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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for June, 2010Jun 16, 10 Comments Off
Good morning friends, I ended up trying to get to bed early last night but with a party next door, the phone ringing and the cat’s fighting outside it was very difficult! I did a dolphin dive with George, Tela and Pasku yesterday morning but with no sun and very overcast skies my photos looked like we were at 100 feet, you really need the sun! The puppies are doing fine at the “Puppy Hotel”, I am loving the break I am getting and finally able to get some odd jobs done around here. Tomorrow I have two friends from Bonaire coming to spend five days with me, they both work at the one and only Wannadive Hotel and dive shop.
Here is something Aimee and I have never seen before, this is a blooming Curacao Candle Cactus. I found this in the parking lot last week during a rain storm, it was actually raining when I took this. We have three different species of this cactus on Curacao but all are called Candle Cactus in general. Pilosocereus lanuginosus has robust arms and grows in clumps, Subpilocereus repandus has a giant trunk at the base and then arms growing out of the trunk, very much like a tree and this one seen here with the flower is called, Ritterocereus griseus and it’s arms grow individually from the ground with the arms shooting high in the sky. What I didn’t know was that these creamy white to pinkish flowers only open at night or as you see here during a rain storm. This species like many other cactus flowers is mainly being pollinated by bats, so I guess I will need to go and check these out at night. The dark red fruit is round and covered with spines and once these have been removed the fruit is highly edible and makes great jams. The fruit of these cactus is what keeps many of our local birds and reptiles alive during long periods of drought when other fruits are very scarce. The locals here chop these cactus off at the base and take them home and build fences around their properties with them as they grow very fast and make the best fence in the World!
I have two dogs crying waiting to go, talk to you tonight, have a great day, Barry
Jun 13, 10 Comments Off
Good evening from rainy Curacao. Here’s a photo that’s long overdo, this is a small area of Saint Joris Bay that as you know I spend so much time at either walking the dogs, biking, trail building, collecting wood, taking photos and on and on!! This morning in-between rain showers I picked our good friend Zenzi up from her house and off we went for a fun morning hike with the dogs. It’s rare I ever have company on these hikes so today’s walk was extra special as it’s so much fun to show a new area to a friend, and she loved it! This is hands down one of our favorite spots to play and take the dogs but most folks never go here as it’s way off the beaten path. I climbed a very dangerous and tall rock out in the water to get this shot, Zenzi was very helpful in helping me with the camera and tripod, that’s her and Indi standing on the rock in the water along the shore near the middle of the photo. If you look above Zenzi and to the right a little you will see the only natural Pyramid in Curacao, it’s so cool! This morning we had a super low tide making the walk around the shoreline much easier than normal. I found some great wood this morning that I stashed in hiding and will take it home at another time, it will make a great table. Because of the humidity from the rain it was super hot by 9:30 so we both decided to get moving and call it a morning and plus the dogs were showing signs of starting to wear out. This bay is fed by the ocean and is filled with turtles, rays, nurse sharks and hundreds of other creatures but the visibility usually is pretty bad making taking photos here impossible.
The good news for the day is, The Puppies are Gone, at least for a little while!! For those of you on the island in need of puppy or dog care, training or just a one day dog-sitter, I have the girl for you. Her name is Eveline Reints and she runs a new company called YUKA’S Honden “uitlaat” Service, I think that means Dog Watching Service. You can e-mail her at yukasuitlaatservice@gmail.com or check out her web site at www.uitlaatservice-curacao.nl I loaded them up in the car at around 11:00 and off we went for a new adventure (which they didn’t enjoy). When we got there it was a non-stop bark-a-thon and I wished I had brought my ear plugs but within minutes and after meeting her other dogs all was good in the World again. I have called throughout the day to check on them and apparently all is well. It’s a good thing for them to start meeting other dogs and be in new places at least that’s what I am telling myself to help me sleep tonight! I will keep you all posted so stay tuned for more.
I got so much done today for once! I went shopping and spent a large amount of time on the computer burning DVD’s backing up photos from the past few weeks, you would be shocked at how many photos I take.
Aimee is well and having a blast, feel free to drop her a line at aimeedolphins@yahoo.com Be back again
Jun 12, 10 Comments Off
Hello all, something a bit different tonight, I found this tiny little Insect out back on the tip of an Agave spine and thought it was interesting enough to send out. I think it’s some kind of Katydid or grasshopper and I knew someone on the list would be able to confirm this as, yes it is, or no it’s not! I watched this tiny little thing for quite awhile as he ever so slowly made his way from the tip down eating all the new white growth that was covering the spine. Well, anyways for those of you who hate bugs I apologize, but as a photographer I am always on the lookout for anything of interest big or small, I love it all!
Today it was work as usual except I had to race home twice to check on the puppies. The good news is, I found a puppy babysitter and she starts tomorrow! Yeah!! I will take both of them over to my friend Eveline’s house tomorrow morning and she will keep them till Thursday, then I will watch them again Friday and Saturday and then hopefully they will go back to her again for a few more days. Eveline runs a dog sitting service and as some of you may know she also used to be one of our dolphin trainers as well so they should be in good hands.
It’s still raining here, the island is looking very green and it’s very muddy. I took the dogs for an hour walk tonight with a friend and his dogs and everyone had a great time. Inca is currently in bed and Indi is upstairs playing with the puppies which reminds me I better go check on them!
See you tomorrow, Barry
Jun 11, 10 Comments Off
Good evening readers of the Curacao blog. RAIN is the word for today!! It was pouring when I woke at 5:00 “thanks to the puppies”, it was pouring when I took the dogs to the trail, it was pouring when I went to work, and it poured most of the day!! Thankfully it stopped around 3:00 and I was able to finally get the dogs out for a quick walk even though it was very muddy! Remember I told you that the West end of the island was dry the other day when we went to Christoffel, well I am pretty dang sure they finally got some moisture out of this one! I had a very hard time today with all the dogs as they would not go outside to go to the bathroom even if it wasn’t raining?? Indi was such a bad example today for the puppies she completely refused to go outside and go potty, I have never seen her do that before and even if I put the leash on she still wouldn’t move, I think they are just missing Aimee or it’s torture Barry day! My dear wife has only been gone two days and I already am crying, I desperately need a puppy babysitter and am now trying to find one.
Here’s another “Panning Shot” for my new “blurred photo fan club”. This is a big two and a half foot Scrawled filefish that I found the other day cruising the reef at around 45 feet. There are so many unique and different Filefish on the reef and they all have these beautiful cryptic markings which they can change in the blink of an eye, kind of like a squid. The small terminal mouths of filefish have specialized incisor teeth on the upper and lower jaw; in the upper jaw there are four teeth in the inner series and six in the outer series; in the lower jaw, there are 4-6 in an outer series only. The snout is tapered and projecting; eyes are located high on the head. Although scaled, some filefish have such small scales as to appear scaleless. Like the triggerfish, filefish have small gill openings and greatly elongated pelvic bones creating a “dewlap” of skin running between the bone’s sharply keeled termination and the belly. The pelvis is articulated with other bones of the “pelvic girdle” and is capable of moving upwards and downwards in many species to form a large dewlap (this is used to make the fish appear much deeper in the body than is actually the case). Some filefish erect the dorsal spine and pelvis simultaneously to make it more difficult for a predator to remove the fish from a cave. When I found this one I was first trying to get some beauty shots but found out immediately he wanted to be left alone and was on the move so I quickly changed my settings and did some action shots instead since they are turning out to be so popular!
Tomorrow our friends Loet, Laura, Maikel and Tone head back to Holland, we sure are going to miss them, four of the nicest kids Aimee and I have ever met, have a safe trip guys! I have to go, I have unattended puppies upstairs led by “Indi the trouble-maker so I am sure I will have to clean something up! See you tomorrow, Barry
Jun 10, 10 Comments Off
What a day!! After dropping Aimee off at the airport and getting her checked in at 6:00am I then drove to stand in a line for 2 hours to get my island I.D. only to be told I had the wrong papers! I can’t even tell you how mad I was, and you would think where I work they would know by now what kind of papers we all need but apparently that is not the case! I ended up getting home around 8:30 and loaded the dogs and off we went over to the Sea Aquarium trails for a morning hike. Well due to more rain that didn’t last long and I took them right back home. It was so hot and humid today and the mosquitoes are everywhere now! At 3:00 I left the house for a 3 hour mountain bike ride with some local kids and then raced home grabbed the dogs again and off we went for an evening walk thru the desert. Some of our friends from work stopped over after work and fed and took care of the two puppies for me, thank you very much ladies! This day went by so fast!
By request, here is our last puppy that needs a home! He is a little male and has the sweetest personality I have ever seen, he is so calm and relaxed. Please if you know of a really good home let me know ASAP, I really wish he could stay with his sister because they love each other so much but not sure if that’s possible!
I am beat and going to bed! Bye now, Barry
Jun 9, 10 Comments Off
Hi gang, here’s another shot from our trip to Christoffel yesterday, these are called Teku Bromeliads. Normally during the rainy season these Bromeliads are a rich green color but in dry months they turn a glowing yellow and when the sun hits them as you see here it’s absolutely beautiful! I found a great site that literally walks you from the visitors center to the top of the mountain and explains everything you will see and find along the way with photos and text, check it out at www.naturalbornhikers.com/trails/christoffel.html These Bromeliads are razor sharp and completely cover the ground on your way up the trail. Some of you may remember me sending photos of this plant during the rainy season when it’s blood red and has a cluster of beautiful purple flowers in the middle, it’s pretty amazing how much they can change throughout the year.
I only worked a half day today as Aimee is leaving tomorrow morning at 6:00am and there is still so much to do. We took the dogs and the bikes to the new trail for a fun-run at 4:30 but other than that we have been doing lots of last minute things.
Sorry so short, that’s it for tonight, Barry
Jun 8, 10 Comments Off
Hello friends, guess what we did today?? For those of you who said we climbed the highest peak in Curacao today, you would be correct! I left the house at 7:30 and stopped by to pick up our friends Loet and Maikel and then we drove to another meeting spot and picked up another friend we work with named Chen or “Elvis as we call him”. Since Loet and Maikel are heading back to Holland soon we figured it was now or never and it’s something they wanted to do but never found the time. The drive there was frustrating because of crazy drivers and construction but beautiful at the same time and finally after an hour and fifteen minutes we finally arrived. Most normal people would never start a climb to Mount Christoffel at 9:30 because of the heat but obviously we are not normal people!! I brought all my camera gear because I figured since it has been raining so much around here that the mountain must be even greener and lush but that was not the case! It was so dry!! Usually the West end gets all the rain and we get nothing but it seems that is no longer the case! As we started our hike up and for the next hour we ran into person after person heading back down who had already summited, that was not a good sign for us. I guess the good part of hiking so late in the morning was that once at the top you have it all to yourself! The hike up is difficult and is not for the weak at heart, if anyone tells you it’s an easy climb they are just kidding or have never been there. After only 10 minutes of walking we were already completely soaked to the bone, it so humid! My friend Chen and I stopped often to take photos while Loet and Maikel continued their climb stopping often to catch their breath and wait for us. The mountain is filled with beautiful things the whole way up like the millions of bromeliads, iguanas, parakeets, butterflies, Cara, Cara’s and lizards, it’s such a great place. Once at the top I did something I had never done before and went off-trail to a few nearby peaks in search of new photo opportunities. What I found was this beautiful setting far away from what 99% of most tourists see, it was hard to get to but so worth the walk. I was there shooting a big spider and a cactus flower when Maikel found his way to me as well and while I shot some macro he went exploring and climbing as you see here. All three of the ABC Islands have large peaks, the highest pointon Bonaire is Brandaris Hill at 787 feet [240 meters]. The highest point on Curaçao is Christoffelberg [Mount Christoffel] at 1,230 feet [375 meters]. The highest point on Aruba is Mount Jamanota 1,620 feet [188 miles]. We finally left the summit at 12:30 and all of us had ran out of water making the walk back down not so fun! As many of you know walking down something loose and steep can be way more difficult than going up as it’s really hard on your knees. We were all so glad to get back to the car where I had hid a big jug of water in the shade and within 15 minutes we had made our way back out of the park and headed back home, it was hot but it sure was a fun morning!
Needless to say I am worn out as I sit here. Aimee took the dogs for a quick walk and is off tomorrow and leaves for States Thursday morning, she will be gone for 3 long weeks!! See ya, Barry
Jun 7, 10 Comments Off
Hello everyone, Aimee here. I hope your weekend was a nice one and that spring/summer is hitting your area. As for us; we are sweating it out! I believe our seasons are hot and hotter, oh and sometimes a monsoon rain. Ha. This is a great photo for you tonight to be able to see up close the mouth of a parrotfish, which is actually called a “beak” just like in a bird. These beaks are very strong, and they have to be, just look at what he is eating! His teeth are actually fused together into this powerful beak, enabling the fish to rasp the algae from the dead coral. If you are diving and your breathing is quiet, you can even hear the scraping! By doing this kind of feeding, lots of calcium carbonate is digested by the parrotfish, and the remains that leave the parrotfish are actually what make up the beautiful coral reef sand! Many times as parrotfish swim past you will be able to see huge clouds of this “gut sand” trailing after the fish and settling down on the reef. Think about that the next time you see a beautiful Caribbean beach!
I personally really like this particular kind of parrotfish because of his name. If you look closely you can see the bright yellow spot at the upper point of the gill cover. Well, he is called a Stoplight Parrotfish because of this! Parrotfish are some of the most interesting fish to observe; they are always busy forging and feeding, they look very different from juvenile to adult phases and they can change sex from females to males (protogynous hermaphroditism). Usually if a male dies the largest and strongest female will then change into the new (lucky) male. Quite a strategy! Fish are really amazing creatures.
Have a great day, make the most of it! Aimee
Jun 6, 10 Comments Off
Hello Amigos, I am sitting here looking at my watch wondering where did my Sunday go?? Good grief the days go fast down here! I took my camera gear and the dogs to the ocean this morning and while there walked the new trail but wished I had brought the bike. I didn’t really find much to photograph, I was hoping to see the Cara-Cara’s but never saw a one so I spent some time with the red barrel cactus we have here instead. Soon after getting home it started to rain and then the sky turned black and it poured! It was one of our famous five minute tropical downpours and it flooded everything! I then spent the afternoon transforming my computer room into a puppy play-pen, meaning I got everything off the floor and hid or put away anything that could be seen as a chew toy! Once Aimee leaves on Thursday I will have to watch four dogs by myself and I spend a lot of time on the computer and won’t have time to be running around checking on them every five minutes. At 4:30 I met our new friend David for a dive at Pier Baai. David and his wife who also have a little daughter are the folks that recently adopted our little black female puppy. Well, after the dive we went to his house and we got to see not only what a great house they have but also how well she is doing and how well she is getting along with the whole family, it’s a great success story!
David and I had a very relaxed and slow dive today mostly because I had brought my macro lens and was going slow in search of tiny little creatures. Besides finding a few tiny Secretary blennies and a baby Lizardfish I found this beautiful Fairy Basslet along with his family hanging out under a big coral head. These beautiful two inch fish are ultra curious and will come back out to check you out if you sit there and wait very quietly. These very abundant fish are also called Royal Grammas and are very similar to Heliotrope Basslet except the Heliotrope is missing the black spot on the dorsal fin and prefers deep walls at depths of 200 feet! That’s too deep for me, will have to wait for the mini-sub to see one of those!
Ok, very tired, I am off to bed! Taking some friends to the airport at 5:30am! Bye, Barry
Jun 5, 10 Comments Off
Hello my loyal readers, how is your weekend going?? I first want to say thank-you for all the responses and compliments from this weeks photos, again you really keep me going with your positive feedback. I am also getting a lot of responses from new visitors to the www.coralreefphotos.com site and they are posting these wonderful comments back to me, we love reading them!
Today I did something a little different, I joined our head dolphin trainer Zenzi for a super fun swim with one of our juvenile Hawksbill Turtles we found during hurricane Omar. After hatching, baby turtles swim out to sea for several days. They then spend the next five to ten years drifting around in surface waters at the mercy of ocean currents, and they feed mainly on plankton. They are often found in huge rafts of drifting sargassum, a type of brown seaweed, where they are probably best able to hide from potential predators. Once they reach lengths of 30 or 40 centimeters they settle in one particular area around coral or rocky reef. When Omar came to visit it washed in around 6 baby Hawksbill Turtles and they have been residents at the aquarium ever since. So today we gentle took one of the turtles out of it’s man made lagoon and took it to a big deep pool fed by the ocean and let him go, he had a blast! Most of the time Zenzi just swam along side and watched as he did what turtles do, eat and swim. This little guy is so used to people that he completely ignored us and did his own thing and I was able to swim along side for some fun photos.
A big thanks to everyone who has been helping us look for a home for the last puppy but he still needs a place to call home. I know that anyone who spends two minutes with him will see how special he is and why we want to best home possible for him.
Off to bed, be back tomorrow, Barry
Jun 4, 10 Comments Off
Good evening friends, I want you all to meet our friend Loet. Loet and her friend Laura arrived months ago as interns at the Dolphin Academy and I think it’s safe to say that from day one we all fell in love with them both. These girls have worked so hard for the Sea Aquarium, they are both aspiring photographers and I am sure we will see great things from them both in the near future. Both girls are from the Netherlands, Loet is from an area called Noord Brabant and Laura is from Limburg and Aimee and I are hoping to get to go see them and other friends one of these days in Holland. Well today was there last day at work, their photography internship is over and in just a few days they head back to their mother country, we sure are going to miss them. Today at 1:30 the girls raced outside to do a private swim with three dolphins! This is our little Annie sticking her tongue out for Loet. Many of you already know that Annie is one of our dolphins that goes out to the open ocean to dive with divers on a weekly basis, she is so great! Laura and Loet had a wonderful last swim, an experience they will cherish for a lifetime! Many thanks again ladies for all the help, hard work, enthusiasm and wonderful attitudes, keep up the great work!
After work today I loaded my bike on the car and took the dogs to Saint Joris to finally ride the new trail as it is officially open and ready for action. I think tomorrow morning there will be a big bike group heading there to give it a try, I am excited to hear what they think??
It’s late, see you all again tomorrow, Barry
Jun 3, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, we just got home from seeing the new movie “Prince of Persia” it was fantastic! Kind of a Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Lord of the Rings, non stop adventure we highly recommend it! Today was fairly relaxed, I took the dogs to Saint Joris this morning but in my rush to get going I forgot the most important thing, WATER! So moments after getting the dogs out of the car and just as we were ready to go I realized my mistake and could have cried! We ended up only being out there for around 30 minutes and then raced home for a drink and a bath! Aimee is still limping a bit on her ankle but it’s much better than it was and will be going back to work tomorrow. At 3:00 today I went for a two and a half hour bike ride, it was hot but fun.
Here’s a beautiful French Angelfish cruising thru the water at top speed. These big colorful fish are all over our reef and are always a joy to photograph as they seem to have no fear of divers.
Sorry so short but it’s late here and I need to get to bed. Anyone need a sweet adorable little puppy? Please! Be back tomorrow, Barry
Jun 3, 10 Comments Off
Good morning readers. Last night when I got home from work I took off on a fast mountain bike ride and then Aimee and I went out to dinner at the Avila Hotel to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary. Actually it’s today but we thought doing dinner last night and a movie or something else tonight would work better.
Well yesterday afternoon I had one of the best dives ever. I searched and searched for a dive buddy but no one wanted to go as usual so I again suited up and took off by myself which I do often just staying in shallow water. I immediately ran into another juvenile Hawksbill Turtle (different that the one from a few days ago) who was in 25 feet of water searching for food. I quietly swam up and took a few photos and to my surprise he could have cared less and never even acknowledged my existence, that’s my kind of marine reptile. I ended up staying along side him for the next hour and just watched as he hunted for food. I have no idea what he was looking for but I did photograph him with little chunks of dead coral in his mouth. He was digging in the coral rubble looking for something but in the hour I was with him I only saw him eat something small and felt bad that he wasn’t finding more. Normally their diet consists mainly of sponges but they are known to feed on small prey that they find in reef crevices, that sharp, narrow beak can be very useful! Yesterday as he fed he swam under this bush of hanging fire coral and got his shell caught in it and was struggling to get out. I was almost going to help when he backed up and got himself out, it was pretty scary to watch because as you know or don’t know turtles need to surface to breath. Most turtles can hold their breath for several hours but tend to surface during the day every 15-30 minutes and at night can hold their breath for 4-7 hours. These beautiful Hawksbill Turtles are listed as Critically Endangered (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The greatest threat to hawksbill sea turtle is the harvesting for their prized shell, often referred to as “tortoise shell.” In some countries the shell is still used to make hair ornaments, jewelry, and other decorative items.
There are approximately 22,900 nesting females, that’s why when I get to spend time with a youngster like this it’s very special. We need to help do whatever it takes to help protect them by donating to worthwhile causes like Caribbean Conservation Corporation www.cccturtle.org or the Sea Turtle Network at www.seaturtle.org
Talk to you more tonight, I have two waiting dogs ready to go! Have a great day, Barry
Jun 1, 10 Comments Off
Hello all, here’s a tough shot to get, this is a Queen Parrotfish stopped in mid-water being cleaned by a whole bunch of little juvenile Bluehead Wrasse’s. As parrotfish’s grow up, they don’t just get bigger, they also change color and sometimes transform from females into males. They have deep, compressed bodies, and their teeth are fused into beaklike plates. The Queen Parrotfish has two distinct color patterns. Young adults are gray with a broad, white side stripe. Certain older males, known as supermales, are blue-green. Queen Parrotfish of all ages swim together in schools and feed on algae growing on coral and limestone rock. As many divers know trying to sneak up on a big fish floating in mid-water can be very difficult. I am guessing this Queen was just so into the task at hand which was “being cleaned” that it allowed me to get closer than usual. When most fish stop at these stations they open their mouths and flare out all their fins so the cleaning fish can check between all the little nooks and crannies. This beauty was around a foot and a half in length and I think they can get up to around two feet max in their Terminal Phase.
Well we got rain today and a whole lot of it!! Aimee stayed home today because of twisting her ankle at work yesterday so I took the dogs to Saint Joris for a long morning hike. Moments after getting home it started to rain and it didn’t stop for close to 2 hours, the streets looked like rivers! So needless to say there went my Tuesday evening bike ride. Instead we ended up going to see Shrek 4 which turned out to be a lot of fun and as always a good laugh!
That’s about it guys, Aimee leaves for the States in a week and will be there for three weeks, that’s a lot of frozen food for you know who! See you tomorrow, Barry
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