Coral Reef Photos » Desert Cactus

French Prickle or Opuntia eliator, Caribbean Cactus Flowers

barry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:52:14 +0000

Good morning friends, remember a few weeks ago Stijn and I went to Mount Christoffel for the whole day?? Well, this was one of the many surprises waiting for us at the top! This is called a French Prickle or Opuntia eliator and is one of the many different prickly pear species we have here in Curacao. Here on the island they call this Tuna, Shangran, Chou or Tuna di baka and in Dutch it’s just Tuna, I’m really not making this up! I have sent you other photos in the past of a different Prickly Pear flower called Opuntia wentiana, that one only has yellow flowers. The difference between the Prickly Pear and the French Pickle is easy to see. The segments on the French Pickle are much larger and have a darker color. This cactus may grow up to four meters tall and has brown spines, it’s most distinguishing characteristic. It is a diurnal bloomer with dark yellow to salmon colored flowers. The fruit is dark red and almost round. One does not get to see the flowers very often as our local large blue lizards and iguanas usually eat them the second they open. I have heard that many local restaurants still serve thin slices of this cactus in your water to give it a fresh taste but haven’t actually tried it myself.

Not much to report, it’s VERY windy lately, fun if your a sailor, not so fun if you a biker or trying to do shore dives!

Have a wonderful day all!! Thanks for all the support, Barry

Curacao Candle Cactus, Caribbean Vegitation

barry — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:25:02 +0000

Good morning from Curacao. Yesterday consisted of three and a half hours on the bike in the morning and a two hour walk with the dogs later in the afternoon, I call it exercise Sunday!! Honestly I was amazed at how quickly my Sunday vanished yesterday, I thought by leaving the house early and getting my ride in I would still have the whole day to play but not the case. I did manage to go grocery shopping and do a little beach combing and at 6:30 we went over to Stijns house for a BBQ but in general the day went fast! So did anyone out there do anything crazy exciting like sky diving or mountain climbing this weekend, maybe something we could share with everyone?

I found this really nice Candle Cactus along one of my trails at Saint Joris and thought it would make a nice photo. This species is often confused with the other tall cactus we have here called the “Datu”. This is called the “Kadushi”. It is easily recognizable because it starts with a single trunk and branches out only when it reaches a certain height. It can grow to a height of up to ten meters! The ribs are covered with areoles, each bearing eight to twenty spines. The arms of the cactus show segmentation. It blooms at night with greenish white to pink colored flowers. Research has proven that the main pollinators for this cactus are nectar feeding bats. The fruit is red to purple, round to oblong and without spines. They may be eaten and young branches are often peeled and used to cook into a soup called “kadushi.

Off to the sea, hope you all had a great weekend!! Barry

Link to Underwater Video Camera at Substation Curacao

barry — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:04:52 +0000

Good morning friends, I had a few readers report that they saw me and the sub online on the underwater camera in the past few days, I thought that was pretty fun. Today I will be out there again at around 11:15 feeding the fish and waiting for the sub so if your not too busy tune in and maybe you will see us passing by, here is the link one more time; http://www.seesubmarine.com/

Do any of you remember the beautiful but weird looking Bubble-Snail Jonny found months ago right under our sub platform?? Well yesterday I found another!! Here is the link to refresh your memory about the last one; http://www.coralreefphotos.com/caribbean-nudibranchflatworm-new-nudibranch/ As I was swimming in from shooting the sub I saw just a part of the shell sticking out from under the sand and knew instantly what it was. These are really one of the coolest creatures I have ever seen, any of you locals wanting to see it today come on over to the Substation and I will show you, I have him in a big underwater tub filled with sand at the moment where he instantly buried himself. I plan on doing some new photos with this one either today or tomorrow with Aimee’s help!

Inca is doing much, much better thanks to Tom and Aimee, they stopped by the house yesterday at around 1:00 and gave her the royal treatment. Many thanks to all of you who sent in your notes for Inca, that means a lot to us!!

Not much else for you all today, I have been in the water so much that I haven’t even had time to go biking this week. Coral spawning starts on the 15th and like I said before we will be out there late at night hoping to see something cool. Here is a little candle cactus sunset photo for you all today that was zapped with a bit of Photoshop. Have a wonderful day, I am running late, Barry

Candle Cactus, Fences Made from Cactus, Curacao Cactus

barry — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:31:30 +0000

Hello friends, I had a request for some Curacao vegetation and thought these tall cactus would work just fine this morning. We have two types of Candle Cactus here in Curacao, one is called Subpilocereus repandus and the other seen here is called Ritterocereus griseus. The easiest way to tell them apart is Subpilocereus repandus starts out growing with a single trunk and branches out only when it reaches a certain height where as Ritterocereus griseus starts ramifying right from the ground level up. This cactus is called the “Kadushi” here on the island and is well known for growing long branches which can stretch for meters and meters into the air! The ribs are covered with areoles, each of which carries seven to thirteen strong spines. The creamy white to pinkish flowers only open at night and is mainly being pollinated by bats. The dark red fruit is round and covered in spines and once these are removed the fruit is edible. It is one of the preferred dishes of the yellow and black trupials and beautiful mockingbirds which are very apt in removing the spines. These cactus are mostly used here on the islands for building live fences around one’s property. They cut them all the same length, stand them up very close to each other (with the cut-off area in the dirt) and soon new roots grow and “presto” you have a fence that no one will be able to hop over, it’s very effective.

I had a very busy day at work yesterday, I think I did four or more dives and was in the water most of the day. We had customers at 1:00 but the rest of the morning and day was dedicated to the Canadian film crew who leave early this morning. After the dives at around 5:30 I raced to get to a wedding I had to shoot and finally made it home by 7:30, that was one busy day!

I need to get moving, are you finding the June issue of Sport Diver?? It’s out, you better grab it while you can. More soon, Barry

Blooming Candle Cactus, Caribbean Cactus, Curacao

barry — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:19:12 +0000

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

Curacao Cactus Flowers

barry — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:58:14 +0000

Cactus Flowers

Good evening friends, I was just reminded again that I never sent out a photo of the little flowers that grow out of these red spined barrel cactus we have here. I thought I sent you a picture, I’m sorry but I can’t remember? The hot pink flowers are very small as you can see and the thing in Aimee’s hand is a fruit of some kind that pops out of the top as well! It’s fairly common to see one or two flowers and this fruit pod. We never found more than four flowers on any given cactus and it seems they only bloom in the late afternoon, I never saw a flower in the mornings? This photo was taken a few months back the cactus now are very ugly looking and have lost their color maybe because of the lack of rain? So anyways those are the flowers that are associated with the cactus not the most photogenic flower out there.

It was another hot, windy, busy day at the Curacao Sea Aquarium. I noticed again today that the ocean current was really going out there and was glad I wasn’t diving would have been impossible to swim in. I just got home from a super fast 15 mile bike ride with a friend, we did two big race loops in an hour and a half, I am beat! Tomorrow I have to go to Pen Straat and do a dive for this resort that has again hired me to map their reef. They have 2 or 3 Elkhorn coral pieces that are stopping the building of this project. So we are going to mark them, photograph them and somehow find a way to either work around them or move them to a new area. I am hoping the ocean is calm enough to dive, I guess we will see in the morning!

I am off to bed, see you tomorrow, Barry

15-8-2009

Orange Blooming Barrel Cactus in Curacao

barry — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:56:37 +0000

Orange Cactus

Good evening friends of the blog how is everyone tonight?? I told you all recently that our cactus here are really starting to change colors due to the lack of rain and as you can see I wasn’t kidding! Have you ever seen an orange cactus before?? And it’s blooming, see the two tiny little pink flowers on top, cool huh? All the barrel cactus here have these tiny little flowers and they only seem to bloom in the late afternoon and into the evening, may have to check if they are still open at night? This was taken at Mangusa Point at Saint Joris, the wild sea’s of the North coast are straight ahead behind the cactus. See the tallest mountain in the back ground with the flat top to the left of the photo? Almost near the top is where I found that little kitten a few months back, how he got there we will never know but he sure has a great home now thanks to our dear friend Sorayda.

I had another uneventful day mostly because of two little puppies that seem to need constant attention? I took all the dogs for a walk this morning to the salt ponds trying my hardest to wear them out. It didn’t work?

I had a doctors appointment at 9:00. This was my final check-up before meeting next week with my eye doctor/surgeon and hopefully very soon get this cataract taken care of, it’s driving me crazy! I have a bunch of friends coming to visit in August, September and October so I need to be at my best and I may be going to the Dominican Republic this year with our best friend and mentor Tom but still haven’t found any reasonable flights from Curacao.

One of my Geocaches got robbed again because who ever last found it didn’t put it back the way they found it. I bought all new containers and log books for all my caches and will be checking on them all in the next few days, you can’t believe how many folks come here now to find them! For more info on this check out www.geocaching.com my Geo name is Didy Man if your searching for mine here in Curacao.

See you tomorrow, Barry

30-06-2009

Glowing Red Barrel Cactus in Curacao

barry — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:45:28 +0000

glowing-red-barrel-cactus

Good evening all, I just realized we have our dolphin fans, our bird lovers, and of course the underwater fanatics and now I have a big group of folks that just seem to love these cactus, so here’s another. Aimee found this one a few weeks ago, it is by far the most colorful one we have ever seen!! The night we found this we must have already looked at well over 500 cactus! When I heard Aimee yell for me to come over and check this one out I knew she had found a winner but never dreamed they can get this red! You know I have hiked all over the western States and never remember seeing barrel cacti with such red spines, but maybe I just wasn’t looking back then? You can see our grass is all drying up here now as well as the rest of the vegetation, summer is on the way. I still have a flower and fruit photo to show you as well from these, that will be on it’s way to you soon.

I just took a break and took the dogs to Saint Joris for their evening walk. To my horror I found the beaches to the west covered in uncooked chicken parts!! Yes some idiots dumped loads of expired chicken in the bay! So local dog walkers be warned, you sure don’t want them eating this stuff! The smell was awful!

That’s it in a nutshell, I worked all day so not much else going on. See you tomorrow, Barry

05-29-2009

Flowering Curacao Prickly Pear Cactus

barry — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:13:33 +0000

flowering-curacao-prickly-pear-cactus

Good evening family of friends how was the day? Mine of course was busy again, you know me no time to slow down. I took the camera and the guard dogs on a three hour hike thru the desert this morning looking for new things you might enjoy. Our good friend Joe in Rapid City asked about flowers on those barrel cactus and if I had ever seen any?? Unfortunately no was the answer but I am still looking. I did find this nice prickly pear flower this morning in full bloom with a little honey bee inside, thought that was pretty cool. These flowers you see here usually bloom in the morning and get eaten within hours! The lizards and iguanas love these things as well as countless other little creatures so when you see one around here shoot it fast because chances are when you pass by later it will be gone! Besides the cactus flower I found some tiny little mud crabs this morning, very hard to photograph and a new area full of really nice fossil shells eroding out of the wall, so lot’s of new pictures. The dogs ran and ran mostly just chasing each other and always on the lookout for those lizards that they will never catch, it’s just fun to watch!

At around noon I received a phone call from work asking if I wanted to go take photos from the helicopter but had to decline because of appointments I had to keep at my eye doctor, what a bummer. I spent a good part of my day doing un-fun errands what a major waste of time!

That’s about it for me today, Aimee just came home with some Chinese food, sweet and sour chicken, smells great! Many thanks for all the compliments on yesterdays photo, the hermit crab, it turns out it was a big hit! Till tomorrow, Barry

05-05-2009

Glowing Barrel Cactus in Curacao

barry — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:31:48 +0000

glowing-barrel-cactus

Good evening earthlings how was the weekend? I was off today and had planned on going diving but at the last minute my dive buddy canceled because of a severe cold. It’s funny when I think of catching a cold I always think of a cold area with freezing temps and being stuck inside, not here on this hot tropical island, it’s just not right!

I seem to be getting more and more requests for cactus photos than anything lately, heck you guys need to take a trip to the desert southwest you would love it!! And for those of you interested I know two great books you should run out and buy both done by my buddy and “photo mentor” Thomas Wiewandt. The first one is a little postcard book called Desert Rain/Desert Bloom ISBN#1-879728-00-1, I have a signed copy and the other a much bigger coffee table book “the perfect gift” is called The Southwest InsideOut ISBN# 9781879728042, if you love the west and all it has to offer wait till you see these! Your photo this evening is another beautiful glowing barrel cactus from the area around Saint Joris bay. I have found that morning is by far the best time to shoot these things with that nice warm glowing light, it really adds nice color to the spines.

Other than a mild hike with the dogs this morning it has been a fairly restful day, just what I needed! Many thanks to those of you who continue to keep in touch on a daily/weekly basis, you have no idea how much it means to us! Might go for a bike ride, talk to you tomorrow, Barry

05-03-2009