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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for April, 2010Apr 15, 10 Comments Off
 Curacao Sea Aquarium Good evening all, had a request this morning asking for a photo of the Curacao Sea Aquarium and where we work, so here you go!! This was taken in November of 2008, that was the last time I was up in the helicopter. The orange colored roof-tops stand out the most, that’s our five-star hotel called Royal Resorts and it’s right next door to the aquarium. The aquarium itself is surrounded by many different sized lagoons which is home to our now World famous dolphins like Tela and Pasku. This photo also shows the reef which I dive so much and still find new stuff all the time. The light blue colors are fairly shallow like 30 feet and the dark blue goes down to thousands of feet. There are some condos in the right hand corner, that’s where we lived for four years (in front of the pool) but now live just a half mile away down the street. You can kind of see some of my mountain bike trails in the green desert behind the condos, this was obviously taken back when it rained a lot. Right in the middle of the photo there is a dive shop and behind that is a hotel called Lions Dive and if you look in the parking lot you will see a big blue building, that’s our newly built Dolphin Suites Hotel. This is pretty much our World and where we spend most of our time. It’s hard to believe one man and a team of workers built this whole thing by hand from the ground up, the things a person can do if you set your mind to something!
Well today Aimee and I went back to Saint Joris and did trail work for two hours, what a workout!! We got rained on really bad when we first got there and hid under some trees, then the sun came out and it was 100% humidity, man was it hot! I was completely soaked and so muddy when we left, I think Aimee took some photos will try and get one of those out to you. At around noon I took off to try and take a panoramic photo of our big oil refinery but when I arrived there wasn’t an oil tanker to be seen, that was a first! On the way back home it started to rain again not hard but it was just enough. Not much else going on, we both worked on photos all day, Aimee was key-wording and I was sorting, that’s a full time job in itself!
See you tomorrow guys, Barry
Apr 15, 10 Comments Off
 Bonaire Reef Scene with Patty Good morning all, looking thru my Bonaire photos I sent out already I noticed I had not sent one out of our friend Patty yet and found this one just waiting to be sent. Patty is Sal’s wife and while in Bonaire they had me over for dinner quite a few times, and let me tell you there’s nothing like a home cooked meal while on vacation!! I can’t remember which dive site this was at but I think it was Red Beryl again?? I remember we had just got to the edge of the reef and this sponge cluster was the first thing I spotted, it stood out like a sore thumb! This was the first time I had ever seen Yellow Tube sponges growing next to Purple Stove Pipe sponges and then topped off with Green Finger sponge all around the base, it was a beautiful specimen. The other thing that really stands out in my mind was all the fish on this dive, it Brown Cromis Heaven! Patty timed her swim over perfectly and I was able to get a few of her above the sponge cluster before we moved on in search of other fascinating things.
Not much new going on, Aimee and I are headed out to do some trail work soon but other than that the day is still unwritten. Better go, talk to you more tonight, Barry
Apr 13, 10 Comments Off
 Salty Tire Good evening one and all, this is a continuation from yesterdays blog so if you didn’t read it or see the photo do that first, then come back to this photo. So if you look at the photo from yesterday this is the exact shot I took when I was stretched out and laying on that big dirty tire, cool huh?? What looks like ice is actually salt and not just any salt this is 100% pure Caribbean sea salt. I was told these tires were dumped here in the 50′s and 60′s and are now a permanent part of these salt pans. These tires have been here so long that the salt crystals have fused the tires to the ground, just look at how thick the crystal structure is around that tire! You can see in the background all the other tires as well and like this one here they will be there a long, long time!!
I know I sound like a broken record most days because I always do the same thing and today wasn’t much different. I took the dogs to Saint Joris and worked on my trail for two hours, then spent four hours driving all over Curacao looking for the new issue of Sport Diver and went bike riding at 5:30. I did find three copies of the new Sport Diver with my photo and bought them all. I have heard from lots of you out there that you are also finding it now and buying your copy, thanks a million for the support!! My mom said that Borders has it if you can’t find it at the grocery store or at your normal magazine rack or if all else fails just Google Sport Diver and order one direct, better yet just get a subscription!
I am very tired this evening it’s been a long day and tomorrow morning I have to get up early and take our friend Tom to the airport so I am off to bed!!
Till tomorrow, Barry
Apr 12, 10 Comments Off
 Barry B Brown Hello all, by overwhelming request tonight I have a photo of yours truly doing what I love to do most, take photos!! I get so many requests asking for a picture of me than of anything else but it’s one of those things that just never happens as I am usually always by myself. This was taken a few weeks ago when I sent you the photo of the funny face made out of tires, remember?? The photo was taken by Loet one of our new interns from Holland who works with me at the Dolphin Academy. I can’t even begin to tell you how difficult it was to get onto that big tire without getting wet and muddy. If you step into that water you will sink in up to your knees, it’s like quick-sand except this is salty black mud underneath and the salty water will burn your skin like an acid! The tire I am shooting is encased in solid salt crystals and made such a great photo, the problem was how to get close to it?? I will send you the actual photo tomorrow so you can see what I was looking at. This area is now again underwater from the last rain and the crystals are all gone but will return in our next long dry spell.
I did a dive out on the reef today trying to teach the interns a little about underwater photography but what they learned was one needs to learn to dive before trying to take photos underwater.
That’s it, dinner is calling, see you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 11, 10 Comments Off
 Pec Shake Good evening, how was your weekend?? I had another very full day and got a lot done! At 7:30 I took the dogs to Saint Joris and the first thing I did was clean trash for 30 minutes in the parking area. At 8:00 my friend Matthias showed up with his dogs and off we went to work on the new trail that I am building. The trail is looking great, I will send a few photos soon so you can see for yourself. Matthias was a big help, I raked in the trail and he followed cutting and trimming the brush behind me. When putting these new trails in I always let the area kind of tell me where it wants a trail if that makes any sense to you. For instance I look for a natural game trail or path and then just open it up a bit more trying to not do any more damage then need be. It was hot out there today even though we got rained on a few times and at one point we ran out of water. Luckily our friend Felix called at around 9:30 and was on his way out as well and we asked him to bring more water which ended up saving the morning. So for the first time ever I had two helpers at the same time and it was great! I think we had six dogs out there between us all and for the most part I think they all had a fun time even though my two couldn’t seem to get enough water! We called it a morning at around 11:45, it was just too hot and at 12:30 I finally got home with two very tired dogs and a little bit of a sun-burn. After washing two very dirty dogs I ate breakfast or I guess it was lunch and then went to work cleaning out my camera-computer room which was an absolute disaster area!! This little project took almost four hours! After that nightmare I went shopping then raced home and went for a fun one hour bike ride and got home close to dark but had a front row seat to a spectacular sunset this evening!
This is Aimee shaking Tela’s pec with baby Pasku along side. This was the first time I had ever seen three dolphins come up for a pec-shake at the same time, it was really cool and made for a fun photo.
Aimee is having a little “girls only” dinner party upstairs tonight but I think I will go check it out and steal some food. Have a wonderful Monday, Barry
Apr 10, 10 Comments Off
 Bonaire Reef Scene Good evening all, here’s another fun shot from Bonaire. This is a beautiful specimen of Grooved Brain Coral with our new friend Bonnie taking pictures in the background. I must admit I was kind of overwhelmed with all the beautiful things I saw on each dive and may have missed many great shots because of having my “head in the clouds”, there was just so much stuff to see! Soon after getting home Bonnie sent me a photo of this beautiful sponge cluster that she recently found and that I would love to photograph, am trying to find more time and money to get back there soon.
Not much at all going on. Tomorrow morning a friend is helping me with the new trail so I will be out there doing that in the morning, after that it’s still up for grabs.
Have a great weekend, Barry
Apr 10, 10 Comments Off
 Sea Urcin and Crab Good morning all, when I got home yesterday from work I pumped up the tires on my bike threw some oil on the chain and took off for a long overdo ride. I think it’s been about two weeks since I last went riding, that’s how long I had that stupid cough! The ride was great and the trails were just perfect after that rain we had. I did a loop by the salt ponds last night and noticed most of them were filled with water again, a week ago they were all dried up and salt crystals starting to form. We haven’t had any more rain since that one day but that was a ton of rain that fell and probably enough to get us by for a few more months.
Here’s another shot from Bonaire, this is a Nimble Spray Crab hiding under a Rock Boring Sea Urchin. These crabs which many call an “Urchin Crab” are very common but trying to get a shot of one can often be very difficult or dangerous as they live exclusively under the spines of these urchins. I can’t even tell you how many times I have tried to shoot these things in the past but usually it ends in frustration. They are very scared little creatures and usually crawl further under the spines if approached, they seem to have incredible vision!
That’s it for this morning, need coffee! Off to work, talk to you tonight, Barry
Apr 8, 10 Comments Off
 Aimee and Tela Good day folks, well to our disappointment the rain seems to be gone, it was overcast this morning but no moisture and now the sun is out so I guess that was it?? Aimee and I spent a few hours building the new trail at Saint Joris this morning, I had almost forgot how nice it is to have help. I am hoping Sunday that a friend of mine can go with me to help as well because there is so much to do. This new trail will not only be a great piece of single-track for mountain bikes it will also be for the hikers as well and will be perfect for photographing birds and reptiles.
Aimee and I went shopping for a new microwave today and the only one we could find was a Spanish model, meaning everything on it like the dials and times are all in Spanish? We also noticed while out shopping for this dumb microwave that mini-ovens are the big thing here not microwaves, we found countless varieties of mini toasters and ovens but like I said only the one kind of microwave? Spent most of the day at home doing all kinds of fun stuff like defrosting the freezer with a blow-dryer and cleaning up pools of muddy water around the house, it was great fun!!
Here is Aimee again holding Tela her favorite dolphin in the World! Tela like her baby Pasku loves human attention!! Tela will just lay there in her arms for as long as she is able while Aimee whispers sweet nothings into her ear and gently rubs her belly at the same time, this is Aimee in her element folks! It doesn’t get any better than this for her!
I am feeling much better thanks to good o’l medication and will probably go riding after work tomorrow to begin training again. I have to go feed and water my birds, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 7, 10 Comments Off
 Red Boring Sponge Good evening all, guess what, it’s finally raining!!! We woke this morning to standing water and a light rain and it hasn’t stopped all day, it’s so great! This island needed rain so bad, our desert is completely brown and most of the cacti are dying so this couldn’t have come at a better time! It was a difficult day at work trying to take photos outside but with the help of others we were able to photograph from under umbrellas.
This is one of my personal favorites from Bonaire. This is something I haven’t seen much in Curacao but in Bonaire I found three or four fantastic specimens. This is called Red Boring Sponge, Cliona delitrix. What your looking at folks is a red to red-orange sponge that at first glance appears to be an encrusting sponge, but actually bores into coral heads. They do this by secreting minute amounts of acid. From the exterior there is usually no visible damage, however the corals interiors may be riddled with tunnels and chambers that may eventually cause their structures to disintegrate. For those of you who remember sponges draw water in from hundreds of tiny holes called Incurrent Pores and exits into the body’s interior cavity and out the animals one or more large Excurrent Openings or Oscula. It’s easy to see the excurrent openings here. I have friends here that are starting to call me a “sponge freak” or maybe “sponge geek” would be better, but they are so cool! Some of this text was again from our underwater Bible, the Reef Creature Identification book by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach without these books we would be lost.
Thanks for all the mail helping me find a name for my little reptile I sent out yesterday. The real name is a Spectacled Teju, Gymnophthalmus lineatus or as others call it here a Red Tailed Skink. Thanks to everyone for helping.
It’s still raining, this will make our walk with the dogs tomorrow very interesting! We went to see the new movie from DreamWorks last night called “How to train a Dragon” it was great! See you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 6, 10 Comments Off
 Curacao Reptile Good evening friends, a few nights ago after work while Aimee and I were walking the dogs I found this super tiny little reptile in the dirt. He is only an inch long by 1/8th of an inch wide and was very easy to catch with my bare hands. We have never seen one of these before, I was hoping some of you out there might be able to help with a name?? I found him in the blazing sun right where we parked the car, what in the world was he doing there? I have had him at home for the past few days in a nice little home with sand, rocks, water and food but today after taking his picture I let him go.
My cough is finally going away thanks to some new medications! I took the dogs to Saint Joris this morning and worked on my new trail for almost three hours because it was overcast and cool. When I first started this morning I ran into a solid wall of cacti and said “forget it” and went back down the trail a few yards and found a much better way around it all without having to do much cutting. As dry as it is here right now it’s perfect for putting in new trail and with a little hard work it’s going to be great!
The rest of my day has been spent around the house doing odds and ends and I can’t believe how fast the day went? It looked like rain today but so far nothing at least not in our neighborhood!
Thanks for all the letters nice to hear from so many of you! Till tomorrow, Barry
Apr 5, 10 Comments Off
 Red Snapping Shrimp Hey gang, here’s one I forgot to send from Bonaire and without the help of our friend Sal I never would have even know this guy existed! This is called a Red Snapping Shrimp and is hands down one of the most beautiful little shrimps in the Caribbean!! This shrimp lives inside Corkscrew Anemone’s (Bartholomea annulata) and the way to find one is to look for their white and red striped antennae sticking out. Well that’s exactly what Sal did, he first found this big cleaning station filled with at least ten little purple Pederson Cleaner Shrimps and while there taking photos he noticed a Corkscrew Anemone with two long antennae sticking out. He then slowly put his finger down in the middle of the shrimps and waited. The Pederson Shrimps immediately started climbing on his finger and proceeded to give him a nice cleaning when all of a sudden Mr. Cool came out from under his anemone and also started to clean Sal’s finger. The downside to this was this little shrimp isn’t named “Snapping Shrimp” for nothing, look at that powerful claw he has and he used it on poor Sal. Instead of really cleaning Sal’s finger he wanted to eat it and did just that by cutting small chunks out and drawing blood! I must say Sal never moved a muscle even though I knew it was hurting and I could hear him making noise! These beautiful shrimps use their powerful snapping claw to produce loud popping sounds which ward off intruders and help capture food. These shrimps are also called “Pistol Shrimps” and there are four other species that are impossible to distinguish underwater. To get this shot I had to hover right above Sal with my macro lens in fact I was resting on top of his tank at times and getting all his air bubbles in my face with every breath, again the things we do for a photo, thanks again Sal!!
Good news from Curacao tonight, it rained!!!!!!!!! Not a lot but it was something and they said more is on the way!
I have heard from a few readers that the new issue of Sport Diver is out so start looking guys, for those of you with a subscription you will most likely get it a week before everyone else! Thanks for all the support!
That’s it for tonight, see you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 4, 10 Comments Off
 Baby Pasku Good evening once again, did you all have a nice Easter?? I am wondering how many of you got visited by the Easter Bunny?? Well believe it or not he was here and as I write this I am enjoying some of the yummy little chocolates that I found hidden in a fun basket this morning! And for those of you wondering you are never to old to get treats from the Easter Bunny! Our friend Tom that is staying with us also woke to find that the Easter Bunny had left something yummy for him as well. As he searched he said, “I haven’t done this for thirty years”!! I thought that was pretty funny!
After digging thru piles of candies Tom and I loaded the dogs and took off to the North Coast for a morning of fun in the sun. We ended up going to the beach that is at the end of the windmills, it always seems to produce all kinds of little beach treasures. When we got there though the first thing I spotted was a beach full of dead Portuguese Man-O-Wars, which are very poisonous jellyfish! Tom and I quickly covered them with big rocks so the dogs wouldn’t get into them, I am guessing they got washed in from the rough seas we have had lately! We had a really fun time collecting fossil corals and shells and the dogs kept guard and played in the sand, fun was had by all. Once we got back home I then spent the rest of the morning building more bird bath stands and then took off out to the desert and put them in place. I dug one big plastic saucer into the ground and filled it with water for all the lizards, Iguanas and crabs and minutes after it was finished I had my first customer. While I was putting it in a big lizard sat and watched about a foot away, he never moved and was completely unafraid!! Seconds after the water went in he raced over and took his first drink, it was very rewarding to see. This also happened at the new bird bath I put up, less than a minute after filling it up, two birds came and started drinking, I raced home with a smile on my face!!
Still coughing but thanks to our friend Bob who is our local pharmacist I may now be on the road to recovery! We met Bob out walking the dogs tonight on the trails and he said he would do what he could to help, so about an hour later he drove all the way back to my house and hand delivered some medication for my cough, is that service or what, once again, we have the best friends!!
This is baby Pasku again, we can’t get enough of him lately, he’s just so cute and playful!!
See you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 3, 10 Comments Off
 Indi Hi gang, we haven’t heard from too many people these past few days, we are guessing you are all on holiday and away from the computer for once. We just got home from a long day at work and we are both relaxing with our yummy Highlander Groog which is not only the best way to start a day it’s also the best way to finish it! Boy not a whole lot going on right now. I am still coughing, can hardly wait till Tuesday so I can go back to the doctor and get something else, like something that actually works for once!
Here’s our fun little Indi who has the unique ability to find the highest point or a lookout area no matter where we go! Just about every time we go somewhere we end up calling her and nine times out of ten she is standing high above up checking things out. This little dog has really turned out to be quite a treasure and is as playful and as loving as they come. I shot this at the old abandoned house we stopped at the other morning, she just stood there looking out that window into the desert and gave me all the time I needed to compose a picture, what a good girl.
I wish I had more but that’s it for tonight, going to go shell collecting in the morning, Barry
Apr 2, 10 Comments Off
 Pasku Cradle Good evening readers, this photo pretty much sums up why Aimee can’t wait to get to work each day!! I mean how many folks get to hold, cradle and hug a baby dolphin in the course of a day?? This is baby Pasku letting Aimee hold him with momma Tela just below the water’s surface. As I shot this today I think I heard Aimee singing “I’ve got the whole World in my hands” and the smile on her face pretty much says it all!! Pasku loves this attention, you could hold him all day and he would still come back for more! Also when she was holding him like you see here he’s making all kinds of beautiful noises like whistles and clicks and was most likely telling momma that this sure is fun and everything is alright. Most mothers would never let you hold their baby but Tela is not like other dolphin mothers, we call her a “Rock-Star” she is just so trusting and calm you really have to see this to believe it.
Happy Good Friday to everyone, it was Holiday here as well and the whole island pretty much took the day off with most everything being closed. It’s still dry as a bone although the other day when we went to Santa Cruz the whole area was green so I guess parts of the island are getting rain just not here. Not much else to report, it was a long day at work but it sure was fun watching Aimee and the other trainers play with the dolphins. This morning we also did a dive out on the reef with three dolphins!! This was a first, it was Copan, Tela and Pasku, cool huh, will send you a photo of that as well.
Dinner is a calling, Barry
Apr 1, 10 Comments Off
 Landhouse 1 Good afternoon from Curacao!! This morning on the way to the coast with the dogs we made a little detour and visited an old, old landhouse. Aimee and I have seen this thing for years alongside the dirt road to Saint Joris and finally we stopped and did a little exploring. The second I opened the car door Indi and Inca shot out like a rocket and quickly scouted the place and then gave us the clearance to further investigate. The island is completely covered in these old abandoned homes and are now just ruins, we call them landhouses because they are so big one would think someone with money or power once owned them?? We ended up staying here for quite awhile, there was so much to see and tons of cool photo possibilities. As I walked around doing what photographers do Aimee and Indi were waiting and playing in the front door as you see here, it was the icing on my cake! After our fun here we drove down the road to the ocean and again unleashed the wild hounds and this time off they went bounding into the ocean like two big kids!! The heat ended up driving us home early, we only ended up doing a short 30 minute walk and then called it a morning.
Later on in the morning Aimee took off to do some shopping and about five minutes after she left the phone rang, it was Aimee? I could hardly hear her with the sound of the traffic buzzing by in the background and she sounded frantic and out of breath!! She said your not going to believe what I just found!! I was stopped at a light and found a box with six puppies inside!! What do I do?? I can’t just leave them here!! Should I take them to the shelter or bring them home, should I call Sheila at CARF?? She then said ok clean out the computer room and put Indi and Inca away, I will see you soon. I was more or less speechless and couldn’t come up with much advice, I told her do whatever you need to do. My head was just spinning thinking about the last three puppies we had and all the work that was when Aimee said, Honey, April Fools!!!
I am still struggling with this bronchitis junk, last night was a long night of coughing! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods, be back tomorrow, Barry
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