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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for June, 2009Jun 15, 09 Comments Off
 little-puppy-in-curacao Hello all, is this super cute or what?? We have named this one Raven because of the beautiful flying bird on her chest, I’ve never seen a pattern like this before! Raven is our personal favorite, she is so loving, so quiet and super smart! My dear wife bless her heart has been relentless in her pursuit to get these three potty trained ASAP and is doing a great job! The second after they eat or drink Aimee grabs them and out they go, and most of the time it’s been very successful! I will send a photo of the other two as well so you can really see how wonderful they are. Aimee went to Caracasbaai tonight and believe it or not found the mother and one puppy, the brown one is missing?? Scary huh? She was unable to even get out of the car because of four other dogs surrounding the car and barking and she said she almost got bit? So I am not sure how we will catch or feed this last puppy, I will go back tomorrow to check! I am really hoping someone on this big e-mail list will help adopt these babies they are cute beyond belief!
Besides playing with puppies I did a dive at the Superior Producer today. For my new comers that’s a big sunken ship at 100 plus feet. I was picked up by our friend Eveline and also went with a co-worker friend of mine named Frank. The dive was great, found my first Tophat (fish) and Eveline found one of the biggest Reef Scorpionfish I have ever seen he was over three inches long! I will send photos. I was amazed at how well the sponges are doing that are growing on the wreck, there are so many different kinds and really goes to show how effective an artificial reefs can be.
That’s about it still a bit tired from the bike race but plan on getting back in the saddle in the next few days. Have a great evening, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
15-06-2009
Jun 14, 09 Comments Off
 Dive tanks in Curacao Good evening all what a day! My day off started with a two hour hike and ended with a two hour bike race, I am fried! I just got home from the race, we did three laps or around 22 miles, it was so hot and so much climbing not near enough single track! You can see the course we rode from the sky at; http://www.curacaocycling.com/races/sorsaka/Route_14_juni_MTB.JPG When you look at the map you will see the ocean and a salt bay. This is what we call the salt ponds where the flamingos hang out. If you look along the edges of the salt ponds you can see real white little areas, those are areas where the water has dried up from the lack of rain leaving pure salt in it’s place, that’s where I shoot all those cool salt crystal photos. Not sure how I did today but I think fairly well, I passed a whole lot of riders in those two hours. This race like all of them started out so fast! I told my buddy who I was riding with, just let them go, we have three laps to do and you can bet we will catch a lot of them later. Here in Curacao we have so little single track that they have to add road miles and other open areas to the route to get a long enough race course out of it and being a technical single track guy that killed me today! Many thanks to my friend Dan in the States for hooking a brother up with this great bike, it worked like a charm and with the tubeless tires I had no flats at all today!
Ok, the puppies, how are they doing?? The three here at the house are doing great, Aimee has already started potty training. Please island friends ask around again, see if you can help us get them to good homes, we will have to have them sign adoption papers. The bad news, the other two and the mother are gone!!!!!!!!!!!! I went there this morning and tonight, they are gone! Yes I am freaked out. Aimee and I will go back there tomorrow evening and start the search hopefully mother just moved them somewhere else near by??
Your photo this evening is for all my divers, your tanks are waiting and the waters fine, come on down!!
That’s about it, my knee and back are killing me going to find some hot water to relax in. Have a great Monday, Barry
14-06-2009
Jun 13, 09 Comments Off
 dolphin-fluke Good evening friends, I just got home from work to find out our puppies new owners backed out at the last second. This is good and bad. The good side, I wasn’t all that excited about the new owners anyways, they just didn’t seem to be that excited so now we can hopefully find even better homes. The bad side, we have to keep cleaning up all the pee and poop! But guys wait till you see how they have changed, they went from being terrified and never being around a human to being three of the most loving and playful puppies we have ever seen, we are really enjoying them. I have a few requests from the States for the dogs and we are looking into that for you, Aimee will be there in two months and could bring them with her! I drove over to feed the others tonight but only saw the black one, I hope the other is in the cave. They again had no food or water and the only time we can usually get there is in the evenings! I am off tomorrow so I will go there in the morning first thing.
Just a fun photo this evening from our daily dolphin show, I just never get tired of watching them do this! I was thinking I should take the camera in the water and get this shot half underwater and half above might be pretty cool??
We need to make three little puppies very tired before bed, last night they were up at 1:00am howling, ugggggg! Talk to you later, Barry
13-06-2009
Jun 12, 09 Comments Off
 oil-rig Good evening all, it’s back!!! This is a gigantic floating oil platform that just recently made it’s way to port at Caracasbaai. I think it was last week when we watched from the Sea Aquarium as this thing made it’s way across the ocean at what seemed like a snails pace! We get this thing every year about this same time, it’s kind of seeking safe haven here for the duration of the hurricane season. I have done a lot of dives under these things, and once this one gets more settled in I will go check it out as well. To see this monster crossing the sea is so strange, it looks like a floating city and I guess if you think about it that’s what it is!
I just got home from feeding the two puppies that are still with mother at Caracasbaai. There is a black one and a brown one, both are pretty scared. I again left water and food but we have to catch them soon and get them out of there. The other three are now as friendly as they get and are playing non-stop. We have friends hopefully stopping by tomorrow night to pick all three of them up, will keep you posted.
That’s about it gang, I worked all day so not a lot going on. Many thanks for all your kind notes we love you all! I will be back tomorrow, see ya, Barry
12-06-2009
Jun 11, 09 Comments Off
 baby-dolphins-eye-and-ear Good evening from puppy paradise!! There’s one I have never used again. Your photo this evening is a close-up of baby Pasku’s beautiful eye and his ear as well. I am not sure I have ever sent you a photo of a dolphins ear so I asked Aimee to tell you all about it, this is what she said.
The dolphin’s ear is shown on the photo by the arrow, it is the small pin-hole behind the eye! Can you believe it is so tiny? They do not have any external ear for a couple of reasons. An external ear is used to catch sounds in the air, but dolphins have their heads underwater. An external ear would cause too much drag, dolphins need to be as hydrodynamic as possible. Sound travels very differently when you compare water to air. If you have ever been snorkeling or diving and heard a boat pass overhead, it is very difficult to tell direction. Well in dolphins are able to tell sound direction underwater also, this is partly due to the fact that they do not have air in their inner ear, but we do of course (being land animals). Dolphins hearing range is much higher than ours, being about 10 times greater. They hear sounds in the higher range, that also being because they make a variety of sounds in this higher range. They make many sounds like whistles, clicks, pulse-burst sounds, barks, creaks, groans etc. Cool huh??
Today we officially broke all records for receiving mail from you guys and all pertaining to the little puppies! Many, many thanks to you all for all your kind words but really we are just trying to help. We met a lady today named Sheila who runs www.carf.an that’s short for Curacao Animal Rights foundation, she helped get these puppies their meds and first check-up at a discounted price and that helps us a bunch. For those of you wanting to donate money this would be the place to do it, she takes care of so many homeless puppies and they are always looking for those much needed donations!
How are the puppies doing?? Actually Great! They were pretty scared still this morning but throughout the day have become more and more brave and active! The doctor looked at all three and said all in all they look great but they have worms which we got pills for, a little hair problem, but will repair itself and of course the flees and I think we got all the ticks. I built a puppy coral in the house today and they seem to be loving it! Aimee is upstairs now with friends from work playing with all three of them, we want them real tired before bed! Indi loves them as well but Inca doesn’t want anything to do with this! Aimee went to feed the other two tonight but said she could only see one but was sure they were both in the cave, we still have to get them out?
I have a bike race on Sunday and just got home from doing one of the two laps, it’s gonna be tough! Man we had such a busy day today with running around and doing errands to taking care and cleaning up after the puppies, I am so tired!
Talk to you tomorrow, Barry
11-06-2009
Jun 11, 09 Comments Off
 saved-puppy-in-curacao Good morning all, what a night we had! Aimee and I took of to Caracasbaai right after work with plans on catching all five puppies! Well when we got there we put food down and immediately caught the bravest one first but after grabbing her the rest went running back into the cave. So then Aimee being the brave soul she is got down on the ground and crawled into the cave with only her legs sticking out and seconds later immerged with another very scared little female. So we had two in the crate, the others were really far out of reach up under a rock ledge so we figured we would just wait for them to come back out on their own. While waiting at the car we found two other puppies from another litter but one was dead and the other was taking her last breath, it was so heartbreaking!! Aimee made an emergency call and I took off like a rocket to get a needle and solution to put the puppy to sleep humanely. Aimee worked for a vet clinic in the states so she has all kinds of needed experience for such a task, I could have never done it and we needed to end the suffering immediately! It took me around 30 minutes to go and get supplies and while gone she managed to catch a third puppy. It was now pitch dark and no way of catching the other two so we left them with mother. We will go back tonight and feed those two but we are planning on leaving them there until we can get these three taken care of first. So once home we gave each one a bath first, they had ticks, fleas and their nails needed to be trimmed, they hated it!! These puppies are still really scared, they huddled together in one big ball all night. I was up on the hour checking on them and turning on the air to keep their room cool they did eat some food this morning. Aimee is with them all now in the bathroom they are still pretty scared but she is taking them all to the vet this morning for a check-up so stay tuned!
I have to go walk our dogs while Aimee runs to the vet, talk to you tonight, Barry
10-06-2009
Jun 9, 09 Comments Off
 endangered-staghorn-coral Hello, hi, howdy, yo what’s up, can you tell I’m running out of greetings!! It was another fast paced day in vacation-land for the dogs and I, poor Aimee had to work. I took the two luckiest dogs in Curacao to Saint Joris first thing for their normal two hour hike. A normal morning there consists of me either taking pictures or looking for driftwood and the dogs chasing anything that moves and eating anything that smells bad! We walked without seeing any of that smelly chicken that got dumped on the other side, so the right side of the bay seems to be clean and safe for the dogs. After getting back home and washing the dogs and eating breakfast I grabbed my dive gear and took off to the Sea Aquarium for a dive. Believe it or not the visibility wasn’t that great today although when you look at today’s photo you would never know that. We had pretty big waves again which in turn were really stirring things up. I know I have said this before but today I saw more fish on the reef than ever before! Look at the background of this photo it’s just a wall of fish! This is Staghorn Coral one of the most Endangered corals in the Caribbean and even the World. After Omar went thru last year it wiped out more than half the know population here in Curacao you now don’t see it anymore on many of the popular dive spots like at Directors Bay. On our reef we only have three or four patches of it and they are not very big. This coral is so delicate, any change in water temperature caused by global warming or whatever can greatly affect it and it will start to die immediately. These Staghorns here are actually coming back pretty strong right now, six months ago they looked really bad and I thought it was over for them. This coral is also home to countless fish and creatures, it’s a perfect hiding place from predators.
We again went to feed and water the puppies tonight. They are so cute and doing good but every time we get there they have no food or water so it looks like we are the only ones feeding them? Aimee is off tomorrow and will go and check on them more than once, please ask around and help us find homes, we will pitch in on the initial vet bill.
That’s about it guys, thanks for tuning in. Sunny regards, Barry
09-06-2009
Jun 8, 09 Comments Off
 dolphin-training Good evening friends, how did your Monday go??? Mine actually went very fast. I did something new at work today, I saved a hundred plus long spined sea urchins from certain death. Let me explain. We don’t want the dolphins and especially the babies getting sea urchin spines stuck in them so from time to time they need to be removed from the lagoons. These urchins are hiding all along the edges of the water in the rocks and many right out in the open just waiting for a curious baby dolphin to come over and stick their nose into one. Other than getting stuck or poked by these spines they are not dangerous at all but just for safety sake we want them out. So what I did today was get my dive gear on, grabbed a bucket and in I went. Aimee and Carina told me to use a snorkel as a tool for prying them off the rocks and that ended up working great. I dove under, laid the bucket on it’s side and started pulling them off the rocks one by one until the bucket was full. I then brought the bucket to the surface and a friend helped carry them over to the open ocean and let them go, I think it worked pretty well. I noticed once I started pulling them off the rocks they all sensed danger and started retreating back into their caves, I had to work fast. I did break some of their long spines doing this but it’s better than the fate they had otherwise.
This is baby Pasku again getting better and better at learning how to use a target pole. The trainer “Junior” holds the stick out over the water and Pasku is supposed to come up out the water and touch it with his nose. If he does this correctly he will get a fish, it’s positive reinforcement at it’s best! Well, he is still a baby and is not very coordinated yet but as you can see is doing a pretty darn good job, he seems to have no fear at all just like his mamma Tela. This was a pretty hard picture to get, I had to hold onto the top of Juniors head with one hand and hold the camera and shoot with the other while standing on a floating blue platform.
We just got home from checking on and feeding the baby puppies again, they were very hungry and really thirsty but they are all doing well. We really hate to leave them out there much longer if you know of anyone looking for a cute little dog let us know ASAP.
That’s all, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
06-08-2009
Jun 7, 09 Comments Off
 homeless-puppies-in-curacao Good evening all, anyone need a puppy?? These are the puppies we found at Caracasbaai yesterday, there were seven? The other two that are missing are light brown with white markings so maybe/hopefully someone took them home? I went here twice today to feed them and give them water. This morning they were so hungry but when Aimee and I went back this evening their little bellies were so full and only wanted the water. Momma is very afraid of people and won’t come near you but seems to be doing a nice job of keeping them safe and all together. Give me a ring or contact us if you want one although I think they will be hard to catch, they are living under a rock the size of a house.
I took our two “lucky dogs” on a two hour ocean adventure this morning and reminded them both constantly just how good they have it! I found some nice driftwood this morning, the strong wind is creating big waves and big waves mean more beach treasures!
After getting home and cleaning the dogs I went grocery shopping and then stayed home the rest of the day! I know what’s wrong with me!? No diving, no biking nothing! Actually I can’t go biking my front rim is bent from the last crash I had, need to get that repaired tomorrow.
I am outta here, good luck with that Monday!! Barry
06-07-2009
Jun 6, 09 Comments Off
 wild-flamingos-in-curacao Good evening all, I just got home from photographing the flamingo’s! They have been hanging out just a few meters from the ocean in a little cove very near our main trail for the past few weeks now. This is the first time we have ever seen them here and I thought tonight I would go and see how close I could get? I rode my bike down to the beach without them seeing me, then quietly hid the bike in the brush. I was lucky they were on the other side of a big slave wall so I was able to crouch down and slowly make my way to an opening. I was doing well I thought until some of the other birds noticed my arrival and sounded the alarm. The Black Necked Stilts are the loudest and I am sure they were telling the flamingos all about this strange thing hiding behind the wall. Anyways I was able to get quite a few nice shots before they all decided to take off as you see here, it takes them quite a few steps on the water before they are airborne, they are very big animals! I was telling Aimee I have never seen them so rich in color as I did tonight, they must have a great food source here. The large group of flamingo’s in the background did not immediately fly off, they just sat out there eating but as I went over the wall and tried to get closer they took off to join their friends, you can only get so close!
Aimee and I both worked all day, I did get a fun baby Pasku shot today and will send that tomorrow. Hope all is well out there, I know it’s the weekend so we won’t be hearing from many of you. By now, Barry
06-06-2009
Jun 5, 09 Comments Off
 christmas-tree-worms Good evening from sunny Curacao! Don’t have much for you this evening so this will be short. These are Christmas Tree Worms on a piece of fire coral. I think I have told you before that these beautiful little creatures are literally covering everything and are found in every color you can image! The hard part for me is to find one with a dark background like you see here normally they kind of blend in with whatever they are attached to.
I just got home from doing a photo shoot with a couple of girls that I work with. I met them at the Baya castle right after work and we took photos until dark, that place is perfect for people pictures! While there we found a momma dog and her seven puppies, we left them with a bag of food and lots of water will go back and check on them again tomorrow.
Sorry so short gang, feeling really tired after the bike ride to Baya and my snorkel with the dolphins today, yeah, yeah I can hear it now, poor me right? See you tomorrow, Barry
05-06-2009
Jun 4, 09 Comments Off
 curacao-painting Hello readers, thanks for tuning in! I was shocked at how many notes we received about the trashed beach, it’s great to know that there is so much support out there.
Aimee and I took off this morning on a fun little adventure with the dogs and the mountain bikes to the very windy North coast! We took some more shots of fresh imported trash on the beaches and collected driftwood while the dogs found everything bad and smelly to get into. The ocean was very angry today, we watched as wave after wave pounded the coastline with a thunder like crash and we constantly had to wipe the salt spray from our glasses. I think Aimee did a little video for you will try to get it loaded onto You-Tube. Once home we spent the rest of the day working on the computers and doing errands around town.
Aimee took me to a place called the “Wine Cellar” last night for dinner. Other than some of the food I have had at the Avila Hotel this was my second favorite dinner in Curacao! They had our table tastefully decorated for our Anniversary and immediately brought us out two glasses of complimentary champagne, really a nice touch! We had a fabulous time and a wonderful dinner I highly recommend this place to everyone.
Your photo this evening is from our trip to Ascension yesterday. We found a house along side the road leading to the wind farm that had all kinds of different Curacao paintings all depicting live as it was many years ago.
That’s about it, see you tomorrow, Barry
04-06-2009
Jun 3, 09 Comments Off
 trash-in-curacao Good evening folks, something really different for you all this evening. I am starting a new project which will involve “the other side of Curacao” the stuff we all wish would just go away but only seems to be getting worse. Topics I will be chasing are trashed and polluted beaches, effects of global warming on our corals, illegal dumping of raw sewage and of course the oil refinery we have here. Yeah I know everywhere has these problems but I am in hopes that I can help raise awareness in our area and spark some interest in getting some of this stuff cleaned up. Our environment is really taking a beating right now, not just here but everywhere and everyday no matter where I go it seems like I am knee deep in trash and just want to show you a bit of Curacao that others never see, it’s like they say “not all that glitters is gold” This is Playa Ascension, one of the most beautiful area’s in Curacao if you can see past the insane amount of trash. Believe it or not this used to be one of the top turtle breeding areas on the island but with the trash the way it is clogging the beach the poor turtles can’t find a safe place to lay their eggs? We had to keep the dogs on their leashes here this morning as the water is very polluted and the trash as you can see is everywhere. There is good news, for the past year or more groups have been coming here and bagging trash, not on this side but on the other. When we were on the other side this morning we photographed a pile of tires that had been removed from the water and were waiting to be picked up. So if any of you locals are looking for a clean-up project this is good place to start, give me a ring and I will lend a helping hand as well.
Aimee is telling me to hurry as she is taking me somewhere for dinner and won’t tell me where?? Talk to you all tomorrow, Barry
06-03-2009
Jun 2, 09 Comments Off
 aimee-tela Good evening from hot and humid Curacao! Since yesterdays photo was such a big hit I figured why not send another?? This is Aimee again with Tela. I was at the bottom holding my breath when out of nowhere Super-Woman and her fearless dolphin flew over my head! I really need to get this on video so you can see this whole routine it’s priceless! To see a grown dolphin resting it’s body on Aimee’s arm as she glides by is quite a site to behold! Anyways just thought you would like to see more of what Aimee gets to do at work, it’s a tough job but hey someone has to do it!
I did so much stuff today and am now sitting her in the air-co with the dogs relaxing. We took off early and did a four mile hike raking and sweeping the trails, haven’t done that for some time now and it really needed it! After that I went to the Post office to pick up a package our aunt Shari sent almost two months ago! This is why we say don’t send anything just have one of our visitors bring it to us. The box looked like it had been around the World twice and as far as we know maybe it did? Did all my “honey do” list stuff and then spent the rest of the afternoon messing around the house.
It’s getting very hot and dry here again, all our lush green desert is almost gone, it’s back to sticks and stones and cacti once again.
That’s about it, going to a friends house for dinner and tomorrow is our Anniversary. Have a great afternoon/evening. Bye now, Barry
06-02-2009
Jun 1, 09 Comments Off
 aimee-tela-and-pasku Good evening once again from banana-land! Other than work today I jumped in the water with Tela, her baby Pasku (both seen here) and Aimee. I think this photo just kind of says it all and is the main reason we have been here so long, she just plain loves these dolphins and they in turn love her right back! Look at Tela’s face, eyes are closed smile on her face and her baby tagging right along! For the few lucky trainers that get to swim with Tela they know how great she is and how comfortable she is around people, looks like fun huh?? Like I have said before, Aimee can hold her breath quite awhile which as you can see is so very important for this kind of maneuver, once the ride starts you don’t want to let go??
Aimee and I are off to the movies tonight we are going to see “Night at the Museum 2″, we loved the first one so lets hope this one is just as fun.
Hope you all are well, have to get moving I will be back tomorrow. Curacao regards, Barry
06-01-2009
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