 |
 |
 |
 |
 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for August, 2010Aug 16, 10 Comments Off
Good evening friends, I am sitting here wondering just where did my weekend go?? It’s like “poof” and it’s gone! I am not sure I told many of you but I have been teaching/training a young friend of mine in the fine art of mountain biking for the past few months. His name is Stiyn and he is one of those kids who has a natural gift for biking, especially rough technical single-track. Well today he had his first race and he WON!! He rode like a champion and made us all proud, it was a great race! I ended up riding my bike home from the race at around 10:45 and it was scorching HOT!! I rode as fast as I could to get home but still ended up getting burned a bit, guess it was a bad day to wear a sleeveless jersey. At 1:00 in the blazing heat I did something I rarely do, I loaded the dogs and drove top speed to the beach! We have a beach called the Dog Beach over by Jan Thiel and that’s where we spent the afternoon! When we got there I made a bee-line into the water and the dogs followed at top speed, we all had a wonderful time! That’s pretty much my day, I made a fun dinner on the BBQ for Aimee and now everyone is relaxing.
Here’s another first for yours truly, this is a Longlure Frogfish swimming in mid water! Yeah can you believe it? Check out his Lure floating out in front of him. I was photographing this yellow beauty when all of a sudden without any warning he jumped off the coral head he was perched on and swam to another! Those of us watching were screaming underwater, it was just so cool to watch! As you can see Frogfish do not swim like a normal fish, he had to use his four flippers/legs to swim with and this took quite awhile for him to get to the other coral head.
Thanks for all the compliments on yesterdays shot, that really is something you probably won’t see anywhere else! Hope you had a great weekend, see you tomorrow, Barry
Aug 14, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, check out this cool shot, talk about one in a million! Today at around noon I picked up my friend Stiyn and we drove to Vaersenbaai where we met two other friends, Rob and Ke-chi, both who work with me at the Sub- Station. Our main purpose for coming here was to find a new frogfish that another friend (who was here from Holland) just found and told me out. Most of the time when something new is found those that know these reefs can usually find the said item just from a brief description of the reef and the depth. Well the frogfish was really easy to find, it was exactly where I was told it would be. It stood out like a sore thumb with it’s glowing yellow body sitting high atop the reef motionless waiting to catch lunch! We stayed there for quite awhile, I ended up with some great photos and even got to see and photograph him or probably a her leaping from one coral head to another swimming in mid-water, it was so cool! The reef is starting to look a little better at Vaersenbaai. I found a cluster of Purple Stove Pipes that is amazing and will be going back next weekend with a model to shoot that. Well on the way back in just 15 feet of water there is a big rectangular chunk of rock just sitting all by itself surrounded by nothing but sand. Since I can remember this little micro-reef has been home to thousands of reef creatures like fish of every kind, shrimps, crabs, anemones, and corals of all kinds but mainly baby fish. In fact it’s a nursery of sorts. Well today while I was laying in the sand shooting a new shrimp that we don’t have photos of Rob signals me and points to a just born juvenile Smooth Trunkfish the size of pea! I couldn’t believe how small it was and how brave he was?? As we both watched this little trunkfish (who normally stay in one area) swam all over the side of this reef area, he was so brave. In fact at times he was moving around so much and so far from his original home that we both lost him but re-found him on and off. Well, while trying my best to keep a pea-sized creature in focus he suddenly left the confines of the rock reef and swam out towards me, maybe thinking I was another big chunk of rock with possible caves to hide in? On his way out to me, he was immediately met by a school of new-born French Grunts, they were only about 2-3 inches long but to him they were monsters! They immediately thought this was a floating piece of food and tried over and over to eat him or at least taste him which when the trunkfish baby felt this he went swimming full blast back to the safety of the reef! I only got one shot as it happened so fast, one of those, if you blink you would miss it kind of things, it was really cool to see! So again, you never know what your going to see on the reef, I will check on him again next weekend and let you know if he is still there.
That’s pretty much my day other than doing two hours of trail sweeping this morning with the dogs. I hope everyone is having a great weekend, see you tomorrow, Barry
Aug 14, 10 Comments Off
Good morning all, I had a busy but fun day of diving yesterday and once home we went to a friends birthday party, so I got home late again. Today after walking the dogs I am meeting some friends for a dive at Varsenbaai in search of a new frogfish that was recently found. I really don’t have much for you this morning, it’s hard to think when your still half asleep.
This was a small school of Goatfish I found the other day all hanging out together. I often notice fish swim in a certain order or rank like largest on top and the smaller ones below. I have always considered Goatfish as the “calm” leave us alone fish. They really keep to themselves and are always seen swimming in small schools. Much of their day is spent digging in the sand, they use two fleshy whiskers called “barbels,” located under the tip of their chin, to search for prey hiding in the sand. These fish are Carnivores, they feed on shrimp, crabs, bottom-dwelling invertebrates, clams, and clam worms.
Dogs are waiting to go, talk to you tonight again, Barry
Aug 13, 10 Comments Off
Good morning everyone, Aimee here. This is a great photo of our Michelle (at the front) doing a program called the DSE (dolphin scuba encounter) with some of our Dolphin Academy team, MC and Papito (yes, we have an employee and a dolphin named Papito). The dolphin is Romeo. In 2007 when I was put in charge of training the 5 new dolphins I was told to train a new program; one that was not a swim, encounter, snorkel or therapy. Tough one. So, we decided to do an underwater encounter on scuba with the dolphins. This would give anyone the opportunity to see the dolphins up close, face to face, get to hear them and their many sounds and learn about the animals in their own world. It took many months to get them used to all the equipment and to be relaxed with all the divers and hands and fins. One of the funniest and toughest things was to teach them to not float up, but to relax and stay close to us, right off of the bottom. Romeo seems to be doing an awesome job! Before we put divers in the water we give them a 20 minute briefing talking about dolphin anatomy; most people don’t think about a dolphin belly button or ears or follicles where they used to have hair! We teach them about sounds and echolocation. Once they are underwater they get to see and feel all these wonderful things right at their fingertips. They also get to participate in an echolocation demonstration. The trainers swims off a bit, sends the dolphin back to one of the guests with a triangle and then the dolphin returns to the trainer. We then put eyecups on the dolphin and ask them to retrieve the triangle from the guest. Everyone gets to not only see the dolphin locate the triangle but gets to hear the echolocation clicks as they are finding it. For me, it is always the highlight of the dive, so cool! Well, we have been doing this program for about 2 years now, but it is a new program for us over at Dolphin Academy. It is just great letting our new colleagues experience such a fun new thing. Barry called so excited yesterday after this dive telling me how great it was and how wonderful Michelle and Romeo were! He just could not stop buzzing about it! That is just awesome. Michelle had never even touched a dolphin before she started working here. You would never know it now! She seems like an old pro who is just a natural with the animals. I am very lucky to have found her. Well, now all you locals who know about this have to come and join us, and you divers from other places, this is just one more “carrot” to get you down here. Come visit!
Busy but fun day ahead, Aimee
Aug 12, 10 Comments Off
Good morning all, we are both waking up after a fairly restless night, it’s so hot here that we have to keep turning the air-co on and off throughout the night, it’s either too hot or too cold! Both of us are felling better and I did do a dive at work yesterday while Aimee had the day off. My day started with going to get my island ID card again and this time it was successful, I only had to stand in line for 2 hours! The rain seems to have stopped, we haven’t had moisture in a week now and I can already see the wild flowers are dying.
Here’s another dolphin photo for my dolphin fans out there and again this is Tela and Pasku! When Pasku is inside the dolphin lagoons with the others he is everywhere and doing everything on his own but out in the open ocean he usually sticks close to momma for security. I have found over the years that photographing dolphins in their natural environment can be very difficult because they move so fast and turn on a dime. Now I am starting to listen for them, when I hear them coming I at least know from what direction and have a better chance of catching them as they speed by.
It’s off to work, see you again tonight, Barry
Aug 11, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, just checking in like a good boy! Our two South Dakota friends left this morning and I am still waiting to hear how the day went, we sure did enjoy them!! Here’s a fun photo from today’s 10:30 dolphin show. I thought for once I would try something new and walked out on the big boulders along side the ocean and shot in towards the crowd. This is Tela and little Pasku flying high for the crowds and let me tell you they love it! Pasku is just so cute as he tries to duplicate everything his mom is doing and for the most part he is succeeding, he just can’t jump as high yet! I figured if I didn’t get a dolphin photo out soon I would start getting hate mail.
Aimee and I both felt a little better today but not well enough to go for my Tuesday evening bike ride.
I did do a fun dive with the dolphins out in the open ocean this morning in fact it was also with Tela and Pasku, geez, talk about two dolphins that are worth their weight in gold! The dive was great although the visibility wasn’t so hot, I did get a few nice shots and will send them your way sometime in the next few days.
Sorry so short again, there just isn’t enough time to do everything! Bye, Barry
Aug 10, 10 Comments Off
Good evening friends, this will be a real short one tonight as I feel terrible again. I had a real hard day at work and came home and went to bed at 4:00. There are so many people sick right now including Aimee so at least I am not alone. Our guests entertained themselves today and we briefly saw them at 5:30 but had no energy to go out and do anything. We will take them to the airport in the morning at 6:00, I don’t need them paying crazy money for a taxi at that hour.
Here’s the beautiful old church at Porto Mari and it’s finally getting a complete restoration job. They have been working on this for a long time now, the front is finished as you see and now they are working on the back. When we were there I noticed they removed all the paint from the old doors as well and are going to leave it rustic looking and it looks great! From the looks of it the doors must be at least 200 years old.
Sorry so short all, I am worn out, see you tomorrow, Barry
Aug 8, 10 Comments Off
Hello readers, how was your weekend?? I had a pretty fun day as usual starting out with photographing my two visitors during a dolphin swim. And to make the whole dolphin swim even better, besides the sun and the crystal clear water, Aimee was their trainer! I am going to just guess and go out on a limb and say they had a wonderful time, at least from where I was standing that’s what it looked like! After the swim they did a little shopping then went over and got kissed by a sea lion and then back to watch the 10:30 dolphin show, it was a full morning. The next stop was the sea glass beach. It was raining when we got there but quit almost immediately and then with a short walk we found the sea of sea glass! This is a place I found years ago and it is one of the best spots in Curacao for sea glass. The glass here is very old, and has beautiful natural rounded edges and can be found in every shape, size and color under the sun! We stayed there for about an hour and a half, my how time flies when your having fun! Our next stop or their next stop was me dropping them off at Mambo beach for two hours to eat and do some more shopping and at 3:30 I picked them back up and took them back to the Avila Hotel. We have a little problem in Curacao at the moment, there looks to be a gas shortage or gas strike ahead! Yesterday and today cars have been lined up for blocks trying to fill up, we have no idea at this point what is going on or how long it will last so we will keep the driving to a minimum. Because of this gas traffic jam I had a hard time getting the girls home, I had to take a long out of the way loop instead. So we decided to just call it a day, the ladies have a spectacular hotel to relax in and we had some stuff to do at home.
I am still getting lots of requests for more sub photos so here is a new one from my fun photo shoot on Friday! This is pretty much “picture perfect”, even I like this one and I am really picky! The two smiling face are friends I work with at work, there is never a shortage of models or volunteers at the Sea Aquarium! Our two sub pilots have been now practicing for two weeks and are becoming masters at driving these things!
That’s it. more tomorrow, thanks for all the kind comments! Barry
Aug 8, 10 Comments Off
Good morning friends, can you spot my two visitors from South Dakota?? Yesterday after taking the dogs for a long walk over by the salt flats and checking on a Geocache I picked up my two waiting beauties and off we went on an island drive. I wanted to take them to snorkel and Geocache at Puerto Mari, it’s one of those places here that has it all. We first stopped and tried to photograph the wild flamingos that we found walking in the shallow salt water along the road but the closer we got the further they walked. I really had to laugh because when we first got there I spotted this large group of flamingos pretty much hidden in the back but once we got out and started walking especially me with the tripod, three different cars stopped filled with people and all followed me, it was like shooting wildlife in Yellowstone all over again. The good news is, the girls got see the birds! After a 20 minute hike we were now all thirsty so once back at the car we drove directly to Puerto Mari and made a direct path to the restaurant. After a quick lunch we went on a Geocaching adventure and then my two South Dakota mermaids made their way into the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. They swam while I climbed the cliffs in search of a photo, I lost a little blood taking this shot as it’s all cacti and thorns. At one point while standing here watching I heard Karine yell out to Brianna that she had found a Frogfish?? Yeah say what?? I thought “you got to be kidding me”, how is that I had to do 500 plus dives to see a frogfish and she just found one snorkeling? If ever I wanted to throw my camera into the sea it was upon hearing those words yesterday! Karine had in fact found a Frogfish, it’s just laying inside one of the underwater man made reef balls they have here and yes you can see it by snorkeling, unbelievable! So after about an hour swim we again made our way to the refreshment stand and then took off home. Aimee and I met them later at the Avila for a really nice BBQ. For those of you locals who want to do something fun on a Saturday night check them out for dinner, it is the hands down most delicious BBQ buffet you will find on the island!
It’s time to pick them up and go swim with the dolphins, see you tonight, Barry
Aug 7, 10 Comments Off
Good morning friends, I am so tired this morning but hoping this mix of coffee goodness will help get me to my feet. Yesterday was one adventure after another. When I got into work I was told I had less than 40 minutes to get my gear ready for a sub photo shoot that we have been wanting to do for some time now. So I ran around like a wind up toy, charging batteries, getting my tank ready, loading the camera and getting everything to the dock. The sub went down right as planned and this time instead of taking pictures of it as it came out, I swam to the top, held on behind the hatch cover and off we went at 50 feet towards Dolphin Academy. The ride was great but only lasted around 4-5 minutes. Once to our destination I let go and swam out and around and started shooting the sub as it posed in all different positions above the coral reef. One of the best shots was the sub with it’s lights on next to this giant sea fan and two very happy people inside, will send that shot later. After I finished shooting I gave the pilot the OK signal and waved goodbye they then took off to much deeper depths for a fun more exploration. I ended up getting out at Dolphin Academy and walked back to the Sub Station, that was not so much fun. Next around 2:00 I jumped inside the sub for another photo shoot from inside the sub. We went on the “Beauty Run” and first passed a giant anchor at 180 feet and then straight over to the two sunken tugs. This was a practice dive to see how well the lights on the outside of the sub are set up for indoor or inside the sub photography. After the tugs we started going deeper and deeper until finally we were close to 600 feet! I had a fish spotter laying next to me who was constantly yelling out names to all these strange and wonderful deep water fish and occasionally he would say, “I don’t know what that is”! At 550 feet we passed over a real sandy area where we spotted so many wonderful never seen before wonderful creatures like a strange flounder and tiny little crabs. Moments later as we started to rise at around 520 feet we found this beautiful deep water Short Bigeye fish just hanging out in what seemed like a dark environment filled with nothing. Although it’s hard to tell from the photo, this fish is almost a foot in length! Also to his left there is a little cave and there was some kind of strange eel there as well. The Bigeye never moved but laid there in full defense mode the whole time with his fins flared out, it was so cool! We saw new fish after new fish but most are too small to photograph thru the big dome of the sub. We did turn the lights out at 400 feet and there was still enough light to see but the deeper you go it becomes less and less. So as you can see there is a whole World down there we know nothing about! The worst thing we saw today was all the scattered beer bottles laying in the sand. There is just no escaping our World of trash, those who think if you just throw it into the ocean and it will be gone, well they are wrong!
Our two guests had a great day of snorkeling and laying on the beach, today they are mine! I have to pick them up at 10:00 and still need to walk the dogs.
Aug 5, 10 Comments Off
Good evening readers, here is a fun photo of our friends Karine and Brianna today in the new state of the art mini-sub. For those of you who I have been trying to get down here for years I am not kidding when I say there is lots of cool stuff to do here, just ask these two smiling ladies. A big thanks to the man himself, Dutch for making this trip possible today and although you can’t see her Aimee is in the back seat as well behind our pilot Michiel. The girls went on an exciting one hour trip called “the Beauty Run” named after all the spectacular things you are guaranteed to see! I think they went down close to 400 feet today and upon their return they said they say lots of big fish and even a Lionfish at 180 feet! Karine belongs to a wonderful family in Wyoming where Aimee and I get to go fossil collecting when we are in the States, so finally I am able to start paying them back a little on my own turf. I picked these ladies up from the airport last night and directly delivered them to the Avila Hotel, the hands down best place to stay on the island! This morning Aimee picked them up at 10:30 and they all went for an afternoon walk around Punda and had lunch in Outrabanda. Then at 1:30 they showed up at the new Curacao Substation and at 2:30 they were off on a once in a life time incredible adventure. We just finished having dinner on the BBQ at home and soon I will deliver them back to the Avila. Tomorrow they are on their own, Saturday we play and Sunday they get to swim with the dolphins and Monday they head out on an island adventure on quads, so lots to do still! Most who have visited know that I always post your face on the web for all to see so remember to smile real pretty!
Time to get moving, more tomorrow, Barry
Aug 4, 10 Comments Off
Good evening friends, I just got home from the airport, we have two friends that flew in from Rapid City to spend five days with us! They arrived with a little delay but with smiles on their face and after a quick greeting we headed off the beautiful Avila Hotel. Tomorrow I have to work but Aimee will pick them up and start showing them the island, then on Saturday and Sunday they are mine!
I am feeling better today but still seem to have a bit of a fever, it seems to come and go? I did go into work today but I did not have to get in the water.
Here’s another shot of our one and only “Turtle Handler” Zenzi holding onto a ready to go little Hawksbill turtle. Our turtles arrive at the aquarium in many ways. Omar brought some to us as babies, fishermen bring them in, and some came to us with injuries. We occasionally bring this guy out from inside and let him swim in a big lagoon and of course he loves it, just look at that smile on his face!
Sorry so short, pretty tired, Barry
Aug 4, 10 Comments Off
Good morning all, I am sick with what I think could be Dengue Fever again! I worked all day yesterday and did two short dives but felt sick all day long, in fact I really struggled to make it thru the day. When I got home I immediately laid down but after an hour I got up to go the restroom. Well no sooner had I walked in the bathroom when I felt this overwhelming fever/stomach ach and started throwing up, it was awful!! I actually laid on the bathroom floor for awhile while Aimee put a big wet cool towel over my back and slowly brought the fever down. The rest of the night was spent drinking liquids, taking fever reducer and going back and forth the restroom, it was a fun night. I do feel a bit better this morning with a headache and sore joints and will try to go into work just for a little while to check in.
Yesterday we had Harold, the owner of “Curacao Nights Magazine” www.nightspublications.com with us in the sub and the owner of Caribbean Crafts www.caribbeanhandcraft.com Many of you may remember 4-5 years ago when Aimee was on the cover of Curacao Nights free-diving out on the reef, still one of my favorite pictures!
Meet Nicki and Alex, two of the kids I have spent a lot of time with here in Curacao as they are the children of the owner of the Sea Aquarium, Dutch. I think I have sent 2-3 photos of Alex out over the years, one when he was on the beach riding his bike and one when he had caught a big fish, does that ring any bells. I guess I can’t call Nicki a kid anymore as she is now studying to be a doctor in collage in Holland and is just here on vacation at the moment, smart one she is! These two jumped in the other day for a sub ride and rode in the back. The sub fits five people including the pilot. Two people lay on their stomachs in front, the pilot sits in the middle looking out the big dome and behind him there are two more seats and each has it’s own window as you see here. These two were a lot of fun to shoot, besides this nice photo with smiles, I also brought back pictures of them with tongues out and crazy faces, it really made me laugh underwater!
That’s about it for this morning, more later, bye now, Barry
Aug 2, 10 Comments Off
Hey guys, how was your Monday?? I spent most of the day on the computer at work and getting ready for a dive with the sub tomorrow morning with paying guests. We are all busy still getting the Substation finished with the final touches including building a new deluxe dock for the sub to park in while in the water.
I shot a bunch of macro photos the other day of all the different colors and kinds of coral, these are just a few of many. The first one, (going clockwise) is a strange color of Giant Star Coral, the second is called, Whitestar Sheet Coral with a little Peppermint Goby on top, the third is a close-up of Pillar Coral and the last is another variety of Giant Star Coral with a few polyps open. These are all Stony Corals or so often called Hard Corals and they are the basic building blocks of tropical coral reef systems. These animals, “yes they are animals” secrete calcium carbonate to form hard cups called Corallites, that provide protection for their soft delicate bodies. In tropical waters most species grow colonially, joining their corallites to produce a substantial structure, I call these structures “coral heads”. These coral colonies can be big or small depending on the species. Some of the largest coral heads I have seen are the mountainous star coral and the pillar corals, those can get big!
Very tired, have a big day tomorrow, thanks for all the notes, Barry
Aug 2, 10 Comments Off
I’m back! I am calling this “exercise Sunday”! I first took the dogs out for 3 hours this morning and while they ran around looking for trouble I swept and cleaned up the Calabash trail. It’s been 6-7 months since it’s last cleaning and since I ride it now three times a week I figured it’s finally time to get it done. We left the desert at around 10:00 but before we did I took the dogs to the beach to cool down for a nice swim in the ocean! During the afternoon I worked on photos on the computer and at 5:00 I took off with a friend for a nice long hour and a half ride. It poured about five minutes before I left the house but the trails were still perfect for riding, only the pavement had lots of standing water. That’s my Sunday in a nutshell, what did you all do??
Here’s a cute little Redlip Blenny for your viewing pleasure this evening. The redlip blenny is dark brown anteriorly and lighter posteriorly. The lips are reddish and there are often red highlights on the fins. This species spends most of its time just sitting on the substrate. It is one of the most aggressive of the blennies and will chase and nip bottom-dwelling fishes that enter its territory and it has fang-like, rear canines that are used in territorial defense. It’s easy to see where it gets it’s name.
I have a name for the Starfish looking flowers from yesterday, they are called Twining Soldierbush. or Tournefortia Volubilis. Big thanks to our friend Bianca in Holland, she sent us this great link that she found,
http://www.severens.net/index.html?/Expedities/2005_1/Ex2005_1.html check it out, it’s in Dutch but it’s filled with great info on the island.
Off to bed, good-night everyone, Barry
SITE MAP
CategoriesArchives |
|
