hard we had to work to stay in one spot and we both exited with a headache from breathing so hard!
Your photo this evening was taken yesterday in our back yard of our now daily squawking visitors! I am starting to get real good at hearing them from inside, grab the camera, crouch down as low as I can and ever so quietly TRY to sneak up on them. Most of the time I get busted and they fly off screaming the whole way but sometimes like you see here I can get pretty close. It’s just so cool to live somewhere that has tropical birds flying around, we really enjoy them and hope they continue to come visit.
Aimee and I are going to the movies this evening for a night of relaxation and popcorn so I have to get moving! Talk to you again soon, Barry
05-13-2009
May 13, 09 Comments Off
 tela-and-pasku Good morning all, after doing two long dives, errands around town, hours of computer work and a mountain bike ride I had no time or energy left to get this out last night! My dives yesterday were so great! The water was so clear and there were so many fish which made for one of those really memorable diving days! I was out there on both dives searching for all types of new sponges that I had never really photographed before like all the colors of encrusting sponges, wait till you see how beautiful they are. I found a big Atlantic oyster clinging to a rock yesterday with his shell covered in orange encrusting sponge. He was so cool but very scared when I got close he slammed his shell shut and never re-opened for business. I have never in all these years seen that many fish in our waters like I did yesterday, I really need to get a video of this for you all to see.
This is mamma Tela with baby Pasku who as you may remember is our “Christmas Miracle” He was born Christmas morning with very little effort and no problems at all and continues to amaze us all every day!
I have to get my underwater camera ready and get going to work, I will talk to you more tonight. Have a great day and thanks again for all your kind words of encouragement! Bye now, Barry
05-12-2009
May 11, 09 Comments Off
 punda-waterfront Good evening from windy Curacao! Here’s a colorful shot of Punda for you viewing pleasure tonight. I took this from the little Navy boat I was in a few weeks ago while taking our VIP all around. The big white ship on the left is the Insulinde and the blue one on the right is a ferry boat. There are two ferry boats that carry people across when the floating bridge is open that way they can continue shuttling folks across while a big oil tanker or cruise ship passes thru. The Insulinde sails weekly to different areas around Curacao including an all day trip to Klein Curacao, quite a few of you have done that trip, it takes three hours one way! The buildings in Curacao are by far some of the most colorful in the world, you just can’t believe some of these color combinations??
I spent almost all day on the computer again, my eyes are so tired! At 3:30 I took the dogs to the ocean for a three hour hike, they played while I searched the desert for those glowing red barrel cactus’s for flowers. I did find a bunch but could not find a cactus with more than four, weird huh? For some reason these cactus only bloom late in the afternoon and seems like into the night. The flowers are a hot pink and are super tiny, I also noticed a few had these red fruits popping out as well, I’ll send a photo.
Good night friends talk to you tomorrow, Barry
05-11-2009
May 10, 09 Comments Off
 indi-on-the-car Good evening everyone, how was your Mothers Day?? I didn’t get to talk to my mom but got a note saying she loved the flower photo. My Mothers Day card started out with having a beautiful big yellow flower but then at the last moment I changed it because I remembered my mom hates yellow!!
This morning I took the girls on a long desert walk with the camera and tripod. Near this old car I found some really beautiful little flowers but they were super small and low to the ground. I set up the tripod and camera and proceeded to shoot away as Inca stood guard keeping me safe from any intruding lizards. Many of you photographers know when you start shooting something cool you really just loose track of time, and in my case I lost track of Indi again? I was on the ground with my back to the car again looking all over and yelling for Indi but saw nothing? I jumped up and turned around to see her standing on the top of the old car just as proud and as happy as a dog can be, it really made me laugh. My camera was still on the tripod so I quickly grabbed it thinking she was going to jump down any second but to my surprise she just kept standing there without a care in the world! Talk about a brave little dog?! Again this is why we named her Indi, short for Independent! The rest of our walk was just as fun. I found a hermit crab on the trail wearing a shell that was way to small, I picked him up put him in my camera case and took him to a beach filled with bigger shells, he can thank me later. The wind is still really blowing and the ocean is pretty rough not a great week for diving so I have been told.
I spent the rest of the day sitting at this computer working on underwater photos and getting them ready for our website. Around 4:00 the wild parakeets called me outside and let me get very close again, I got some more nice shots of them eating their seed pods, they are just so cool!
It’s bed time, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
05-10-2009
May 9, 09 Comments Off
 happy-mothers-day Good evening readers, I first want to say Happy Mothers Day to my mom in Tucson Arizona, this flowers for you!! I was just telling someone just today that without my mom buying Aimee and I our first computer for our wedding we would probably still be in the stone age! I remember how scared I was even thinking we were getting one and had all these nightmares about having to go back to school or take night classes just to learn how to use it?? But thankfully this was not the case. She walked us thru everything step by step and in no time at all we were surfing the web as fast as dial up could go, so once again momma thanks for all you have done for us!! I wish I could be there to take you out to dinner but am sure the man of the house will take care of that for me. And for all you other special mommas out there Aimee and I wish you a wonderful Mothers Day as well, thanks for taking such good care of us! This was the only flower blooming on the moss sedum the morning I took the picture of the hermit crab in the fossil shell, maybe he ate them all??
Our little island is going to blow right off the map if this wind keeps up, today was down right terrible! You should see the big waves that are rolling in making for very unpleasant diving unless you go down real deep. I had planned on diving the Superior tomorrow but that’s not going to happen now, it’s just way to rough.
After work I took the dogs to Saint Joris for a short windy walk. I noticed this evening for the first time that those red spined cactus were blooming? The flowers are super small and must only bloom late in the day and into the evening because I have never seen it in the mornings, will go back tomorrow evening with the macro lens. Aimee is out with friends this evening, the dogs are asleep and I need to get to bed. I will see you again tomorrow, once again Happy Mothers Day!! Curacao regards, Barry
05-09-2009
May 8, 09 Comments Off
 your-boat-and-table-are-waiting Good evening dear friends how was your Friday?? Mine went by super fast! I had so many odd jobs to do today for different people that it just burned up the whole day? It was a very windy day in Curacao pushing big waves into our coastline, would have been a terrible day for diving! I have heard we have two new seahorses out on our reef but have not had time to go see them yet, heck after the waves we had today they may have moved to deeper waters?
The photo this evening is a bit of temptation for my divers abroad in hopes of getting someone to come visit us! The picture kind of speaks for itself, your dive boat and table are just waiting for you and the water in fine!! This was taken at Habitat behind Coral Estates and I am sure many of you on my list may know this table and boat personally! I haven’t done a lot of diving here but the few I did do were really great. This is kind of like diving at the Aquarium where the waves just roll straight in from the open ocean, that as you know can be good and bad!! It’s hard to believe the tip of Venezuela is just 39 miles behind that boat, only on very calm days can we see the big mountains!
That’s about it, the wind is still raging, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
05-08-2009
May 7, 09 Comments Off
 butterflyfish-in-mangrove Good evening readers, I just got home from a fun bike ride with a friend at work. We started at 4:30 and took off onto the old World Cup Trail loop first, then finding every other trail we could for the next hour and a half.
This morning we had planned on diving the Superior Producer but when Aimee went to walk the dogs she got a first hand look at the rough seas. The Superior dive is impossible with big waves and a strong wind, it’s already difficult to get in on a calm day. So instead of that we grabbed a camera and our wetsuits, loaded the dogs and went to the dog beach lagoon for a little snorkeling adventure instead. I sent you the photo of the dog beach lagoon as a panoramic a few months back, if you can find it that is the pool of water we snorkeled in. For years we have wanted to see what’s in there and finally today we got our chance. The little pool of water is surrounded by mangroves making it a perfect spot for young fish, kind of like a nursery. When I first got in Inca and Indi were swimming out to me and climbing all over me, it was a mess and not funny at the time. I told myself, are you crazy thinking you could float around out here without the dogs wanting to join in? Yes it was a nightmare for about the first 30 minutes every time I went to focus on something here came the dogs to stir up the sand, there is a first and a last time for everything! But after awhile Inca found out that I wasn’t going anywhere and just stayed with me along the waters edge never once taking her eyes off me. Well this is one of the cool things we found, this is a juvenile four spot butterflyfish hiding under the arms of a mangrove tree. These mangroves are one of the few plants that can live in saltwater and have arms like you see here that hang under the water and all the little fish hide around and in these fingers. We also found a cool jellyfish but need to go back for better photos they were really hard to shoot.
That’s about friends, dinner is a calling, I will be back tomorrow, see ya, Barry
05-07-2009
May 6, 09 Comments Off
 diver-photographing-stove-pipe-sponges Good evening from a very small island in the Caribbean! This is Aimee taking a picture of those beautiful purple stove pipe sponges and me getting my picture taken as well! To say it was strange being on the other end of the camera for once was an understatement and left me feeling a bit uncomfortable! Many of you have asked or noticed that my diving has slowed down a lot! The reason for that is my dumb eye! I have an appointment to see the doctor at the end of this month and hopefully by the beginning of June it will be fixed. Tomorrow Aimee and I are planning a dive somewhere, still not sure where yet maybe to the Superior?
Aimee was off today, she took Inca to the doctor first thing because she was acting strange but we think all is well the doctor couldn’t find anything really wrong. I had yet another very busy day at work and was going to go riding when I got home but just plain couldn’t get myself to go! Sorry so short, my head is blank tonight, talk to you tomorrow, see you, Barry
05-06-2009
May 5, 09 Comments Off
 flowering-curacao-prickly-pear-cactus Good evening family of friends how was the day? Mine of course was busy again, you know me no time to slow down. I took the camera and the guard dogs on a three hour hike thru the desert this morning looking for new things you might enjoy. Our good friend Joe in Rapid City asked about flowers on those barrel cactus and if I had ever seen any?? Unfortunately no was the answer but I am still looking. I did find this nice prickly pear flower this morning in full bloom with a little honey bee inside, thought that was pretty cool. These flowers you see here usually bloom in the morning and get eaten within hours! The lizards and iguanas love these things as well as countless other little creatures so when you see one around here shoot it fast because chances are when you pass by later it will be gone! Besides the cactus flower I found some tiny little mud crabs this morning, very hard to photograph and a new area full of really nice fossil shells eroding out of the wall, so lot’s of new pictures. The dogs ran and ran mostly just chasing each other and always on the lookout for those lizards that they will never catch, it’s just fun to watch!
At around noon I received a phone call from work asking if I wanted to go take photos from the helicopter but had to decline because of appointments I had to keep at my eye doctor, what a bummer. I spent a good part of my day doing un-fun errands what a major waste of time!
That’s about it for me today, Aimee just came home with some Chinese food, sweet and sour chicken, smells great! Many thanks for all the compliments on yesterdays photo, the hermit crab, it turns out it was a big hit! Till tomorrow, Barry
05-05-2009
May 5, 09 Comments Off
 hermit-crab-in-a-fossil-shell Good morning all, just to tired last night to get this out. We again had a very busy day at the Curacao Sea Aquarium which obviously is good for business! I did load up the dogs and took them for a fun evening hike to the ocean after work, maybe that’s what finished me off?
Here is my newest hermit crab, the one I found the morning Indi swam out to that little island and claimed it as her own, remember? When I first walked by this patch of moss sedum I saw this fossil murex just sitting there as if someone had “placed it” just for me to find, like maybe the Easter bunny? Well after grabbing it and looking inside I found out much to my disappointment that it already had an owner. These fossil shells erode out of the cliff, roll down to the waters edge, get washed in the tide for months or years and then get re-found and re-used again by these hermit crabs. I have accidentally dug these fossil shells up on many of the trails I have built over the years and each time “if I don’t bring them home” I gently tap them on a rock to get the plug of dirt out then wash them and leave them along the trail for a lucky crab to find. I had to patiently wait for this crab to come out, he was pretty scared but after five minutes or so he popped out and slowly went on his way most likely to find a cave to hind in for the rest of the day.
I have a correction on the books from Tom that I told you about yesterday, The postcard book Desert Rain, Desert Bloom is out of print. And the ISBN of the Second Edition (2004) of THE SOUTHWEST INSIDE OUT is 1879728044. There are a lot of used book dealers (including Amazon.com) pushing sales of the older 2001 edition. I did get one e-mail saying that one of you found this book at Borders and like I said it was great! Many thanks for the support guys!
I am off today, heading out to walk the dogs and take photos first then I have stuff to do around town. Have a great day, Sunny regards, Barry
05-04-2009
May 3, 09 Comments Off
 glowing-barrel-cactus Good evening earthlings how was the weekend? I was off today and had planned on going diving but at the last minute my dive buddy canceled because of a severe cold. It’s funny when I think of catching a cold I always think of a cold area with freezing temps and being stuck inside, not here on this hot tropical island, it’s just not right!
I seem to be getting more and more requests for cactus photos than anything lately, heck you guys need to take a trip to the desert southwest you would love it!! And for those of you interested I know two great books you should run out and buy both done by my buddy and “photo mentor” Thomas Wiewandt. The first one is a little postcard book called Desert Rain/Desert Bloom ISBN#1-879728-00-1, I have a signed copy and the other a much bigger coffee table book “the perfect gift” is called The Southwest InsideOut ISBN# 9781879728042, if you love the west and all it has to offer wait till you see these! Your photo this evening is another beautiful glowing barrel cactus from the area around Saint Joris bay. I have found that morning is by far the best time to shoot these things with that nice warm glowing light, it really adds nice color to the spines.
Other than a mild hike with the dogs this morning it has been a fairly restful day, just what I needed! Many thanks to those of you who continue to keep in touch on a daily/weekly basis, you have no idea how much it means to us! Might go for a bike ride, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
05-03-2009
May 2, 09 Comments Off
 baby-dolphin-tikal Good evening friends, this is for my poor neglected dolphin group out there that has just about given up on me sending out any more pictures for them! Well your wait is over, take a deep breath and gander at the insane cuteness of our new baby Tikal! I shot this today at the 3:00 so it’s hot of the press. His mother DeeDee and Tela were doing a swim with six customers just a few feet behind him so he decided to swim over and check us out looking as happy and as cute as a baby dolphin possibly could! This little treasure is around five months old now and is learning so much. For instance like how to get mom all crazy and have her chase you all over the lagoon at top speed or like finding fun stuff to put in your mouth, and his favorite, hooking up with his little brother and getting into trouble! I strongly recommend any of you locals who haven’t seen the two new babies come on over to the Dolphin Academy and watch them for awhile, they really are full of surprises.
This morning at 9:30 I did my second dolphin dive with the Sea Aquarium dolphins that Aimee has been working with and let me just say, it was a blast! We had three dolphins and four divers making for a non- stop petting interaction. Even though I was down there with a camera I found myself petting them more than taking pictures. Your just swimming along and a dolphin comes up along side you and just slows to your pace and wants you to caress them, well ok if you insist! Aimee and her girls also showed me all the cool behaviors the dolphins have been trained to do like lay upside down in your arms so you can pet their soft bellies? Any of you interested? Sounds fun huh? Stay tuned and I will keep you all posted on new programs as they become available.
That’s about it, dinner is calling. Curacao regards, Barry
05-02-2009
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