 |
 |
 |
 |
 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for November, 2009Nov 16, 09 Comments Off
 Gorgonion Reef Scene Good morning guys, yes I am late again on the daily blog. Even though I am home sick I am keeping busy going thru old pictures, a project I have wanted to do for a long time. Slept pretty good last night and feeling better this morning, I will go to work today. Yesterday I did manage to get outside a little, I took the dogs on a morning walk but by the end had wished I hadn’t. At around noon I worked on my wooden driftwood box a bit more, talk about time consuming can hardly wait to get this thing done.
This is a beautiful little gorgonian, it was just swaying back and forth and for some reason caught my eye. Gorgonians are often called “soft corals” because of the colonies lack of a hard, rigid, permanent skeletons like star coral or brain coral for instance. Gorgonians are really what gives a reef “the look of life”, as you can see here it looks like an underwater forest. These plant like corals are also home and hiding place to countless little creatures just like trees on land are home to birds, mammals and insects. I really didn’t realize there were so many different types of gorgonians until I actually started looking, will be a challenge to photograph them all.
I have to get moving, still need to walk the dogs and get ready for work, talk to you tonight, Barry
Nov 15, 09 Comments Off
 Spawning Brittle Star Hi friends, here’s another cool picture of a Banded-Arm Brittle Star spawning. Look carefully and you can see the hundreds of tiny eggs that are being released! I found out the night I shot this that trying to sneak up on a spawning brittle star is close to impossible! Not impossible as you can see but close as I took hundreds of photos. They are so sensitive to light that the second you shine light on them to focus with the camera they are gone! You wouldn’t think a little creature like this could move very fast but boy would you ever be surprised!
I called in sick again today and spent the whole day going thru old photos. I’m going thru and picking out all the best birds, reptiles, dolphins, shots of Curacao, family pictures, flowers and so on and so forth and putting them all on my new 1TB hard drive so I can find things easier. I have so many full cases of cd’s and dvd’s and about ten 500GB mini hard drives that are all full, that’s a whole lot of pictures!! Someone asked me the other day how many dives I have done since I have been here, I stopped counting at 1000!
It’s off to bed, hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Sunny regards, Barry
Nov 13, 09 Comments Off
 Alberto Contador Good evening friends, here’s another Alberto Contador photo by popular request this evening, have to keep my bikers happy! Alberto was overheard saying “in 2007 these folks hardly knew who I was, now everyone wants autographs and photos”!! That’s the power of the Tour de France! I shot this again at the beginning of the race, he was completely surrounded by fans and seemed to be just loving it! The island now is so quiet with all the cyclists gone, it’s the calm before the storm, meaning in December the island gets hit hard with tourists from the Netherlands.
It was another day of sitting at the computer searching thru years of old pictures. I was counting the cameras I have been thru alone on this journey, four of them so far! One Nikon D-100, two D-200′s and now the D-300 is gone, I guess it’s a small price to pay for so many cool shots and like they say “anything mechanical will fail at some point”.
Sorry so short, still feel like crud, I am off to bed! Barry
Nov 12, 09 Comments Off
 BAR-1322_baby-dolphin good evening all, I am officially sick as a dog!! A big thanks to my dear wife for this great present she brought back from the States, talk about a gift that keeps on giving?? I haven’t left the house all day, I am sitting here surrounded by every cold and flu remedy in a box know to man and none of them seem to be doing much?
Found this super cute picture of baby Kayena today while sorting thru zillions of old pictures!!
My head is just blank tonight, am just to wiped out to come up with words to write, will try harder tomorrow! Have a great evening, regards Barry
Nov 11, 09 Comments Off
 Snails Good evening friends, here’s something a little different tonight, these are yet another species of snails we have all over the island! I found these in great quantities at Saint Joris bay the other day along the waters edge basking in the sun. I couldn’t find a name for these so once again I ask for your help out there! These beautiful shells are around a half an inch tall and the shell itself is super thick and strong unlike the snails we have all around our house, step on one of those and it’s game over! There are areas I have found around the bay like this where the snails are just thick and just cover all the recently deposited driftwood and rocks, it’s really pretty cool. Anyways something a little different, thought they were cool and thought you would like them as well.
I did a dive with a couple of my fellow co-workers today at around 2:00. About the coolest thing we found was two seahorses! They were both black, very big and just out in the open feeding, it’s always a treat to see those on a dive.
Alberto Contador and his team left today but dropped off a few more things to us before he headed back to Spain. So I think I have everyone taken care of that asked me for something, will send him a big thank-you card to him and his brother (who is his manager) in a few days.
As of this moment I am coming down with something?? I have been starting to feel something coming on for the past few hours and it seems to be getting worse? Aimee bought us tickets to the Michael Jackson movie for tonight, gonna be a late light.
Till tomorrow, Barry
Nov 10, 09 Comments Off
 Blushing Star Coral Good evening all, I had a full day of sitting at our two computers working on photos for the riders and underwater photos that need to get to the states soon. The good news is I got to watch new DVD’s that my mom just sent down while working in Photoshop. I started watching “Life on Mars” first, and it’s really great.
Contador and his group leave early in the morning, I took some more stuff over tonight but not sure if they will have time to sign them or not so those of you sending late requests I can’t promise anything.
Here’s another super close-up I took the other day, this is Blushing Star Coral. With the naked eye you can’t even see this beautiful pattern and for years we have been just swimming over it not even knowing it’s there. The polyps are super tiny and only by accident did I recently discover them, if you see this stuff from a foot away it just looks like some kind of encrusting coral.
Many thanks for all the letter guessing yesterdays photo, those of you who said ”a tiny red fish” you are correct! Not sure what kind of fish it is either yet so anyone with info or good guesses pass it my way!
We are all tired and off to bed, till tomorrow, Barry
Nov 10, 09 Comments Off
 Blending in Good morning all, just too much to do again last night to get this out so I am still a day behind! Yesterday was just a blur, it seemed like I raced around all day! I did work but did a dolphin snorkel at 10:30 trying again to get some pictures of bubbles coming out of a dolphins blowhole, harder than you think! At 2:30 I jumped in the ocean for a dive mainly to try and get some more shots of the squid eggs but when I got there and lifted the rock everything was gone? Maybe they hatched? Since I was out there I continued my search for other cool things and for once having my macro lens came in handy! I was at 40 feet shooting this red encrusting sponge as you see here when something moved. I strained my eyes as hard as I could and looked again and sure enough there was something just laying there not moving at all just blending in with the background. Can you see it?? I won’t give it away just yet, I’ll let you look. I did also notice more coral bleaching starting and also found some more Damselfish Gardens so all in all it was a pretty good dive.
Well when I finally got out and walked back over to Animal Encounters I first looked at my phone and I had 4 missed calls! Seconds later Hans the new owner of Animal Encounters tells me that Contador has been trying to reach me and him and his team are on the way over to swim with the sting-rays and feed the sharks! So I quickly ran over to Dolphin Academy to get an underwater camera and helped get tanks ready for the boys. Contador and the team showed up right on time, it was just them and us no one else was around so they had the whole place to themselves! Hans gave them a briefing as they were all going to do this on scuba and after I helped get the gear set up and within minutes we had everyone in the water laughing and having a great time! All the riders had “fish keeps” attached to them so they could feed the rays, turtles, fish and sharks but in the end we had to hand the fish to them one by one as they all had a pretty difficult time learning how to dive. I think it’s safe to say Contador and the boys had a blast, I stayed with Alberto most of the time just making sure he didn’t get hurt and did manage to get a few shots but with all the sand flying around it was pretty difficult! I will try and send a photo if I got anything good. When we surfaced it was non-stop excitement with the riders talking about what just happened, they really had a great time. We are meeting them again today to have them sign a few more things as they leave tomorrow morning it sure has been great wish my buddies from home could have been here!
Aimee is feeling better but still not back to normal yet, I have a busy day ahead so I have to get moving!! Bye now and thanks for all the great letters, Barry
Nov 9, 09 Comments Off
 Amstel Curacao Race 2009 Good morning from rainy Curacao! By popular request this morning for more biking photos here’s another from the starting line! Many of you know these faces without me having to even list them but here they are anyways from left to right, Thor Hushovd, Frank Schleck, Mark Cavendish and Andy Schleck, Contador wasn’t here yet, he made his grand entrance seconds before the start. Saturday night Aimee and I went to the big after-party at Mambo and sat with Mark Cavendish and had him autograph a few things for us. He is a really nice guy, him and his girlfriend are here for a week and I have volunteered to take them on an island tour this week some time if they have time. Some of you may remember that Mark won six stages in the Tour de France this year, this guy is really amazing! I also met Contador and his team members yesterday and sat with them at lunch having him sign some prints I made, so those of you who asked for pictures you got them!! After he signed all my photos I asked “what can we do for you know” he replied, can you get me and my boys hooked up with some snorkel gear?, which I borrowed from the all new Animal Encounters dive shop. I said just wait here and I will be right back! So it was a fun day of walking around the beach bumping into and seeing these biking pros everywhere, this is really one of my favorite times of the year!!
Aimee is back but she is sick as a dog!! She is so short staffed that she is unable to take any sick days off. She said her time in Atlanta other than getting sick was fantastic!! She said seeing the Whale Sharks in the new Georgia Aquarium was unreal!!
I went on a bike ride last night but am still feeling a bit out of shape or maybe just tired?? I did take the dogs for a nice walk yesterday morning and finally cleaned one of the bad climbs to Jan Theil, it was so loose for the quads going up and down it! That’s it folks, sure feels like a Monday, be back tonight, Barry
Nov 7, 09 Comments Off
 Alberto Contador Good evening friends, the winner of the 2009 Amstel Curacao Race is no other than the man himself, Alberto Contador!! Here’s the list of riders today for all my bikers out there, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, Thor Hushovd, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Lars Boom, Karsten Kroon, Johnny Hoogerland, Koos Moerenhout, Kenny van Hummel, Jakob Fuglsang, Jesus Hernandez, Gabriel Rasch and Brice Feillu just to name a few, not to mention all the team riders that are here as well. Contador has three other team members here and they are not even on the main list I thought that was kind of strange?? Before the race I was up front and personal at the starting line with all the big names shooting away and could only be there because of knowing the right people and it was great! I snapped this fun shot of Contador just moments before the race started, he was so calm and relaxed! I’ve been busy here at home this evening printing out 8×10′s to have the guys autograph for us. If Aimee get’s here in time tonight I have VIP tickets to the party where all the riders will be, it’s always great to shake their hands and talk to them in person, Aimee can practice her Spanish with Contador! For all our biking friends back home you have to get here for this next year!! It’s the only Pro race in the World were you the general public can race right along side with your favorite celebrity but be warned, once they drop you there’s no catching back up!! They even have three or four sprints along the route and if you win one of those that’s money in the bank! Second place today went to Thor Hushovd and third was Koos Moerenhout man were they flying! Fun day, it was again great to be part of such a wonderful event, Lions Dive Hotel always puts on quite a show!!
Aimee’s plane should be landing in the next few minutes, a friend is picking her and the other girls up so all I have to do is just sit and wait and print out more biking photos!! Sorry so short, off to play, Barry
Nov 6, 09 Comments Off
 Boulder Star Coral Good evening gang, ok I’ll get right to the Sully story I know your waiting! After I sent out last nights blog I grabbed the dogs and off we went on our evening walk. As I was driving George again came on the radio live with an update! This time he said they had found the pilot whales and they were right in the middle of them, he guessed there were around 20. Sully kind of played it safe and stayed on the outside of the pod and the others just kind of swam around checking him out and then all of a sudden the group dove down and Sully did not or could not follow?? George thinks the reason Sully was stranded to begin with is because maybe he can’t go far below the surface for some reason?? They tried everything in the book to get Sully to leave with them but Sully said “thanks but no thanks” I’ll just follow you all the way back to Jan Thiel if you don’t mind! George, Junior and Naomi should get a medal for what they attempted yesterday they did their job but in the end it was the whales decision! Can you imagine being in a small boat out to sea and have a whale follow you for 20 plus miles?? This whale knows he is safe with George and trusts him completely I just can’t even hardly comprehend a wild animal following a boat for 8 or 9 hours, this should be made into a movie!! So Sully is back at Jan Thiel most likely tired today from his long swim yesterday, stay tuned for more!
Here’s a picture of some beautiful Boulder Star Coral I found the other day, It was so green!! It was just this little colony all by it’s self but boy was it ever colorful and was just screaming at me as I passed by to stop and take it’s picture!
After work today Kenji and I jumped in and tried to photograph the squid eggs again but the whole dive was plagued with problems! The eggs look great and I did notice that the baby squids now have more developed and colorful eyes. I didn’t get any good shots tonight because of the eggs moving around too much from the surge but we will try again!
Tomorrow is the big bike race, I will be there taking photos so wish me luck! Gotta go, Aimee will be back tomorrow night, see ya, Barry
Nov 5, 09 Comments Off
 Barry and Contador Hi guys, what a crazy day!! I first did the responsible pet owner thing and took my four legged hounds on a great two hour hiking adventure thru the Curacao outback!! By 9:30 it was so hot and humid we were all soaked and rushed home for some cool showers and a ton of relaxing in the air-co!
At 11:30 I rushed to the Dolphin Academy because not one but all the famous Pro bikers were there swimming with the dolphins. You would have thought Tom Cruise himself was here again because of all the photographers lined up taking pictures above the bikers as they swam with the dolphins. And not just any dolphins mind you Contador got to swim with Tela and baby Pasku! As expected I dove right in with the rest of the photographers and shot away, it was great all these guys we watch on TV every year winning event after event and here they were in person, what more could you ask for?? So for those of you who don’t know this guy, his name is Alberto Contador two time winner of the Tour de France, his list of accomplishments is a mile long and to have him here for a week is wonderful. The big race is Saturday afternoon at 1:00 and I will be shooting the start so be looking for more fun pictures to come. Frank and Andy Schleck are also here and also swam with Contador today along with many others, can hardly wait for Aimee to get back. I was given ticket today as well to the VIP dinner after the race, will get some more jerseys and pictures signed, any requests??
Today on my way to DHL to send my camera back to the States I hear George Kieffer from Dolphin Academy talking on a live interview from sea via a local radio station about Sully the Whale! Turns out the Coast Guard calls George at 1:30 saying they spotted a group of Pilot Whales heading towards Puerto Mari! George, Junior and Naomi take off in the boat to Jan Theil, pick up Sully, (they opened the gate) and off they went headed west to see if they could find the pod? George said on the radio Sully was doing great following them the whole way showing no signs of getting tired but when they got to where the whales were spotted they couldn’t find them?? The last thing I heard was there was two helicopters in the air searching for the wild pod and that George was going to continue west in hopes of finding them and hopefully Sully will then go with them, so that’s all I know at this point. Crazy huh?? Talk about an adventure someone should right a book about this whole ordeal!
Well I have to take the dogs to the trail still for their evening walk, talk to you tomorrow!! Curacao regards, Barry
Nov 5, 09 Comments Off
 Coral Bleaching Good morning, I was so tired last night I just stopped everything and went to bed! Our little island is getting quite a bit of rain making walking the dogs and bike riding a little more challenging these days. Yesterday I ended up taking the dogs out to the trails three different times as it was either to muddy or just plain to hot! I took my camera out to the desert yesterday morning and was shooting some flowers when my camera decided it had just had enough and died! Yes it happens, I don’t think it’s serious but it will have to be sent to the States immediately for repair meaning I won’t see it again till after Christmas! The good news is I have a D-200 here that belongs to the Curacao Sub Station, I can get by with using that for a few weeks.
I went on a dive at the Curacao Sea Aquarium yesterday mainly looking for Lionfish! Mark from the World famous Dive Bus Hut found one a few days ago at Puerto Mari at 60 feet so they are here although I am not sure there is much anyone can do to stop it?? During my dive yesterday I noticed the start of our yearly coral bleaching. It’s true it happens every year some have been worse than others but it’s always this time of year. This is a big mound of Star Coral in the first stages of Coral Bleaching. Bleaching may be caused by a wide range of environmental stresses, but is most commonly caused by elevated water temperatures and increased ultraviolet radiation from prolonged periods of clear water and flat seas. (we have had a week of that here) Corals also bleach when exposed to extremes in salinity, pollution, increased sedimentatation, or unusually low temperatures. Ina few cases, bacteria and protozoans have been know to cause bleaching. That text was taken from my Reef Coral Identification book by Paul Humann, it’s our Bible for undersea answers. I also saw a seahorse yesterday but he’s not a real pretty color but sure was fun to watch.
That’s about it, I need to get moving, I am taking the dogs for a long run this morning in hopes of wearing them out! I’m still a bit tired from my bike ride last night felt really out of shape on that ride. Bye now, Barry
Nov 3, 09 Comments Off
 Translucent Shrimp Hi friends, remember a few weeks ago I mentioned shooting some Zoanthids and then coming home and finding a little surprise? Well here’s the little surprise, a fairly big translucent shrimp of some kind! Aimee and her eagle eyes spotted this I may have never seen it! But now that I think about it the last time I photographed this same kind of zoanthid we found this same kind of shrimp as well sitting motionless on top when we got home and looked at the photos. Maybe it’s some kind of new zoanthid shrimp, I couldn’t find it in the book? The actual size of this guy is less than an inch, that’s pretty small, the next time I am out again with the macro I will start paying closer attention.
I had a pretty busy day. I first took the dogs to the beach for two hours, we haven’t done that for a week!! After I got home and washed the mud and salt off the dogs I spent the next few hours doing stuff around town, like the bank, dropping off laundry, the grocery store and the hardware store. I then went to the Sea Aquarium and put up some shelves for Aimee in her office. She has asked and asked for help to get her office finished but the workers are always busy with more pressing matters so I told her I would just do it for her! By the time I finished it was pouring rain killing my bike ride at 4:00. So instead I am now going to go do a night dive at the Superior Producer with some friends from work, that’s guaranteed to be a blast!
Sorry so short, I need to get moving I have one hour to get a whole lot done!! Glad everyone liked the baby squids they really are cool!! Curacao regards, Barry
Nov 3, 09 Comments Off
 Baby Squids Good morning all, with Aimee gone again I am finding it hard to get everything done by bedtime so I decided last night to just do this in the morning. Yesterday at 1:30 I asked my friend Kenji for help photographing my new found squid eggs. This is always a two person job as the eggs are always placed underneath some kind of rock and one person has to gently lift while the other takes the photos. So as planned everything went perfect, the eggs are still in perfect shape and as you can see from today’s photo little baby squids are quickly forming inside each sac. I tried to count just how many babies there were and I guessed around 40-50! These eggs are in only about nine feet of water making it very easy to get to especially with this super calm water we are having. Also because of the calm water I was able to shoot specimens yesterday that only can be found in the shallows and normally it’s to rough to get close to the rocks, so I was super happy with that alone yesterday! After shooting the eggs I handed Kenji the camera and I every so slowly put them back the way I had found them and placed a few rocks around the edges to keep anyone else out. I am looking for a volunteer to go out again at night and shoot these again but this time I want to try back-lighting them, anyone interested??
I have been getting lots of mail about friends finding the Scuba Diver book, so it is out!! Please show some support and grab an issue, we really appreciate these folks using our pictures and hope for a continued relationship in the future.
Yesterday at around 10:00 I passed Alberto Contidor like he was standing still, in my car! Yes him and a few other top pros took off on a ride with a big film crew in front of them preparing for the Amstel Gold race that happens on Saturday the 7th!
I have a super busy day ahead, first taking the dogs for a walk, errands, diving and a two hour mountain bike ride starting at 4:00 so I better get moving! Have a wonderful day, Barry
Nov 1, 09 Comments Off
 Water Reflections Good evening, when I got to work this morning the ocean and the dolphin lagoons were dead calm! Not a wave nor ripple could be seen due to the fact that there was zero wind and it was hot! I immediately grabbed a camera and raced around shooting my “Crazy Water” photos because the reflections were just perfect this morning! The whole lagoon was just shining gold, green and blue all reflecting from a three story resort next door. Many of my fellow co-workers thought I had lost my mind racing around taking pictures of the water but when I came in and showed them they realized there is a photo in almost everything. This is the only time of the year I am able to get such fun shots due to storms brewing in the area and this calm water can last for days.
At 1:30 today I took off on a fun reef dive out in front of the Sea Aquarium. Because of the calm water the visibility wasn’t that great but I had a fun dive just the same. I went back to find the Damselfish that was using the pillar coral as his little garden and some corals that were bleached last year. I found the Damselfish at the same place still guarding his pillar coral garden and photographed two big star coral mounds that had severe bleaching last year but now looked alright. I was followed most of the dive by a six foot barracuda, it made me very uncomfortable I still don’t trust those guys! As I was getting out I found a nest of squid eggs will go back tomorrow and shoot some close-ups I think you may be able to see the babies inside now.
The Amstel Gold road race is next Saturday. Alberto Contador winner of the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009 is here again along with many other top riders the only pro missing this year is our favorite Bart Brentjens!
Our friend Sonja who works at the Aquarium with the dolphin Papito sent me some cool pictures the other day. They were of Papito with an octopus stuck to his face!! She said he just played with him for ten minutes before letting him go, boy would I ever love to see and photograph that!!
That’s about it, Aimee is having a great time in Atlanta, today she was at a six hour lecture at the big Aquarium there, no way I could sit still that long!
See ya tomorrow, Barry
SITE MAP
CategoriesArchives |
|
