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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Pets + Domestic Animals’Dec 10, 09 Comments Off
 Christmas Kitty 09 X-Mas Card Good evening friends! Who remembers the tiny little kitten I found in the middle of the desert this year?? For those of who don’t remember or are new to the blog I found the smallest little kitty on the top of big rocky hill near the ocean in the middle of nowhere! The dogs went crazy when we first heard the meowing but instantly helped me flush the kitty out of a big mound of cactus and overgrown brush. Seconds later out popped this beautiful little homeless kitten and without a second thought I opened my big camera bag and carefully placed him inside for the long walk back to the car! Needless to say I had two dogs stuck to me like glue the whole way back to the car and were basically going crazy from the non-stop meowing coming from by bag. We immediately rushed him to the vet but to our surprise he was in pretty good health. Then over the course of a few weeks Aimee fed him powdered milk thru a syringe and then he gradually started eating on his own. I can’t remember how long we had him but as you can see I made good use of our new family member and photographed him constantly in all kinds of fun positions and figured why not use him for our Christmas card this year! Well the story has a great ending, my friend and co-worker Sorayda came by one evening to see him and it was love at first sight and he has been with her and her husband ever since and is now named Mundi for where he was found. Here in Curacao Mundi means the desert, the name just fits. Most of you who know me know I am not a big cat fan but this little guy stole our hearts, we enjoyed every minute with him and we are so thankful he got a great home, he’s one lucky cat!
We had a pretty busy day today, Aimee and I took the dogs to Saint Joris for a nice walk something we haven’t done together for a long time. It was so hot and windy by 10:00 that we were forced to go home. At 2:30 I did a dive down near Punda at the site of the new proposed Pen Resort Hotel. I was hired to take two VIP’s on a tour of the reef and show them the important corals that will need to be protected during the building of a new breakwater project. Most breakwater’s around Curacao are built will gigantic stones that are dumped into the water but this one will be done with steel making it safer and maintenance free and there should be far less damage to the reef during installation.
Well once again I just want to thank everyone who came to visit us this year for bringing needed supplies and gifts to us, it’s like Christmas six times a year!! Aimee and I also want to thank all our friends for all the help in the past and present helping to make our lives what they are today, we have countless friends that have done so much for us and we will never forget it. This year went by so fast and I still can’t believe I never got a vacation?? Yeah I know I live on a Caribbean island and I don’t need a vacation right?? We hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!
Sunny Curacao regards, Barry, Aimee, Inca, Indi, Nila and Mundi!
Oct 31, 09 Comments Off
 Rufo in the rain Good evening boys and girls how was you Halloween day?? Our day here started at 4:30 in the morning! Our friends Zenzi and Ester came by at 5:00 and took Aimee to the airport, all three girls are headed to the IMATA conference in Atlanta. So I am on my own again for a week, will have to start getting up earlier just to get everything done in time.
Today we got hammered by a tropical downpour that dumped so much water in such a short time we had to cancel all our afternoon dolphin swims due to yucky water! When it rains like it did today everything runs into the sea causing very poor surface water conditions! While it was raining or should I say pouring someone inside yelled “look at poor Rufo”! Well poor Rufo was having a blast! He would open his mouth and drink water plus spread his wings open getting a super full body shower!! I shot this from a window, it was raining so hard I couldn’t get near him without getting soaked. After the rain stopped he just sat there in a daze a little bit like he was cold so I picked him up and dried him the best I could.
After work I took the hound dogs on a muddy one hour walk and a fun swim in the ocean. The ocean was like a lake tonight so the dogs had such a great time swimming and are now fast asleep! The frogs are sure making noise tonight, it’s time for bed, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
31-10-2009
Oct 30, 09 Comments Off
 Happy Halloween Good evening friends. I spent the evening looking thru tons of pictures trying to find some kind of a scary face for Halloween but all I found was this “Happy Face” photo from Inca. I mean if you didn’t know Inca and you saw this coming at you full speed it could be seen as scary right?? Well Happy Halloween anyways I tried!
Aimee and I both worked today so not much to report. I did go on a fast one hour bike ride directly after work and then raced home and took the dogs for a very short walk returning in the dark.
Bad news for the local reef system tonight, Lionfish have just been found for the first time in Bonaire and in Curacao this week at the dive site Watamula. Lionfish are not supposed to be here and can and will do great harm as they are ferocious hunters and eating machines!! Divers are being told to immediatly report any sightings or carefully catch them and take them to the Sea Aquarium or contact me and I will help any way I can. It would appear that a cloud of larvae carried by the ocean currents passed by the windward islands recently, out of which the larvae settled when they found the sea bottom within reach. It is likely then that hundreds of juvenile Lionfish are now living around the islands. Because they can live down to depths of 150m (500 ft) or more we will never see most of them, only those that end up relatively shallow, like the three that have now been reported.
Aimee leaves early tomorrow morning for her trip to the States, it’s going to be an interesting week. Gotta run, have a safe Halloween, Barry
Sep 25, 09 Comments Off
 Faya Hey gang, for weeks and weeks now we have been getting requests for a recent photo of baby Raven or as she is now called Faya. So tonight we finally met with her new parents Frank and Marja at Saint Joris right after work for a much overdo reunion! It was so great to finally get to see her again, we have been putting this meeting off for so long. Indi was a bit rough with her, Inca was Inca which means she really wasn’t that excited about the whole deal but hey that’s her loss! We did a long walk down to the point on Punta Mangusa where we took this photo with Aimee’s camera, I brought mine but forgot to put the card in?? So for all of you that have been asking how’s Raven doing, I think the photo speaks for itself, she is one lucky little puppy who has a great home. I told Frank tonight we will try hard and get the dogs together more on friday evenings it’s good bonding for them all.
For all of you who liked the Mating Squid photo I sent out a few weeks back you can now cast a vote on it if you are so inclined at www.underwaterphotography.com/photo-contest/Default.aspx?CT=10&ID=46709 This is one of the top underwater sites in the World and you the viewers can help be the judges, you can also click on underwater photo contest, then type in my name and it should come up as well. Many Thanks!!
Also it seems I get more people finding me on Facebook then any other place so here’s the link to that as well, www.facebook.com/home.php#/barry.b.brown?ref=name It’s been great hearing from old friends that I thought were gone forever, thus the magic of Facebook I guess? And again the few photos I have on Facebook are tiny for a reason. If I make them any bigger they can easily be copied and or become the property of Facebook that’s why I just made little thumbnails for you all, if you want to see the bigger ones check out our daily blog at www.coralreefphotos,com or www.wildhorizons.com
I am still trying to fight an in-coming sickness, I have a little sore throat now and had a pretty hard day at work. Have a great evening, thanks for your notes, Barry
25-9-2009
Jul 26, 09 Comments Off
 Brave Heart Final Brave Heart Died just a few hours ago, we just got back from burying her in the desert under a big beautiful tree! We will miss her so much!! Keep her in your prayers, Barry and Aimee
26-07-2009
Jul 20, 09 Comments Off
 Two Island Dogs Good evening once again from Curacao! I always tell you all that we find all kinds of things washed ashore each morning but never imagined we would find a boat?? This had just recently found it’s way to shore overnight and of course Indi had to be the first to check it out!! On the other side of the boat there was a nice little entry way which I didn’t see at first. I was taking photos of the boat when up pops Indi and then to my surprise Brave Heart climbs up, I’m not sure Indi is setting a very good example?? Well once aboard I had a hard time getting them out as the whole thing must have smelled like “fresh catch of the day”, all three of them were busy licking the inside floor boards.
Aimee and I both got off work early today and took the dogs to the “dog beach” for an afternoon of fun in the hot sun! Little Brave is such a great swimmer! I think having those big ears helps as they act like small sails, really we couldn’t get her out of the water. Indi as well swam and swam but Inca well she just stood next to me on shore and watched, if I don’t get in she won’t get in, such a daddy’s girl!!
Aimee and Emily just left to help feed the whale, I have heard it is getting stronger and swimming on it’s own now. The plan is to get her well, find a passing pod of pilot whales and release her into it?? That’s the plan.
Till tomorrow, Barry
20-07-2009
Jul 12, 09 Comments Off
 Brave Heart Good afternoon, I just got home from a long walk at Saint Joris with the pack. They are all completely crashed spread out all over the house fast asleep! This is another shot of baby Brave Heart! I am hoping someone out there will forward this to someone else and we can find her a great home, she’s one in a million! This dog is so playful and so cute, if we could keep her we would but we can only have two dogs in the house we have now. We took this picture last week at Canoa. The wind was blowing so hard it kept her ears up the whole time, it’s hard to take these kinds of pictures when your laughing so hard!
I am getting ready for a bike ride in a few hours and then going on a night dive at Pier Baai at 7:30, need to do as much as I can today before my eye surgery on Tuesday will be out of the water for two weeks. That’s about it for this Sunday, we are sure enjoying our house guest Emily, really a nice girl!
Have a wonderful Sunday and please make some calls and forward this to anyone who might be interested. Till tomorrow, Barry
12-07-2009
Jul 2, 09 Comments Off
 Two Puppies Hello everyone. Aimee here! Thursday was a Curacao holiday, Flag Day! So, a couple of weeks ago Barry ordered some “flag-shirts” at work. Everyone on the island wears them today. They are great, all blue with two white stars on the right chest and yellow stripes on the sleeves; the Curacao island flag colors. The island is very busy celebrating today, with people decorating their houses and flags on all the cars. I just don’t remember from years past this kind of celebration. But, what fun it is.
Well, today we all had the day off, so we took a “Brown-fun-family-trip-to-the-beach” day. We of course took ALLLL the dogs. This photo here just makes me laugh every time I look at it. First off let me explain. It has been super, super windy here for weeks and today it seemed even harder. So, don’t worry, this pups ears don’t normally stand up like this. She was facing into the wind and “whoosh” up they went. I told Barry I would have felt safer if we had a leash on her in case she took off like a kite! Well, little sister underneath had found her way under this coral boulder and dug her way to this side. Those two will keep you on your toes for sure! The windmills are over by our favorite beach, Canoa, on the north side of the island. Our plan today is one we live by: a tired dog is a good dog. After all the walking, digging and jumping, all the pups flopped asleep in the car before we even drove away. The good thing was they all slept for the next 3 hours and we went to the movies! We went to see “Up” the latest Pixar animated film; and it was awesome! I would really recommend everyone to go see it, kids and adults alike.
Well, Barry and I are headed out to show the pups to a potential new owner. It is pretty tough to find the kind of homes we are looking for. Most dog people already have several dogs. These little ones have changed so much over the last weeks. They arrived never being touched by a human and now when we walk in the room we get attacked by licking, jumping puppies. It is so wonderful to get to be a part of. So wish us luck. I know just the perfect home is just waiting for them, we just have to find them.
Aimee
02-07-2009
Jun 27, 09 Comments Off
 Inca Digging Good evening all, just a short note to say all is well, I really don’t have much for you all this evening. We both worked all day, the puppies are doing great and we really need some rain, those are my top stories!
I did spend another two hours standing on a ladder today watching my little bird fly in and out of the stuffed fish and to my amazement she just had two new babies hatch yesterday or today!! All she did today was fly back and forth with food and really couldn’t even get herself in the nest. I did get one pretty cool shot of her hanging onto the outside of the nest and you can see one baby with it’s mouth open being fed, will send that to you as well.
We just got home from taking the puppies and big dogs to the salt ponds for an evening walk. This was the first official hike the puppies have done and they did great!! This is Inca digging a deep hole and sticking her head all the way in, we laughed so hard we almost cried, what a crazy girl!
I hope your weekend is going great, talk to you tomorrow, see ya, Barry
27-06-2009
Jun 15, 09 Comments Off
 little-puppy-in-curacao Hello all, is this super cute or what?? We have named this one Raven because of the beautiful flying bird on her chest, I’ve never seen a pattern like this before! Raven is our personal favorite, she is so loving, so quiet and super smart! My dear wife bless her heart has been relentless in her pursuit to get these three potty trained ASAP and is doing a great job! The second after they eat or drink Aimee grabs them and out they go, and most of the time it’s been very successful! I will send a photo of the other two as well so you can really see how wonderful they are. Aimee went to Caracasbaai tonight and believe it or not found the mother and one puppy, the brown one is missing?? Scary huh? She was unable to even get out of the car because of four other dogs surrounding the car and barking and she said she almost got bit? So I am not sure how we will catch or feed this last puppy, I will go back tomorrow to check! I am really hoping someone on this big e-mail list will help adopt these babies they are cute beyond belief!
Besides playing with puppies I did a dive at the Superior Producer today. For my new comers that’s a big sunken ship at 100 plus feet. I was picked up by our friend Eveline and also went with a co-worker friend of mine named Frank. The dive was great, found my first Tophat (fish) and Eveline found one of the biggest Reef Scorpionfish I have ever seen he was over three inches long! I will send photos. I was amazed at how well the sponges are doing that are growing on the wreck, there are so many different kinds and really goes to show how effective an artificial reefs can be.
That’s about it still a bit tired from the bike race but plan on getting back in the saddle in the next few days. Have a great evening, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
15-06-2009
Jun 11, 09 Comments Off
 saved-puppy-in-curacao Good morning all, what a night we had! Aimee and I took of to Caracasbaai right after work with plans on catching all five puppies! Well when we got there we put food down and immediately caught the bravest one first but after grabbing her the rest went running back into the cave. So then Aimee being the brave soul she is got down on the ground and crawled into the cave with only her legs sticking out and seconds later immerged with another very scared little female. So we had two in the crate, the others were really far out of reach up under a rock ledge so we figured we would just wait for them to come back out on their own. While waiting at the car we found two other puppies from another litter but one was dead and the other was taking her last breath, it was so heartbreaking!! Aimee made an emergency call and I took off like a rocket to get a needle and solution to put the puppy to sleep humanely. Aimee worked for a vet clinic in the states so she has all kinds of needed experience for such a task, I could have never done it and we needed to end the suffering immediately! It took me around 30 minutes to go and get supplies and while gone she managed to catch a third puppy. It was now pitch dark and no way of catching the other two so we left them with mother. We will go back tonight and feed those two but we are planning on leaving them there until we can get these three taken care of first. So once home we gave each one a bath first, they had ticks, fleas and their nails needed to be trimmed, they hated it!! These puppies are still really scared, they huddled together in one big ball all night. I was up on the hour checking on them and turning on the air to keep their room cool they did eat some food this morning. Aimee is with them all now in the bathroom they are still pretty scared but she is taking them all to the vet this morning for a check-up so stay tuned!
I have to go walk our dogs while Aimee runs to the vet, talk to you tonight, Barry
10-06-2009
Jun 7, 09 Comments Off
 homeless-puppies-in-curacao Good evening all, anyone need a puppy?? These are the puppies we found at Caracasbaai yesterday, there were seven? The other two that are missing are light brown with white markings so maybe/hopefully someone took them home? I went here twice today to feed them and give them water. This morning they were so hungry but when Aimee and I went back this evening their little bellies were so full and only wanted the water. Momma is very afraid of people and won’t come near you but seems to be doing a nice job of keeping them safe and all together. Give me a ring or contact us if you want one although I think they will be hard to catch, they are living under a rock the size of a house.
I took our two “lucky dogs” on a two hour ocean adventure this morning and reminded them both constantly just how good they have it! I found some nice driftwood this morning, the strong wind is creating big waves and big waves mean more beach treasures!
After getting home and cleaning the dogs I went grocery shopping and then stayed home the rest of the day! I know what’s wrong with me!? No diving, no biking nothing! Actually I can’t go biking my front rim is bent from the last crash I had, need to get that repaired tomorrow.
I am outta here, good luck with that Monday!! Barry
06-07-2009
May 31, 09 Comments Off
 indi-curacao Hello friends how was the weekend?? I usually have today off but they begged me to work today because they were understaffed and it was fully booked. The good news is now I will have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off in a row, that sounds great doesn’t it??
This is Indi again sitting at the end of a long pier with Saint Joris bay in the background. This is a pretty big salt water inlet you really don’t realize it till you start walking around it. The ocean is straight ahead behind those hills, that is our north/east coast.
Sorry so short, I am so tired, going to bed early. See you tomorrow, Barry
05-31-2009
May 10, 09 Comments Off
 indi-on-the-car Good evening everyone, how was your Mothers Day?? I didn’t get to talk to my mom but got a note saying she loved the flower photo. My Mothers Day card started out with having a beautiful big yellow flower but then at the last moment I changed it because I remembered my mom hates yellow!!
This morning I took the girls on a long desert walk with the camera and tripod. Near this old car I found some really beautiful little flowers but they were super small and low to the ground. I set up the tripod and camera and proceeded to shoot away as Inca stood guard keeping me safe from any intruding lizards. Many of you photographers know when you start shooting something cool you really just loose track of time, and in my case I lost track of Indi again? I was on the ground with my back to the car again looking all over and yelling for Indi but saw nothing? I jumped up and turned around to see her standing on the top of the old car just as proud and as happy as a dog can be, it really made me laugh. My camera was still on the tripod so I quickly grabbed it thinking she was going to jump down any second but to my surprise she just kept standing there without a care in the world! Talk about a brave little dog?! Again this is why we named her Indi, short for Independent! The rest of our walk was just as fun. I found a hermit crab on the trail wearing a shell that was way to small, I picked him up put him in my camera case and took him to a beach filled with bigger shells, he can thank me later. The wind is still really blowing and the ocean is pretty rough not a great week for diving so I have been told.
I spent the rest of the day sitting at this computer working on underwater photos and getting them ready for our website. Around 4:00 the wild parakeets called me outside and let me get very close again, I got some more nice shots of them eating their seed pods, they are just so cool!
It’s bed time, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
05-10-2009
Apr 30, 09 Comments Off
 curacao-island-dog Hello, howdy and how do you do?? Never used that one before! Today I did something new, I rode my bike to Canoa from my house (that’s around 12 miles) then past the windmills, on the Saint Joris and back home. It took me two hours, I think it was close to 25 miles but it was a perfect morning for riding, overcast and no traffic. I have wanted to try this loop for so many years and finally just did it and other than the head wind it was fun! After cleaning the bike and myself I ran to the store, I found out it was open till noon and stocked up on a few more little things. At 12:00 sharp I loaded the dogs and off we went to Saint Joris for a three hour hike! The weather was still overcast and kind of cool so I said what the heck let’s go! I again carried my tripod and macro lens looking for small little things I thought you might enjoy for your daily picture. While standing in a few inches of water I shot a hermit crab in a fossil sea shell laying on some sedum along the edge of the cliff. I had to wait awhile for the hermit crab to come out of his shell, Inca stood next to me and Indi just ran around like a crazy dog! Well after a little time had passed I thought to myself, where is Indi, I haven’t seen or heard from her in the last five minutes or so and got a bit worried that she was off eating something smelly and dead! I was still facing the cliff with my camera on the tripod, she wasn’t in front of me, she wasn’t to the left and she wasn’t to the right, now I was worried! I called and called and finally looked at Inca who was staring at something behind me in the ocean? I quickly turned around to see Indi “the mountain goat” had somehow swam out and climbed up on this little rock island and claimed it as her own! I had to laugh it was too funny, I said what are you doing over there and after snapping a picture called her back to shore, this is why we named her Indi short for independent! The rest of our hike was super fun, I found lots of cool beach treasures and the dogs chewed on just about every flip-flop and buoy they found, another great trip to the bay!
We just had a wonderful dinner and I am ready for bed, my legs feel like Jell-O! Hope all is well, drop us a line we would love to hear from you! See you tomorrow, Barry
04-30-2009
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