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Archive for the ‘OCEAN REALM’Sep 2, 10 Comments (0)
Hello friends, remember me? Well I finally made it to South Dakota but not with my luggage, they are still looking for it! My trip was terrible to say the least, it was one problem after another and in the end I was able to get a flight out of Chicago via United instead of with American Airlines. I arrived late last night flying thru a terrible lightning storm and finally got home at around midnight, traveling seems to just be getting worse and worse! The good news is, I am alive and all is well here. South Dakota is so green and beautiful and tomorrow I drive to Wyoming to start my week off by hiking in the field looking for fossil ammonites, I can hardly wait! I spent all day doing errends with my friend Dan like sending my camera equipment off to Ikelite to be repaired, going to the bank, meeting friends for lunch, shopping and going thru tons of old mail. Most of my friends here are laughing at me because I keep saying how cold it is yet they say it’s warm, will take some getting used to! Here’s a fun shot of two different colored Trumpetfish hanging out together. We have four colors of Trumpetfish here in Curacao, yellow, red, brownish gray and my favorite, blue. I have been trying for years to get a photo of all four colors together but so far I haven’t had any luck but I am still trying! I will try and send out another note from Wyoming tomorrow evening so please check back. Very sorry about the poor comunication this week, not even sure if Aimee got our internet fixed at home yet as well. Have a great evening, Barry Aug 31, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning from Curacao! Still no internet at home, trying to get UTS to come out and do a repair is close to impossible, maybe today? Yesterday I worked and tried to finish my last minute shopping list. I leave tomorrow morning at 6:00am and will arrive in Rapid City, SD at around 5:30pm, that’s a long day of travel and I have to get on three different planes. Here’s a fun shot for you all today, this is a macro shot of the tail of a large Stoplight Parrotfish. Saturday night when Aimee and I went diving together instead of seeing coral spawning we found countless other cool creatures instead. Once the sun goes down, Parrotfish like so many other reef fish seek shelter for the long night ahead. During most dives we see countless Parrotfish laying under coral heads or hiding in some of the coolest spots you can imagine, the trick is not to wake them. Most divers end up spooking them or waking them up because of their bright lights, the trick is to find one and use soft light and then slowly move in close. I found that using diffusers over my lights allows me to get very close at least most of the time. The other trick is to never go night diving too early because the fish are still not fully asleep and are spooked a lot more easily! That’s about it, see some of you real soon, I am going down in the sub right now for a photo shoot with friends. Have a great day, Barry Aug 29, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning all, once again I apologize for the messed up daily blogs, we still are without internet at home! Yesterday was a very busy day. I first took the dogs for a long two hour walk with our friend Joey down to the salt ponds via the Barry/Arjan trail and did some trail cleaning along the way. It was so hot by 9:00 that we both said, “that’s it”, we were pretty much soaked to the bone from sweat and the dogs were running from one shady spot to the next. After getting home and washing everyone and eating breakfast I then headed out for some last minute shopping before I leave Wednesday morning and that ended up taking up a good part of the day, it seemed like I went everywhere! While at work yesterday I brought home my camera gear, tanks and dive gear and at 9:30 last night Aimee and I went for a fun night dive hoping to see some coral spawning. The bad news is we didn’t see any spawning, the good news is we found lots of other cool things to photograph anyways! We ended up being out there for an hour and a half, I keep forgetting how much I love and miss night diving! We got home at around midnight and after cleaning our gear and taking apart the camera we finally fell into bed and we were both asleep in seconds! Here’s another fun shot I got the other day while out touring the reef in mini-sub style! We found this giant red barrel sponge with this beautiful black crinoid attached to it’s rim, it was picture perfect! Lots to do today, be back tomorrow, Barry Aug 28, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning all, still no internet at home so we are unable to send out any daily e-mails. We will try again on Monday to get someone out to help from UTS but I think that is being unrealistic. Yesterday was another very hot day here in Curacao, I think our summer heat has finally arrived! I did one reef dive with the sub yesterday but had a hard time as the current was running fast! There was coral spawning last night but I did not go, maybe tonight, I went for a nice bike ride instead. This is a small school of Goatfish I found yesterday all having breakfast together. I finally got a shot of their Barbels as they were searching for food in the sea-weed. 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. That’s it, sorry again for the brief mail, I just have so much to do today before I leave for the States. Talk to you tomorrow, Barry Aug 27, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning friends, OUR INTERNET AT HOME IS OUT! Yesterday Aimee tried and tried to get someone to come out and fix it but no one came! UTS and TDS are both two of the worst companies on planet EARTH, “that’s our TV and Phone providers”, trying to get repair service is just plain awful! My poor Aimee waited all day for them to call or come by but no such luck and ended up almost in tears at the end of the day as they had her on hold for hours. These are the things we hate about living here. So not sure when it will be fixed, just keep checking back here for updates. Yesterday I did two dives again but having some camera problems, I will be taking all my gear with me to the States soon for repair. This is a little Peacock Flounder I found in our bay yesterday and just had to stop and take a photo. I am always amazed at how well they blend in with their environment and how cool they look just laying there on top of the sand. Again sorry about the short e-mail, I am at work and need to get ready for a sub-dive. I hope all is well with everyone, I am sure I have a million e-mails waiting by now. See you tomorrow, Barry Aug 25, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning all, after work yesterday I raced home and met a friend for a fast and fun mountain bike ride and then worked on my three weeks of underwater blog photos that I will post for you on my web site when I leave. I am still trying to train a new person at work, progress is slow due to camera problems and bad ocean conditions. I am really worried about leaving for vacation right now as I am the only one really trained to take the sub photos, it’s one of those “it’s not as easy as it looks” kind of things.
Here’s another DSE Dolphin Scuba Encounter photo by request this morning. We always hear guests asking, “do dolphins like to be pet”?? The answer is yes! And listen guys if they didn’t like it they would leave! You can’t make a dolphin do anything they don’t want to do. Like the trainers always tell me, the good behavior is rewarded and the bad is just ignored. I highly recommend any and all of you to come do this Dolphin Scuba Encounter, it’s one of the most fun things I have ever done, you can check it out at www.dolphin-academy.com
I am running a little late already, it’s coral spawning week but don’t know if I will have time to go or not? It rained most of the night which is great as things were starting to really look dry around here. See you tonight, Barry
Aug 22, 10 Comments (0)
Good evening one and all, we are officially tired! I left the house at 7:00 this morning and took the dogs for a two hour walk at Saint Joris. Since we were there I decided to go check out my new one mile of single track that I put in a few months ago and see if it was getting any use. We walked for about five minutes when all of a sudden we heard voices coming from behind and I looked over the tops of the brush and could see rider after rider heading our way. I can’t tell you what a great feeling it is to see bikers and hikers all using a trail I built, it’s very rewarding! I was holding a rake and broom when they passed and I said “how do you like the trail”?? They all stopped and asked if I built this which then turned into an even more rewarding morning filled with compliments and thanks, I was glowing with satisfaction when they left. Other bikers also found their way onto the trail and also a big group of hikers all loving this new found trail that takes you thru some really beautiful Curacao landscape.
I then spent a good part of the afternoon packing for my trip to the States even though I don’t leave for 8 more days. At 4:30 I took off on the bike for an hour ride and let me tell you it was HOT!! It’s amazing how fast one can drink 2 full water bottles when your out riding in the sun and the ice-cubes I put in before I left were gone in 5 minutes!
At 5:30 Aimee and I took the dogs over to our friends Rob and Michelle’s house who live on Spanish Water. Rob has a little boat and we loaded Indi and Inca and we took them to a deserted island in the middle of Spanish Water where we met other friends and more dogs for a super fun evening walk. The dogs ran and ran and did a little swimming, it was really great to see a new part of the island that I didn’t even know existed. We had to take the boat back and it was almost dark when we arrived back at the car, our dogs are now fast asleep!
Here’s another shot of the new frogfish at Vaersenbaai. Yesterday when we were there he was very hard to find and had moved a long ways away from where we had last spotted him a week ago. This time he was hiding underneath a big brown tube sponge which made it impossible to photograph, so good thing I got his picture the week before. I shot this with my 105 2.8 macro which if you do a lot of macro you would know what an accomplishment that is, shooting a large object with macro can be tough! This frogfish is just beautiful and obviously very easy to spot on the reef.
Game over, see you tomorrow, Barry
Aug 22, 10 Comments (0)
Good morning friends, sorry about the morning mail again, I just can’t seem to get these out in the evening lately, there’s just too much to do. Yesterday we all had to go into work as we had a family of four wanting to take a tour in the sub and Saturday was the only day they could do it. We ended up not leaving till 1:00 but after I got my dive gear ready and met some friends again at Vaersenbaai for an afternoon dive. The downside was, it was the worst visibility I have ever seen in Curacao but who cares when you have a macro lens in your hands. I found tiny creature after tiny creature and kept busy the whole dive and for once I felt like I brought the right lens. I found this juvenile Cleaning Goby perched high on top of a blade of Maze Coral and was shocked at how brave he was. This little guy was only around 1/4th of an inch in length. I laid on the sand and moved in as close as I could and he never moved, he just sat there watching wondering what was going on. I am not real sure what kind of Goby this is, it’s not a Sharknose for sure and even the Cleaning goby has a Sharknose type face as well, let me know if you have any ideas.
This morning I am taking the dogs for a long overdo walk at Saint Joris so I better get moving, talk to you again soon, Barry
Aug 21, 10 Comments (0)
Good evening all, how was your day? Mine of course was busy and fun starting out with doing some more photos from inside the sub at around 400 feet. We did about a two hour tour looking for the most beautiful scenic areas we could find and once located we would stop and do little photo shoots along the way. We found two big Lionfish hanging out together at around 185 feet under a giant anchor and also found the new Nicky fish today at around 300 feet and not just one, lots of them. Later in the afternoon we did a fun deep dive down to 132 feet. We swam straight out in front of the substation and down we went as I wanted to check out some sponges and corals I saw from the sub earlier that morning. On our way back up to safer depths I found this Graysby Sea Bass sitting inside a Netted Barrel sponge being cleaned by a Sharknose Goby. Normally this Sea Bass spends all day chasing and eating smaller fish but would never think about eating this little guy. This Sharknose Goby has a free “you can’t eat me card” as this is a cleaner fish and without them we would have a lot of sick fish on the reef! Talk about a great home as well, it’s a sponge with a million dollar view! I laid here for quite awhile and watched, there is just so much activity happening on the reef, you just need to slow down and look!
That’s about it, I have to work tomorrow as well, we have a family of four doing the sub at 10:00 but will probably go do something fun after.
Have a great weekend, Barry
Aug 20, 10 Comments (0)
Hello friends, it’s almost 9:00 in the evening and I am sitting here as tired as can be and seem to have a bad case of the non-stop yawns! I had a busy day at work. I did two sub dives for walk in customers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and in between I trained my new person mostly on PhotoShop. After work I geared up and took off on a fast one hour ride but just didn’t have my normal energy, diving and biking do not mix!!
Here’s a little tiny Juvenile Dusky Damselfish I found the other day while shooting macro at Vaersenbaai. These little treasures start their lives out being very colorful fish but will grow up to be an ugly dull black color. As an adult this fish will become very territorial and is known to frequently chase away divers and fish that are much bigger than they are! These are also the fish that are currently doing so much damage on the reef by making those “coral gardens” I have told you about, they just don’t seem to have many enemies! This guy here was about the size of your fingernail, super tiny and very hard to photograph!
Off to bed, thanks for all the great notes, Barry
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