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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Water Sports + Recreation’Jan 26, 12 Comments (0)
Good morning from the Caribbean! Well guess what, I am for once on the cover of a magazine!! The newest issue, soon to be released will have a photo of yours truly doing what I do everyday, taking pictures underwater of our new mini-submarine, pretty cool huh? For those of you wanting a copy, you will have to go to their website http://www.dykking.no and request or buy a copy direct from them, I am not sure if we will get any copies in Curacao but I hope they send a few. Inside this issue is a great write-up about the sub “if you can read it” and I have other photos inside as well including a shot with the two gentlemen that came down to do the story. The Norwegian sports-diving magazine DYKKING (which means Diving) is Norway’s only dive magazine, published since 1983, with six issues a year. The majority of Norway’s 30.000+ divers read DYKKING on a regular basis. DYKKING is now also sold in Sweden, distributed by Interpress, Sweden’s largest magazine and newspaper distributor. The magazine takes pride in presenting well-researched articles, accompanied by an extensive use of high quality images. DYKKING is printed entirely in color, on high quality paper with a glossy cover. So I guess it’s like they say, “famous for a day” or in the case 60 days as they only print 6 issues a year!
Aimee and I both had a very busy day at work yesterday and decided to relax in the evening by going to the movies! We went to see the second “Sherlock Holmes”, it was good but not as good as the first one but still we had a great time!
That’s about it, running a bit late this morning, have a wonderful day!!!! Barry
Dec 22, 11 Comments Off
Good evening readers!! Well, we came home today to find that our faithful DELL Computer of 10 years has finally DIED! So now I have no way to send out this blog as an e-mail anymore to those of you out there that have been receiving it direct to your doorstep each and every day! I tried everything I could think of here at the house to fix it but it seems to be permanently down and out but I will keep trying. Today was a day of rain, rain, rain! At 1:00 as planned we launched the sub in the water and out we went onto a very dark reef to celebrate our 500th dive with our new Mini-Sub. Aimee was our photographer and as you can see did a great job with taking our group photo today, I am so proud of her! Inside the sub are the four pilots we currently have, poor little Barbara at the bottom, Bruce on the left, Rob on the right and Michiel at the top, he was driving! On the outside it’s me and Dutch and of course Aimee took the photo, cool huh?? It’s so funny how tall I look, that’s a 10.5-2.8 fish-eye lens for you, it plays tricks on the mind! You would never know this was taken at 1:00 in the afternoon, it was so dark because of the overcast skies and rain on top! At 5:00 there was a big party inside with a cake the size of Texas but because of so much to do at home I couldn’t stay. Well, sorry so short, hope your week is going well and your getting all your Christmas shopping done early, I still need to buy a few more things and wrap everything! More tomorrow, Happy Holidays, Barry Oct 16, 11 Comments Off
Good evening readers, what a weekend I had! When I got to work on Friday we were told that for the 11:00 sub dive we would have two VIP’s joining us. Over the years we have learned that if it’s hush-hush and the words VIP are used it could be anyone from the Queen herself to Tom Cruise. At 10:30 two cars pulled up and out walks Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven, the Queens Sister and brother in law! How cool is that?? To make a really long story short, they had a fantastic sub-dive and I got some really fun shots of them underwater in the sub and they both left surrounded by security with smiles on their faces. The next day I met them both again for a private dolphin swim and was asked to take their photos, heck you don’t have to ask me twice! Again they had a great time and after getting their photos they again took off under a curtain of security and I thought that was that! Not so. I got a call Saturday evening saying that Pieter would like to join us for the dolphin dive we had planned for Sunday morning and of course I said great! This morning Pieter showed up right on time at 8:15 with his security detail and off we all went to the entry/exit area and got our gear ready for the dolphin dive with Tela and Pasku. Now this was no ordinary “open ocean dolphin dive”, today we were joined by ten handicapped veterans from the gulf war! They are here doing a week of diving and you will be seeing this footage soon on CBS, in fact Aimee shot the video today that you will see on television soon. So at around 9:00 Pieter and I along with his security and joined by Dutch and Aimee took off out to the reef to meet the veteran divers that arrived by boat and were already underwater. The photo below is of the veteran divers and Tela and Pasku swimming around trying hard to introduce themselves to all the divers. While this was going on our little group was over to the left of this photo just kind of observing from a distance, we really didn’t want to intrude on this very special dive. We stayed for around 10 minutes and then took off, I think Pieter did get to touch Pasku as he passed by but we were more there just to observe and then get out. We ended up swimming or diving all the way back to the substation underwater. It was a great dive and I was really impressed by how well Pieter did underwater, he was like a Master diver! I will have to ask permission to use one of his photos, I did get a really nice one of him as he posed above a sea fan for me. So in the end we all made it back to Substation and exited with “air to spare”, that’s always a good thing! Once out Pieter quickly rinsed his gear and with a big hug and a hand shake we said our final goodbyes! Honestly, what a nice guy, truly one of the finest individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, a real ambassador to Holland!! I sure hope he comes back to Curacao soon, I think it’s safe to say that he left a very positive mark on everyone he met and he will be missed! At 2:00 I delivered all the photos I shot underwater and at 3:30 left on the bike for a long two and half hour bike ride, I was beat when I got home!
That’s my weekend, what is new in your World?? Off to bed, Barry
Jun 15, 11 Comments Off
Hey Gang, Aimee and I just got home from watching all 75 Sunfish sailboats enter the Willemstad harbor at the same time! Crowds of people lined the waterfront on both sides in preparation for the arrival of these cool little sailboats and at around 4:00 they descended into the harbor like a swam of bees, it was so beautiful! It was kind of a game of follow the leader, I was more hoping they would be massed together for a more impressive shot but they came in and left in small groups as you see here. That’s our Bruce (sub pilot) in number 4117 and his dad was just behind him out of the photo. This was such a quick event, it only lasted around 10 minutes! All they did was sail in past the famous floating bridge, turn around and sailed right back out to sea! These Sunfish racers spend a good part of the day out in the middle of the ocean racing around a marked course and many days they are so far out that we can hardly see them. Twenty years ago in 1991 was the 1st time this race was held in Curacao, it was then called the Kodak Sunfish World Championships. This is the second time it has been held here and no one knows when or if it will be held here again so it’s a pretty special event.
Curacao was lucky enough to get a nice little rain shower today, it was short but sweet! Aimee took the dogs and her bike to the North coast this morning and had a great morning adventure while I went in and dove with the sub. Sorry so short but that’s what is going on with us! See you all again soon, Barry
Jun 11, 11 Comments Off
Good morning readers, we have a big event happening at this moment right next to the Substation, it’s called the Sunfish World Championships. The boats are all the same size and completely powered by the wind making each and every craft the same. I found these “10 commandments of racing rules”, as put together by ISAF President, I’m completely confused reading these but here they are in all their glory;
Here is their website for anyone wanting more info http://www.sunfishworlds2011.com/ The boats have been racing now for the past few days and once a race starts they don’t come back to shore for quite a few hours. I also found out the finish line is way out there, like a mile from shore so the boats we see coming and going are either on their way to the starting line or have already finished. I heard that next week there will be around 70 plus competitors, that should make for some great photos!! It’s 5:00am here, I have to take our guests to the airport in 30 minutes so I wanted to get this out first. I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful they have been and we will truly miss these two when they leave. Have a wonderful weekend, more later, Barry Apr 9, 11 Comments Off
Good evening friends, it’s day over for me! I took the dogs and our puppy for a two hour walk this morning and then went into work for an afternoon of diving alongside the mini-sub. Jonny and I were still on a high most of the day after our wild night dive last night with the sub. We all met last evening at the Substation at around 6:30 and by 7:15 we were on our way. Jonny and I were on the boat with our dive gear ready to go as we followed the sub from the Substation to the tugboats, which took around 15 minutes. The ocean was pitch dark but we could see a faint light below us as the sub made it’s way to the tugs traveling at around 175 feet. Once the sub arrived on the tugs they called us via radio and said “we are here, come on down”!! The boat was far from shore, no coral reef in sight, just clear dark water and a faint glow below us. I was the first in, and after I got my mask cleared Jonny handed me my camera, then he rolled in and after a few minutes of hanging out under the boat making sure the camera was good to go, down we went! We both turned off our lights and swam head first as fast as we could towards the glow of the sub, it was so unbelievably cool I can’t even find words to describe it! Yes we could have turned on lights but we both just knew it would be more fun without them as we had a fixed point to head to. The swim down took around two minutes and every foot we swam the sub got clearer and clearer until finally at 149 feet we were stopped and face to face with a two million dollar mini sub and it’s smiling passengers. The clock was now ticking, we had three minutes to take care of business so I shot away trying my best to light up the scene you see below. The tugs are absolutely beautiful at night, the top of the cabin was outlined in open Orange Cup Corals and encrusting sponges and corals in every shape and color. Jonny was a great help, he kept the jellyfish out my face and helped me light the tug so I could focus. At this depth in the middle of the night it’s great to have a dive buddy watching your back and Jonny did a great job, he even carried a smaller bottle of air just in case we were to have any problems. After three minutes I swam up to the front of the big dome and waved goodbye. “That’s it folks” I said to myself, we then slowly left the sub and entered the darkness of the reef looking back every few seconds as the sub slowly disappeared into the darkness. Meter by meter we slowly made our way back searching the reef for anything and everything we could find and finally stopping in 15 feet of water for our last few minutes to decompress, it was a great dive!!
It’s late, have a wonderful weekend, Barry
Apr 2, 11 Comments Off
Good evening readers, how is your weekend going?? We normally don’t hear from too many of you on the weekends so we assume all is good. Some one requested a photo of the inside of the sub and I thought I sent that out months ago but apparently not, my bad! So this is the inside of our new five person, two million dollar sub, it’s small but very cozy! Manu was my model Captain for this shot, (seen here in his bright Rasta colored shorts) this is where the pilot sits. The whole sub is controlled by this one person sitting right in the middle, it’s like a big expensive video game that you sit in. Surrounding the pilot are state of the art on board sonar’s, life support screens that are constantly monitored and small high tec movie screens on all three sides showing live images of what is out in front of the sub at all times an in living color. Two passengers sit in the back as you see here and each has his or her own port hole to look of. The other two lucky passengers get what we call, “the best seats in the house”, those are seen here on either side of Manu and for these seats you get to lay flat on your stomach and just enjoy the ride of your life! During each sub dive the pilot is communicating with a boat on the surface via radio. They relay valuable life support information or report a cool find to the surface and that info is immediately recorded and checked on board the boat. The sub is run completely on rechargeable batteries and is capable of running non-stop for up to 6 hours. Everyone entering the sub is given socks to wear so we can keep this baby as clean as possible. You can bring your own cameras or video equipment, we have bottled drinking water on board but we advise you not to drink anything because there is no restroom, although we do have bags if worse comes to worse!
Keep the weekend going friends!! Barry
Mar 17, 11 Comments Off
Hi friends, for any of you who have ever wondered what sub pilots do on their free time I have the answer, they go wakeboarding! This is Bruce, one of our mini-sub pilots flying high in the sky out in front of the substation a few days ago when the ocean was so calm! It seems like our whole clan at the Substation is into this sport and I can see I will eventually have to hand over the camera and jump in and try it myself! For those of you still not clear about just what is going on here, it’s almost the same as waterskiing except you have just one big ski and of course your being pulled behind a boat a top speed! As you can also see, Bruce is in great shape along with the rest of our crew, everyone either surfs, bikes, dives or does the wakeboarding just to name a few activities, we all take our free time very seriously!!
Well, I am off to Bonaire tomorrow, be watching the www.coralreefphotos.com site, I will post something every night. Thanks for all the great letters, you all are great! See ya, Barry
Mar 10, 11 Comments Off
Hi readers, I had a few folks asking about how these cool air rings are created and I found a little info for you, hope it helps. For those of you who have no idea what the word Poloidally means (like myself) take a second and read that as well, it might make things easier. A bubble ring, or ring bubble, is an underwater ring vortex where an air bubble occupies the core of the vortex, forming a ring shape. The ring of air as well as the nearby water spins poloidally http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toroidal_and_poloidal as it travels through the water, much like a flexible bracelet might spin when it is rolled on to a person’s arm. The faster the bubble ring spins, the more stable it becomes. Bubble rings and smoke rings are both examples of vortex rings. And for you Physics minded folks, air bubbles in water having diameters greater than about two centimeters quickly become rings because water pressure increases with depth. Higher pressure water below the bubble overcomes the surface tension of the sphere, punching a hole in the centre to create a ring shape.
This is our buddy Manual again who unfortunately had to return back to his home in Chile today but will return in November and stay for a much longer time. Manu as we call him and Jonny are both kids that have been raised in the sea and can do things underwater that most of us can only dream of. For instance, Jonny is a free-diver and can dive down to almost 100 feet by just holding his breath!! Yeah, is that crazy or what?? Manu, seen here also was so comfortable underwater. He and Jonny dove rapeaditaly down to me and just waited for the ring that Bart was blowing to get big enough and then with an OK from me they would pose or swim thru each one, and this was 20-30 feet deep!! I think the photo kind of speaks for itself as far as the look on his face and showing us all how easy holding your breath can be if your trained to do it, and folks it’s way harder than these guys make it look.
Just got home from another fast ride with Super-Stijn! This kid is improving daily and soon this o’l man won’t be able to touch him anymore, he’s really got talent and getting fast!
Off to bed, have a great Friday, Barry
Mar 9, 11 Comments Off
He’s back!!! To the surprise of us all, our friend Bart “the undisputed Ring Blowing Master” showed up on our doorstep this week and of course my first question was, “can I shoot you making the rings again”?? He said yes if I have time, he is here mainly to visit a very sick friend in the hospital who most likely won’t make it thru the week. So yesterday he showed up with his lovely wife and two cute kids at around 1:00 and said, “lets go make some rings” and upon hearing that I franticly raced around getting my camera ready and setting up dive gear, I tried to hurry in case he changed his mind or something else came up. So within minutes we were both on our way side by side heading down to 100 feet, that’s where I wanted to start. My first plan was for him to blow a big ring and follow it up a few feet and swim thru it but this request was harder than first imagined. When he makes the rings they first start out small and get bigger and bigger as they rise but is you have current, surge, or any other interference they just won’t work. ( I was also told that the rings rise thru the water column at around 30 feet per minute.) So what we did was I hovered above him at 15 feet, he would blow a ring and while still holding his breath he would leave his tank on the bottom and swim up and under the ring sometimes close to 15-20 feet from his tank, meaning once I took the photo he then would have to swim back down and take a breath off his own tank! This guy is amazing folks, he should have his own show in Vegas in a big tank!! We did this over and over until finally the swimming back down to get a breath was not an option so once I shot the photo with him and the ring, he would just grab my spare air since it was right there and we were so far away from his tank. Yeah, the things we do to get a photo!! Next we moved up to 60 feet where he once again laid in the sand and started blowing rings, but this time I had him blow as many as he could in one breath which was more than I could count! As I shot away my school of Boga’s noticed the rings and immediately swam over to investigate. Folks, this was one of the coolest things I had ever seen underwater, the fish came over (hundreds of them) and started playing with the rings, they loved it! In some of my photos all you see is a school of blue Boga’s, with a few rings, you can’t even see Bart, they kind of buried him!! The school was just inches above him and around 10 feet below me, we did this over and over until I signaled Bart that I was almost out of air! Unfortunately I had to surface so what we did was both get out and strap on new tanks and just go right back out but this time we were joined by Manu (seen here) a friend from South America, Jonny the Lionfish hunter, Bart’s wife Karen and his son Alex. This time Bart laid in 20-30 feet of water blowing rings for the snorkels on the surface who one by one waited for the ring to grow and rise to the surface and then swim thru them while trying hard not to break them, it was super cool! We did this for close to forty minutes until I gave the OK signal saying I think we are good, I photographed everyone swimming thru the rings over and over and figured I had at least one good shot of each person. Shooting these rings proved to be very difficult, I think it’s one of the first times I have shot into the sun which creates all kinds of underwater photo problems just like on land. Our dive ended with a whole lot of happy folks exiting the water, I mean just getting to watch the master create these aqua wonders is one thing but getting to swim thru them and get your photo taken is another, big thanks again Bart, we wish you were here more often!
Running late, had a fun bike ride last night with Super-Stijn and today he will be coming to do a ride in the sub, fun day ahead! By all, Barry
Mar 7, 11 Comments Off
Good morning readers, welcome to the Best Windsurf Place in the World! Bonaire’s #1 shop is world-famous “Bonaire Windsurf Place” www.bonairewindsurfplace.com and is the only locally owned and operated windsurf shop. Located on the windward side of the island known as Sorobon, at Lac Bay. At Sorobon, the water is shallow and warm, with steady trade-winds, and a beautiful beach – perfect conditions for catching some wind in your sails and claiming the freedom of the water, but in a sheltered, safe area. One of our assignments in Bonaire was for Aaron our writer and Jen his wife to visit the “Bonaire Windsurf Place” and not only interview some of the best wind surfers in the World but to take lessons and give it a try. For me this could not have been better, I got to sit in the shade with my tripod and a 300mm lens and shoot away while sipping on a cold Coke. Aaron and Jen immediately left and first took some lessons on the beach then headed out to try their skills on the water, this is Jen here on the smallest board about to get passed at high speed by some of the locals. I must say I laughed till it hurt watching those two out there on the water fall time after time and then manage to climb back on! First I kept thinking, “I am so glad that’s not me out there” and second, these two are in killer shape and have great balance and look at how much trouble they are having, this is one of those sports that looks easier than it really is. While there Aaron interviewed one of the top kids in the World and later in the afternoon he pulled out his board and proceeded to show us how it was really done, I must say I left there with a lot of respect. Bonaire is currently home to many of the best windsurfers in the World and as you drive around Bonaire you will see their faces on giant billboards everywhere! I had another great day off yesterday. I first took the hound dogs and as many tools as I could carry to the Calabash trail and finally re-designed one of the downhill’s that got destroyed after our long season of non-stop rain! I was out there for around three and a half hours walking and working but knew this would make a big difference on my next ride. So at 4:30 I took off on my bike and finally got to ride on the new stuff I spent the weekend working on, I must say it was worth the trouble.
Well it’s now 6:00am I got up at 5:00 just to get this out. The puppy is really having a hard time, she just can’t stop scratching and has no hair on half her body, poor little thing!
See you tonight, have a great day! Barry
Jan 21, 11 Comments Off
Good morning all, our first bit of news this morning is that we have a new puppy!! Yep, the neighbors heard a puppy in a big wood pile a few days ago and then with a whole lot of work managed to get it out. It is a small black female, very scared, very skinny, skin problems, worms, fleas etc, etc… She is currently hiding in our house in a box and is ever so slowly making friends with Aimee but not me yet. This poor little thing was holding on to life by a thread but after a visit to the doctor and the help of CARF again she may have a chance, will keep you posted.
Our buddy Bernard arrives tonight and his girlfriend Rosa arrives tomorrow night so we have guests again in the house, we can hardly wait!!
Here is another fun picture of “Bart the Air Ring Blowing Master” at 100 feet admiring his own work. He first laid at 100 feet, blew this perfect air ring, got up off the sand and followed it up towards the surface. As the air ring rises, it gets bigger and bigger, our plan in March is to have someone swim thru one for a cool photo and do some underwater video.
I did a nice dive yesterday and photographed all the corals in front of the Sea Aquarium as a coral bleaching progress photo. I shot them a month ago but couldn’t remember which ones I did yesterday so I just shot them all, most are recovering nicely!
I better get to work, lots to do today, have a wonderful day, Barry
Jan 18, 11 Comments Off
Good evening friends, I came home from work Friday and told Aimee, “if blowing air rings was an Olympic event, then I just met the World Champion”!!! This is our buddy Bart, I would tell you his last name but most of you Americano’s wouldn’t be able to pronounce it anyways, I know we can’t! Bart who is a dive master/instructor started diving in 1985 and remembers the good o’l days of warm, beautiful reefs full of fish and great visibility but now dives in what he calls “anything fluid”. His company is called www.uwmarine.com and they, “are you sitting down”, specialize in diving in nuclear power plants, sanitary sewers, chemicals, water towers, or anything that holds water, the list is long. At nuclear power plants these crazy folks dive to depths of 130 feet and do regular cleaning. inspections and maintenance! We all have those giant water towers in our towns and cities, these are the folks that go inside those tanks, which are filled with water or whatever and do everything necessary to keep those towers and the contents safe for you and me. He told me story after story of some of the worst things he had to dive in, my mind just has a hard time imagining such things! So back to Mr. Air-Ring maker, my first question was, “how do you do it”? The Master said, “you first find a nice place to lay on your back and of course without hurting the reef”. Second he takes a long drag or breath of air from his regulator and then one by one lets them go like puffs of smoke from an old train, it is so cool! And folks, this is hard to do, he has been doing this for years and has lots of practice, please I do not advise any new divers trying this, keep your regular in your mouth! He told me the air starts out as a single bubble but the water flowing around the outside immediately shoots up thru the center creating a ring. The stability of the ring comes from the water continuing to flow around the outside, underneath and up through the center, it’s something you have to see to believe! So for a man who was born in Curacao and now lives in the States I think he is doing pretty well and is very talented, I will be sending more shots soon, so like always keep checking back.
I had a very busy day of taking pictures of all kinds of different things and ended up missing my bike ride at 5:00, will try and make up for that tomorrow. Off to bed, later, Barry
Jan 5, 11 Comments Off
Good morning all, believe it or not it is still raining in Curacao! Yep, and not just a little a whole lot! The absolute worst part of all this rain is the amount of run-off that is flowing into the sea and yesterday was one of the worst days I have seen. In front of our house we have a large recently dug canal that takes all the mud and dirt, raw sewage, trash and heaven only knows what else from a very large part of Curacao and channels it directly out to sea! Normally it makes it way out very slowly but yesterday with that big rain it got flushed out like you can’t imagine and within minutes the ocean out in front of Breezes Hotel and Mambo Beach was completely brown! We all watched from work as George and Tom from Dolphin Academy went down in a boat to take some water samples, these guys are putting together a report for the Government that will be presented to them soon on just how bad this is for tourism and one’s health. After the rain stopped and the sun came back out people on the beach came out of hiding and returned to the water completely unaware of what they were swimming in?? The Hotels and local beaches are too afraid to tell the people to get out of the water as they do not want to loose business, yet their customers are out swimming in raw sewage, nice huh? Because of this we also had to pull the sub out of the water as well, it took around 45 minutes for that water to reach us and when it did everything turned to “you know what”, good thing we got our two dives in before hand.
So other than that we did have two great sub dives yesterday, the water WAS super clear! For those of you asking about the school of Boga’s they are still there and growing in numbers every day. Coral Bleaching is still trying to heal itself from one of the worst seasons of warm water since we have been here but every dive I make it’s looking better.
Aimee is off today, she is meeting with the owners of the puppies we found this morning and doing a long overdo walk with them, that should be really fun! I better get to work, bye now, Barry
Dec 30, 10 Comments Off
Hey gang, how was your day? Mine was pretty fun, we did a sub dive with some VIP’s (actors from Holland) and that went great, I think everyone including myself had a great time. Our lagoon where our sub comes in and out was filled with these strange jellyfish today, needless to say I wore a full wetsuit and got in and out of the water very quickly. The visibility today was pretty good, better than it has been in a long time which made taking pictures so much easier and the dive in general more exciting. The coral bleaching is still bad but much of it is getting better and better by the day. The Lionfish problem continues but many of my friends are starting to help and like they say “it’s never too late to start.
Everyone is busy getting ready for the crazy New Years celebration, it’s been non-stop fireworks for the last few days now, day and night! Aimee and I plan on hiding here at the house because the dogs especially Inca has become a total freak in her old age, I guess we have a lot in common huh??
Here’s another fun photo of the coolest, most fun mini-submarine two million dollars can buy!! I was hiding under a big gorgonian kind of spying on the sub thru this coral garden when it passed by with two smiling ladies in the front! You can see how our reef drops straight down, it’s such an amazing wall making it perfect for passengers in the sub to just look out and enjoy the view.
Sorry so short, feeling a bit tired tonight. See you tomorrow, Barry
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