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Archive for the ‘Islands + Topside Attractions’May 3, 10 Comments Off
Hi Friends, I received a few requests asking for a photo from Queens Day in Punda and I think this one is pretty fun. Like I said a few blogs back, on Queens Day it was wall to wall people either eating and drinking or selling and buying. I came across this stand in downtown Punda and just had to stop and check it out. These are wooden shoes from Holland or as they are called here, Clogs or Klompen’s. Why wear wooden shoes you ask?? And what kind of folks are wearing or buying them, well here’s your answer. Farmers, market-gardeners and so on are most of the time wearing wooden shoes. That is because it’s very handy to wear them when you walk on dirty ground. It’s also to protect yourself. You can wear boots of rubber, so you won’t get dirty feet, socks and trousers (at the underside of course). But there are some disadvantages when you wear boots instead of wooden shoes! If you are a gardener you probably won’t need wooden shoes, but if you are a farmer and you have some dangerous, sharp objects on your farmyard, and it would be everything except nice to have the weight of a cow on, a nail, a point of a pitchfork or something like that in your feet, therefore you can better wear wooden shoes, because
Wooden shoes used to be made entirely by hand, but now they are made by machines. Making wooden shoes by hand has almost completely disappeared. Only at some places in Holland you can watch people who make wooden shoes just as in the past, like the old artisans.
To make wooden shoes of a piece of wood you need to have professional knowledge. The artisan gets this professional knowledge out of experience, but you have to have some natural ability. For more info on Clogs check out www.cloggieshop.com That’s it for this evening, a big thanks for all the compliments on yesterdays photo, as usual you guys are the best!! Be back tomorrow, Barry
May 2, 10 Comments Off
Good evening readers, someone asked me yesterday what speed island life in Curacao runs at and I told them in two words, fast and slow!! If your out driving around you would think most of the islanders are late for an important date or something because they drive so fast and seem to be in such a hurry to get nowhere??! But if your at the store, and I mean any store or a restaurant or the airport you will swear your on another planet because everything is in slow motion!! Like many counties, Curacao shuts down and closes it’s doors for business from 12:00 in the afternoon till 2:00 everyday!! For those of you who have never experienced this consider yourselves lucky because it is frustrating!! For Aimee and I one of the worst things we have to do here is go to get our local ID’s every year at a place that put’s the “S” in SLOW!! Almost all business’s in Curacao operate on the “take a number and sit down and shut up policy”! Over the years we have found out they use this system because there are not enough employees to help the customers and ones that are helping are running on dead batteries and seem to be in no rush to help the poor waiting customer. Maybe this is why everyone is driving so fast?? You just stood in line at the bank or at the phone company for an hour or two and now your late getting back to work, hey, I think I just solved the mystery!! Walking around Punda the other day I saw so many “locals” in alleys and back streets just doing their own thing which in most cases is close to being in trouble. I was approached today when I shot this photo from two or three homeless guys not begging for money but asking if they could wash my car but my answer is always the same, “the salt and rust is what is holding it together so thanks but no thanks”!
It’s been a mega busy day again, took photos in Punda this morning, did a dive with Bernard, went to Saint Joris to pick up some wood and took the dogs for a walk, it’s game over!! Bernard and Rosa like so many others that have come to visit brought us some very unique gifts. One is a tin filled with candy but is the hands down most beautiful tin I have ever seen. It’s a jungle scene in full color with animals in relief meaning they are almost 3-D, it’s really cool! He also brought us some of the coolest currency from South Africa where he is from, I will be photographing it for you to see for yourself so be looking for that in the near future!
Off to bed, see you tomorrow, Barry
May 1, 10 Comments Off
Good evening friends, it’s almost 10:00 here and close to my bedtime so just a quick note to say hi!! This is a beautiful un-restored Curacao style home from the early 1800′s that we found on Queens Day. This is located on the south side of the island very near Punda, in fact just behind this home is the ocean. I wanted so badly to go inside but the gate was locked so I carefully turned my camera sideways and slid it thru to the other side while still holding it with one hand and snapped away, it was just too cool to pass up. On our long walk into town we ended up finding so many of these cool old buildings they are everywhere and believe it or not I just never really seem to have time to walk around and shoot them but maybe I will start.
Sorry so short, but it’s bed time, be back tomorrow, Barry
Apr 27, 10 Comments Off
Hey gang, how is everything in your neck of the woods?? I had my normal day off marathon and am very relived to be sitting here for once doing nothing!! I met a friend at Saint Joris this morning at 7:30 and he helped me with my new trail for two hours and we had to leave because of the heat! I carried in six liters of water and we used it all, it was that hot!! Once I got home I had to take our three little cuties outside to pee and then carried them upstairs where they played and played for the next hour and a half. After finally falling down one by one from exhaustion I was able to again put them to bed and go do my “honey do list” of chores around town which took around an hour and a half. At 4:00 I took off on a two and a half hour mountain bike ride and finally for once this week I felt very strong and had a great ride, makes a big difference when you don’t dive and then go ride. Aimee is upstairs watching t.v. with all three little treasures asleep in her lap, they are so tired they can’t even move!!
This is a Coccoloba uvifera or as we call it here a Seagrape. This is a plant that is not only highly tolerant of salt it is also very drought tolerant making it a perfect plant for the Caribbean. It is a sprawling evergreen shrub or small tree that reaches a maximum height of 8 meters or (26 feet), but most specimens are little more than 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall. It’s named Seagrape because of the edible large grape-like clusters. The fruit contains a large pit that takes up most of the fruit which can be very frustrating if your at all hungry! This is a brand new baby leaf growing out of the same opening as the large adult leaf, it’s really a beautiful plant that for the most park gets overlooked quite often.
Many, many thanks to everyone that wrote and said they bought one or multiple copies of the May issue of Sport Diver with my picture on the cover, I really appreciate the support! Off to bed, see you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 25, 10 Comments Off
 homeless Good evening all, here’s a photo that pretty much speaks for itself and should make you feel grateful for what you have. The homeless problem in Curacao is no different than it is in the United States or anywhere else for that matter. Quite often Aimee and I run into homeless people while out and about and we give them a little money if we can. We usually give it to them even though we know they will probably go straight out and buy drugs or alcohol, but really what can you do?? Many times instead of the money we get them something to eat or drink that way you kind of know where your money is going. Here in Curacao the homeless don’t beg for money or hold up signs pleading for help like they do in the States they at least try to find some kind of work. Most of them that I have seen hang out in public parking lots and wait for you to park. They then walk up to you and ask if you would like your car washed, still not asking for money and I think most of the time people say yes because it is so cheap. They all seem have a big white five gallon bucket, soap, squeegee and a sponge but we always wonder where are they getting the water from?? You then come back from shopping and pay them, usually it’s around $1.50 to $2.50 and for the most part they do a fairly good job. Obviously it’s much easier to help three stranded puppies along the road than a fellow human being now a days, you just never know how dangerous a person can be making it even harder to help, it’s the day and age we live in.
I had a really fun dive today with Mark and the gang from the World famous Dive Bus Hut. Today was one of their annual Project Aware Beach Clean-Up days and the turnout was great! I took a bunch of photos of Mark collecting a car tire underwater and bringing it back and then watched as the other volunteers cut yards of tangled fishing line from around the corals. Everyone had a great time and as a reward for the team that collected the most trash I gave away my free monthly Dolphin Swims to the winners, a little incentive never hurts!! Afterwards we had a nice BBQ on the beach and then watched a little slide show that Suzy took of everyone today, it was a great afternoon!!
Aimee just came home, we are now going to go out in the backyard and take the first puppy photos so stay tuned!! Talk to you tomorrow, Barry
Apr 16, 10 Comments Off
 Sun Halo Good evening friends, today something happened that usually only happens once or twice a year in Curacao, we had a Sun Halo!! It was so beautiful! I quickly ran inside and brought out some hand models and had them reach for the sky with the palms of their hands open shooting some cool silhouettes and then using a starfish as well. After that it seemed to just be getting bigger and better so I raced to another area in search of the large frigate birds and tried my hardest to get them in the scene as you see here, after 20 minutes of that I was seeing stars! For those of you who haven’t seen one of these or don’t know what they are I found this little tid-bit of info for you. A Sun Halo also known as a Nimbus, Icebow or Gloriole is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby air. There are many types of ice halos. They are produced by the ice crystals in cirrus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting sunlight between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions. Atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed. Other common optical phenomena involving water droplets rather than ice crystals include the glory and the rainbow. Today was Hot even though it was obviously freezing high above us. The desert here is again beautiful green and everything is again coming back to life after the big drink a few days ago. The humidity here now is terrible and we also have mosquitoes again, that’s the downside. There may be three puppies in our future again. They are living under a truck across the street from us and we have been feeding them everyday, I think we are going to have to help them as the owners could care less. That’s it, going diving at 6:30 in the morning, don’t ask why!! See ya, Barry Apr 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 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 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
Mar 22, 10 Comments Off
 Salty Smile Good evening one and all. I worked all day but had a fun little adventure to the salt ponds directly after work today. Yesterday when I did the loop around the salt pond on my bike I noticed these very cool tires encrusted in fresh salt crystals and knew I had to get back there tonight because if we get any rain at all they will be destroyed. Well for once I had some company, two of our new Dutch interns Loet and Laura really wanted to go as well so I had them meet me near the prison and off we went, me on my bike and them walking. After a fun and scenic hike along the waters edge which took around 15 minutes we finally arrived at the salt pans. One of the first things I found was this fun salty tire face that you see here made entirely of old tires encrusted in sea salt. Normally these tires are underwater but it’s so dry now that everything is starting to dry up. Once these tires or anything else that is in this water is exposed to air you immediately get salt crystals, look in front and around the big tire you can see thousands of little salt cubes forming under the water, it’s too cool for words. The girls and I raced all around for around 40 minutes finding one interesting thing after another to photograph, it’s just a perfect time to go there and you can even see around 100 or so flamingos as well. The downside is you have to get in the water to get most of the fun shots and this is 100% salt water and folks it burns your feet like you can’t imagine, it’s like acid! I made the mistake tonight of stepping in a very soft area and sunk in up to my knee, it was pure black smelly mud underneath the salt crystals and I raced back to my bike and grabbed my water bottles to rinse off with, really disgusting! So other than the smelly mud it was a lot of fun, I may try and go back Thursday evening as well for one last look.
That’s about it, we had a very windy, dry day and big waves smashed the coast all day. I’m out, till tomorrow, Barry
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