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adventures / Caribbean / photo / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
13
Jan 15

Adventure Antigua

We took a bus across the island, driven by a nice older gentleman named Myson. He told us all about his homeland and promised us a great day, of which we would enjoy every minute — or need professional medical help.

We went kayaking in some of the calm waters of the island which are protected my mango trees. We saw starfish, sea cucumbers, urchins and jellyfish. We took a boat ride out to a place to snorkel, stood on top of a small island staring out into the crashing Atlantic Ocean, got misted on by waves and boat spray, fought currents to swim a bit and then took the boat back to where our kayak adventure started.

And then Myson arrived to take us back to the cruise ship. The transmission in his bus died. We drove all the way across the island in second gear.

Apparently letting it coast and then popping the clutch is an American thing.

Great island experience, Myson was right — excite for the parts where he was scaring us to death.

The view from Great Bird Island, Antigua:

In between bouts of sea spray:

adventures / Caribbean / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
12
Jan 15

Now, Barbados

And also, turtles!

The leatherback sea turtle, or Dermochelys coriacea, to be precise. They grow quite large, averaging three- to five-feet, but the ones we saw today were on the smaller size. They are the largest of the turtles, and the most widespread. They eat jellyfish and small fish, as you’ll see in the video below. Once they grow to maturity they have few natural predators, which is why the estimated age range is from 30 to 60 or more years. They are most in danger when they are young and, of course, from humans.

These particular ones are as socialized as a reptile can be. Watch the video:

My lovely wife — who is shooting pretty much all of the underwater stuff, by the way — pronounced it the most amazing experience ever. We laughed, watching people jump off the catamaran, see a turtle, and then climb back aboard. As if to say “Yep, mission accomplished.”

We never want to get out of the water.

adventures / Caribbean / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off
11
Jan 15

Snorkeling in St. Lucia

Today we snorkeled the Pitons in Jalousie Bay at St. Lucia. The Pitons, two mountainous volcanic plugs, are a World Heritage site near the town of Soufrière on the southwestern coast of the island. And it is beautiful there. The snorkeling is nice and calm, there’s plenty of stuff to see — fish, coral and eels — and then you look above the water, over your head … well, just watch the video:

Some pictures from Jalousie Bay.

It rained on us as we sailed to the Pitons. Here’s a guy that handled it with ease.

Just as we got in the water the rain moved off and we found ourselves in an amazing setting. Watch the video.

adventures / Caribbean / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off
10
Jan 15

Sea day

In between places again today. I wish I had brought my sinuses with me. Or left them in Bonaire, whichever. Not feeling so well today. Since we are sailing, here is a shot of water:

Thankfully we didn’t have to do a lot. Enjoyed the views of the ocean, stared out at the sky and off into the sun. I also read and took a nap. I wonder how many sea days in a row it would take before I got bored with them. The number would be at least three, perhaps more.

A brief video:

And, finally, my hand at dinner tonight:

Tomorrow, another choice destination and snorkeling.

adventures / Caribbean / Friday / photo / SCUBA / video — Comments Off
9
Jan 15

Diving Bonaire

We saw a great show with a juggler on Red Bull and speed last night. He was a bit like a young Robin Williams, even worked through the crowd twice. I have some video and will upload it later. Anyway, today, we walked off the ship in beautiful Bonaire and there was Pete, the juggler, who decided to go diving with us.

He sat down next to me in this little place:

In my experience, this is exactly how dive shops should look.

Pete Matthews is a nice guy. Says 70 percent of his act is written and the rest is ad libbed, and that his stage personality is him turned up to 12. (You’ll see.) He’s also funny when he’s not working and is giving, willing to let a dive boat of pretend comedians try a joke on him. He’s also a fine diver.

Our dive video:

Going back aboard in Bonaire, we saw this dairying vessel. Kruise Mor Cows:

Tomorrow, another fine day on the water.