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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Islands + Inland’Sep 11, 10 Comments Off
Hello all, remember me? The last few days have been crazy! I lost my compact flash drive with all my pre-made and ready underwater photos, I can’t find it anywhere! I am thinking it fell out of a sweater pocket when I was taking it off but who knows!? Well let’s see, Thursday night I drove out to the airport and picked up Aimee who flew in for two weeks. After collecting luggage we had to stay in the airport for awhile due to an incredible thunderstorm that was dumping rain like you can’t imagine but after we all were treated to beautiful rainbows and the sound of chirping birds. I am still sick and yesterday went to a doctor who said I have some kind of lung infection and gave me some pills but so far they don’t seem to be doing much. Aimee and I spent yesterday shopping and driving around to see friends, it has been so much fun! In the afternoon we drove up to Hill City (about 25 miles from Rapid City) and spent the afternoon with our friend Neal Larson who is owner of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. Neal was great, he took us all over and gave us the grand tour, it’s really the most amazing place in South Dakota, I highly recommend this place on your next vacation to South Dakota. After that we met our friends Leon and Sheila at the World famous Alpine Inn steak house for dinner, it was fantastic and we all had a great evening. Aimee and I are now back up in Wyoming, we drove here early this morning. We will probably hang out on the ranch for a few days then head out fossil collecting starting on Monday. That’s about it in a nutshell. Here’s a beautiful Zinna with a little green spider sitting on top, one of the zillions of beautiful and cool things out here on the ranch. Talk to you all soon, Barry Sep 4, 10 Comments Off
Good morning friends, I am waking up in one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on planet Earth located in the upper right hand corner of Wyoming. Yesterday I arrived at my destination at around 8:30 and after a few hugs I immediately grabbed my camera and started shooting flowers that our friends have growing in their own prairie oasis! The garden these ladies have here is nothing short of spectacular, they should charge admission! So after an hour of running from one flower to the next I then took off on a fun afternoon of hiking the prairie on their ranch. I wish I could describe to you how quiet it was out there yesterday, no planes, no cars, no people, no nothing, just a gentle wind and the sound of my footsteps, it was great! I have told my friends from Curacao and Holland that you can stand at the top of any given hill here and look out in any direction and see nothing but land but I think that’s hard to believe unless you see it for yourself. I had a great day yesterday driving around in a jeep and collecting fossils and pretty much just singing to myself most of the day. In the evening I was treated to a dinner fit for a King with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn from their garden, yummy! The above flower is for my dear wife who is working hard in Curacao today, I sure wish you were here! The good news, my luggage arrived! Better late than never! See you tomorrow, Barry Jul 31, 10 Comments Off
!oacaruC morf olleH, That’s a big backwards Hello from Curacao for you all this fine evening! By request again and not from the same people, here are more “now blooming” Curacao Wildflowers. Again I shot these with my 105 macro so these are very small flowers! In fact the one at the top left, the whole cluster of flowers is the size of a pencil eraser! Most of these I found along the road and I am sure they are some kind of weed but boy are they ever beautiful! The top right is my newest re-shoot of those tiny starfish looking flowers which I just found the name for. They are called, Tournefortia Volubilis, ( Boraginaceae) Twining Soldierbush and the salmon colored flower at the bottom right both open when the sun hits them in the morning and close within two hours, that’s it! I saw a ton of the blue flowers this morning out in the desert like the ones in the left hand corner. This flower grows wild in big bushes and when blooming like they were this morning it’s quite a sight! I have found it close to impossible to get nice shots out in the wild as the wind is always blowing. For the orange starfish flower photo I first found a cluster I liked then gently cut it and stuck the cut end in a piece of dried wood that was on the ground and used my camera case as the background. I laid on my stomach in the dirt and blocked the wind with my body and thanks to my little tripod I was able to make it work, this is what we go thru for a single photo.
We are off to an employee party, see you all again tomorrow. If you find names for any of the flowers I have sent please let me know so I can update my web page.
See ya, Barry
Jul 11, 10 Comments Off
Good evening all, this one’s for Aimee tonight, this is her favorite flower called Frangipani or Plumeria. As the story goes, a year ago Aimee was walking around near Punda and passed some gardeners trimming a giant Frangipani Tree. She grabbed a freshly cut piece and brought it home and immediately placed it in water and set it in our kitchen window where it stayed for next two to three months until it finally had roots. Next we bought a big pot and planted it in fresh soil and placed it outside for the first time since she brought it home and weeks later it started to grow. It then stayed in the pot outside on our porch for the next few months until she finally asked the gardeners if they would plant it outside in our garden where it has been ever since. Because of all this rain it finally started to really grow and this week we had the first flowers! Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar. Plumeria is related to the Oleander, Nerium Oleander, and both possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia. Each of the separate species of Plumeria bears differently shaped alternate leaves and their form and growth habits are also distinct.
Well lets see, what’s going on? We all thought Holland would win the World Cup of Soccer today but Spain took home the gold, we have a whole lot of disappointed folks here tonight! Lance Armstrong is currently 12 minutes behind in the Tour de France and doesn’t think he will be able to make up that much time but may concentrate on a stage win instead. Big congrats to Andy Schleck for winning a very tough stage of the Tour de France today, he’s one of the top riders that comes to Curacao every year and we always end up running into him and his brother Frank.
I took the dogs to the beach this morning and bagged trash while they played and then spent the rest of the day at home on the computer. That’s about it gang, be back tomorrow, Barry
Jul 6, 10 Comments Off
Hi readers of the blog, welcome to another night of “what’s going on in Curacao”! Here’s a new flower I found today. We have a local book on the island called “Our plants and trees” where I found this information, “This comes from a flowering tree called, Cordia dentata, Clammy cherry, Lolbolly tree or White manjack. Here on the island of Curacao the locals call this Karawara or Karawara di Mondi and the Dutch call it just Karawara. This tree has oval-round leaves and are rough to the touch. When flowering it grows large umbels of small yellowish white flowers which is similar to the European elder. After the blooming period, large, white, glassy berries are formed on the flower stems. The contents of these berries are very sticky. Many birds are very fond of these fruits. The bare-eyed pigeon swallows the berries whole but smaller birds which peck at the berries get the sticky substance on their beaks and when trying to rub it off on some branch they usually drop seeds on the ground which in time will make new trees. The branches of this tree are being used as ribs in small boats and the locals here put the berries in drinking water to give it a fresh taste. Also the flowers can be put into a container of drinking water and drunk during the day to “refresh” the kidneys.”
This morning I took the dogs for a nice long walk without the camera and ended up seeing a bunch of cool stuff so the minute I got back home I grabbed the camera and went back out to re-find and shoot what I had seen earlier. We had a nice rain go over this morning and after it was dead calm making it a perfect time to shoot flowers. I back home again around 10:00 and it was hot and humid so after a shower I took for an afternoon of running errands and then spent the rest of the day on the Mac! At 5:00 I went for a fast one hour ride with some friends and came home very tired. That’s about it guys, puppies are still doing great, we are walking them so much every day that they have no time to even think about being bad!
Off to bed, have a wonderful Wednesday! Barry
Jun 28, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, I have had so many requests for more Curacao Wildflowers so here you go again. These are four more that I found either along side the road or out in the desert. The red one is the flower that I brought home from Sunset Waters yesterday and re-potted it and it’s doing great! Unfortunately I don’t have a clue what any of these are, possibly weeds?? If any of you have any time to surf the web or already know please send me a note and I will go back and label them all online. Many have asked me what is the secret to shooting flowers? Well really folks I am not a pro at flowers but am learning by trial and error. For these small wildflowers you first need a tripod that is a must! I am using a Nikon 105mm 2.8 macro lens but a 60mm would work nicely as well. If your shooting flowers in the wild you will need a calm morning or evening with zero wind, moving flowers are a nightmare to shoot. Find a flower with a nice background, just get on your knees and look behind it, the best backgrounds are typically dark so your flower really stands out. I shoot a lot of mine at around 250 F-14 using a slow rear flash on just about every shot, flash is very important and if the flower is moving a little this will help to keep it sharp. Normally I find if I shoot to low of an F-stop like F-5.6, thru F-8 the flower is not sharp enough, and if you go too much like F-22 your background will then start to become distracting, you just have to mess around with it and see the results for yourself. Go out right after a rain shower, that is the best time as you get all those tiny droplets on everything, it’s really beautiful. If you have any general questions I can help and if I don’t know the answer I bet I can find someone that does, good luck and most of all have fun!
It was an overcast day here in Curacao, it looked like it was going to rain almost all day but it never did although it looked like Venezuela was getting hit hard! I’m out, busy day tomorrow, Barry
Jun 22, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, I found the coolest little flower this morning that I have never seen here before, they look like individual little starfish?? They are called, Twining Soldierbush, or Tournefortia Volubilis, I shot this with my macro lens as the whole cluster of flowers was only about an inch tall, that’s tiny! From a distance they didn’t look like anything and I am not even sure what drew me close enough to look but I sure am glad I did. I only found them in one small area on the top of an open hill in a shaded area. It rained again all morning and it came down hard but seconds after it stopped I grabbed the camera and the dogs and we took off to see what new little treasures awaited us. We ended up hiking for about two and a half hours making a big loop out in the desert and moments after getting home it started to rain again! These flowers were the highlight of my walk although I did get some other really nice shots that will make great greeting cards for some lucky person down the road. If anyone can help me with a name for these please let me know so I can get them identified and labeled online. At 1:30 in the blazing heat and 100% humidity I went all the way back to the area were I found these new starfish flowers only to find all of them were closed up for the day like so many flowers here do, oh well will try again on Thursday.
Not much to report today, we are all inside hiding from the heat but I will probably go biking in a little while as the trails dry very fast here, there will only be mud in a few areas. Thanks again for all the great support, I have a fun little rock crab photo I will send tomorrow, one of the many other things I found this morning.
Have a wonderful day, Barry
Jun 21, 10 Comments Off
Hi guys, I was shocked today at how many folks liked the flowers from yesterday and seven people asked for more so here you go! I shot these along the trail tonight on my walk with the dogs although with me taking pictures there wasn’t much dog walking going on. It’s funny though, Inca will just stand next to me and keep guard never leaving my side but Indi is off constantly doing her own thing and I really have to keep a close eye on her as she eats everything. From left to right again, this first one is in the orchid family but for the life of me tonight I can not find the name, the 2nd one is Melochia tomentosa, Black Widow, Balsam, the 3rd is the cool seed pods from a tree called, Guaiacum officinale, Lignum Vitae, along with these seed pods the tree also has tiny purple and white flowers as well, the 4th is some kind of Sage, either Cordia curassavica, Black Sage or Croton flavens, Rock Sage, please if you know tell me right away so I can make corrections online. Most of our wildflowers in Curacao are small and you literally need to “stop and smell the roses as they say” you really have to slow down and look but once your eyes get trained it will open up a whole new World. I found out that many of these plants are used for medicinal reasons like the Black Widow, Balsam (photo 2). Tea, made from the leaves of this plant, is supposed to be an aid against anemia and to purify the blood. Also gargling with an extract of the root soothes a sore throat and was formerly considered the best medicine against high blood pressure. The Lignum Vitae tree (photo 3) produces wood which is extremely hard and in the shipping industry it is used in the making of pulleys. This wood when thrown into water will sink! And last (photo 4) Black Sage, an extract of the leaves seems to be helpful against diarrhea and menstrual pains, and the branches when tied together are still being used as brooms to sweep earthen floors.
I went to visit the puppies tonight they look great and are really growing, our little black male still needs a good home, hint, hint, hint!!! I am off to bed, have a great day tomorrow, over and out, Barry
Jun 20, 10 Comments Off
Hi friends, by request this evening we have some Curacao Wildflowers for your viewing pleasure. Today was pretty much non-stop rain but in-between downpours I rushed outside to photograph a few of the flowers. From left to right, 1st we have Antigonon leptopus, Coral Vine, Bride’s Tears, 2nd is called Jatropha gossypiifolia, Wild Physic Nut, Belly Ache Bush, 3rd I need help finding a name, (sorry) and the 4th is called Datura metel, Prickly Burr, Devil’s Trumpet. I shot these in the field behind the new Dolphin Suites Hotel at the Sea Aquarium. Today I spotted at least 30 different little flowers that have popped up out of nowhere from all this rain and I bet tomorrow there will be even more as it’s still coming down. I did manage to get the dogs out for a two hour walk in the mud from 4:30-6:30, it was so humid but at least we were able to get out and do something. I carried a rake with me tonight and ended up cleaning up some of the trails that got used in last weeks big race, if I don’t do it no one will and besides it’s good exercise. Not much to report today, it’s rainy and very quiet, it was a nice relaxing day! Thanks again for all the great notes we loving hearing from you! Off to bed, Barry
Jun 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
May 8, 10 Comments Off
Hi Friends, I first want to send a big warm hug to my mom in Tucson, Arizona and wish her a “Happy Mothers Day”!! I unfortunately don’t get to see my mom or friends much as we are so far away on what seems like another planet at times!! My mom who’s name is Joy, is one of about four people on the list that replies to almost every blog I send out and should get a medal for that alone!! I have tried and tried to get her to come down here and visit but she is just not an “outside girl” but makes up for it by sending us goodies and being my number one fan with constant support filled with compliments. So momma, even though we never get to see you thanks for everything you do!! And for all my other mothers out there I wish you the best on your special day as well and hope the men in your lives didn’t forget or drop the ball!!
Aimee and I are still struggling with the puppies, yes they are cute and cuddly but man-o-man are they ever a lot of work!! Aimee gets up every night now at 1:00am and takes them for a walk outside and then again at 5:00, she usually goes to work half asleep and in a daze!! Please help us with a home for the two black ones, the pictures can be seen on the www.coralreefphotos.com site so send your friends there to check them out, the brown puppy is taken.
Once again, Happy Mothers Day to all and to all a good night!! Love, Barry and Aimee
Oct 3, 09 Comments Off
 Cycad Good evening all, something a little different for you all tonight. With all the rain we had a week ago our plants around the house as well as the whole island are all sprouting new growth! This is a Cycad we have in the back yard and this morning before I left I quickly stood on something tall and shot straight down into the center of all it’s new growth! The wind was really blowing causing the upper leaves to move but ended up giving it a cool look, stare at it too long and you will think you have had to much to drink! I know kind of strange but it’s something different for a change!
No word again about our car. After work I raced to the garage but to my disappointment they were closed! I could see our car inside and I yelled to it saying “everything’s going to be alright, mommy and daddy still love you”! I waited but heard no answer?
It looked like it was going to rain all day but nothing, maybe something will come in tonight? So my plan tomorrow is to walk the dogs from the house to the trail head with my bike and get them out for some exercise, it’s been two very boring days for them!!
I did a fun snorkel today with our beautiful dolphin trainer Zenzi, I will send you a photo tomorrow. Time for bed, see ya, Barry
3-10-2009
Aug 15, 09 Comments Off
 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
Jun 30, 09 Comments Off
 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
May 29, 09 Comments Off
 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
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