Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the St John Adventures ~
Sunday 6/13/2010
What was it I told you about forecasting the weather in the Caribbean? What do you think it looks like here in paradise?
And do you know what else is happening today? Carol turns 29 (again)!!!!! Doesn't she look like she is having a good time on her birthday here in the Caribbean?
All together now! Happy Birthday to you.......! More about that later! Now, just so you don't think that this is all fun and flowers and all that, this snorkeling stuff can take a physical toll on you! There are all sort of hazards the average person doesn't think of. Sharks, baracudas, rogue rays, sand in your fins..... Yes, sand in your fins. Actually, it is not a big deal, but is painful, and it wasn't even like there was more than a grain or two in there, and not for very long, but waterlogged skin breaks down pretty quick. Look at those tootsies!
I don't suppose I am garnering a whole lot of sympathy here, am I? Would it help if I told you I was limping and that little kids have to help me across the street? Yeah, I didn't think so. But it was a funny picture. I may have to print that one, and hang it in the studio! We spent the evening last night after the sun went down watching the stars appear, one at a time, and the shooting stars that are always falling, but that we never notice. It is especially nice with Jimmy Buffet's Encores CD playing inthe background. Ocean breezes blowing, palm trees swaying (if there were any at the villa).... You get the idea. Nice way to spend the evening. Now all I need to do is get the ingredients to make the grapefruit cosmo, and we will be in great shape - or sleeping... Today's goal is to go to Gibney Beach, and possibly Denis Beach. Gibney will be a pretty easy beach to get to, but Denis Beach is located around the point at the far end of Gibney, which takes you into the channel, exposes you to boat traffic, currents, etc., so we shall have to see how we feel when we got to the point. Now, getting to either of these beaches directly requires either a boat (which we do not have) or an arduous hike (that is how they termed the walk to Denis - Gibney is not so bad, but still a walk). A wise man simply goes to Hawks Nest (I think that was the first beach in this little adventure, oh so long ago), walk all the way to the east side of the beach, and swim over to Gibney. That brings me to a point about beaches here in the Caribbean. They love volume! You can go to one cove (bay, inlet, whatever) and have 9 beaches. All that is required is to have some rocks between them - any break in the sand will do! Back home, Jones Beach will go on forever! There may be some areas that have names, but it will all be part of Jones Beach! Here, they pretend they are all different beaches. In the Hawks Nest Inlet, you have a Caneel Beach (because it is on Caneel Resort property, even though there is a Caneel Bay), Hawks Nest, Gibney, and Jumbie. And you can stand on one and see them all! Just some rocks seperate them. That is not to say that they are not all gorgeous, or that they don't all have seperate ways to get to them, but it not quite what you would think. For it to be that way, this island would have tobe like 5 times its size! But I digress.... So, off to Hawks Nest we go. We park the Jeep (not tough in a mostly empty lot), and walk to the east side of the beach, and set up the chairs. Here is the view:
But of course, this is not our target beach! So, into the water we go, bidding farewell to our faithful beachchairs - in whose contract it states that they will get a picture in each episode:
As we are making it over to Gibney, we come across this stingray
And he seemed to have one of my blue stripe buddies in attendence
The stripe guy didn't seem to be truly harassing it, but maybe waiting for the ray to stir something up from the bottom. It is hard to tell. But there was no way the ray was loosing the fish! So on we went. At this point, we were off the our beach (Gibney), so I shot it from the water. We weren't actually going to go on the beach, so this is the best I could do for you.
Gibney Beach has some interesting history associated with it, since the Oppenheimer Family (as in the father of the atomic bomb) was a previous owner, before making an arrangement with the National Parks people - in fact, they might still own a house there (one of the families does), although there is still some fight going on between the family and the Parks system that is as yet unresolved. Do a Google search if you are interested. As we got to the far side of Gibney, we started seeing fish, like this Parrot fish and this tang
At the reef, I saw this curious urchin (I presume it to be a sea urchin), but I hadn't seen one like this before (or I just noticed it - which is possible, since there is so much to see down there)
Parrot fish come in a range of colors (and sizes - some are really big), but I hadn't seen one that was sky blue before
Now, when you see a parrot fish, you usually see them eating the coral. Apparently what they do is bite off the dead coral, and chew it to get to bacteria. Then it spits out or digests the coral. The result is coral sand. You can see scores of parrot fish doing this. It would seem that there are enough of them doing this for long enough to account for over 80% of the sand on the beaches in the Caribbean! Its a pretty amazing thought as you are watching one fish chomping on some coral! On some of the fan coral, you can see some sort of sea snail crawling along. Their shells are really pretty. Here is one on some of that purple fan coral.
I am not sure if you are going to be able to make this one out or not, but this appears to be a lobster. Now, Caribbean lobsters don't have claws, like we are used to New England lobsters looking like, and this guy sure didn't have claws. But it was huge! And ugly! If it looked more like a regular lobster, I would have been tempted to try and catch it (you never know what is for dinner around here!), but it didn't, and I wasn't! But I did take a picture of it, right before it crawled under a rocky ledge, and disappeared. We waited a minute, but it didn't reemerge.
When you are in an area of vibrant coral (like today), you start noticing the very strange formations that coral arrange themselves in. It is quite beautiful, with the outcroppings, ledges, and arches that evolve. It is part of the reason people like to go snorkeling, I suppose, and makes for a great backdrop for the colorful fish. This section was like a art deco barstool - except if you sat on this stuff, you might find that firecoral and your butt don't agree!
Even more amazing is when you consider that this 3-4' piece of coral artwork is made by critters that grow by an inch a year, if they are overachievers! 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch are more the norm! It would seem the origins of that chair started about the same time I did, oh so many years ago! The grunts were out in force today (as they are everyday). Every once in a while you see one about a foot or so in length, and you know those are the grandaddys, since most you see are 2"-6" long.
My friends the fry were alos out in numbers today. They make all sorts of wonderful shapes, and I half expect them to spell my name or make an arrow or something with their numbers. I know, that is the Finding Nemo talking, but it is amazing to watch them as they ball up, or make ribbons that sway and undulate. Not sure how well it shows in this shot, but I tried!
This guy looked like he was waiting for a meal to swim by as he sat on the bottom. He opened his mouth while I was watching, and I can tell you he can eat quite a bit!
A little further up, a school of surgeon fish was swimming along, eating at a spot onthe coral and then moving on. The nice part about these guys, and many of the fish onthe reef, is that if you are nice and relaxed, they will let you get within a foot or two of them as they swim. Some, like the fry, will engulf you in their school, no problem!
I couldn't resist, so I swam in to be with these guys. The last shot is taken at a range of about 18" - and the zoom all the way out. The "problem" is that I am not in about 3' or 4' of water, with coral all over the place, so I have to be careful to keep moving out thru the opening in the coral I had seen on the way in. The last thing you want to do is get caught with a way into shallow coral and no way to get out, since turning is quite difficult when the coral is really shallow. But it was worth it! I found a trumpet fish cruising the coral!
We were getting close to the point, and Carol was getting cold, and we had swum a pretty good distance at this point (probably a mile or more, between crossing beaches and going to the point), so we headed back, foregoing the other beach (and the sunken sailboat that is supposed to be on the way - there is always tomorrow!). Here is another attempt to get the fry shapes!
After a rather long swim (I should have taken a picture of the sunken plastic picnic deck chair that we passed - all I wanted to do was surface dive to it (no go, the depth was about 30') and set it upright!), we were reaquainted with our beachchairs - where we got to enjoy this view.
And we watched this sailboat come into the bay and tie up. It is a pretty sloop, but hard to tell from this angle - damn wind!)
The sun felt good, especially being filtered by the trees we were taking refuge under
At this point, the natives (okay, mostly tourists) were awake, the beach was getting crowded, so time to go back to the villa for some lunch!
So, off to the villa we went, getting back here just as the clock was striking noon. A perfect day! Lunch was burgers on the grill, dessert was watermelon. I could get used to this routine! There is a great wind blowing, so it is comfy as hell out. Again, I could get used to this. It is a shame the trip is over half done. This week is going to fly by! We might go back to Spyglass and check out those happy hour tacos and wings! Gotta do something for the Princess's birthday, right? I'll let you know how it goes!
1919 - Watching the First of the Stars Appear, Villa Caribe We went into town tonite for happy hour at Spyglass. It was actually quite good. Everything had a little bite to it (the chicken wings left your lip tingling). We had a couple of drinks each, and 4 sets of appetizers - thus making it dinner! It was nice, although the sun was a little strong as it was settling from the sky. You can see all sorts at a bar near the ferry dock. We got there just as a ferry was pulling in, so we could see the newcomers getting off the boat with their luggage, quite light footed. Hardly anyone got on the boat, because checkout is far earlier in the day. Minutes later, they show up, needing their first drinks and food of the trip! This is where it gets interesting, since you get to see the ones who think they are cool, the buffoons, and the ones who need to make a splash. Its a bar, and its in the Caribbean - what else would you expect? But the food was good, drinks decent, and the views magnificent.
We left before the sun set - th buffoons were out in force - and went downstairs to get an ice cream to finish the night off. In typical Caribbean style, there was a sign that said "Be Right Back." We gave it a few minutes, then packed it in - being the rushing Americans we are! But I did get a fabulous shot! Back to the villa we went, making a stop at the Starfish Market for a couple of things. Now we are enjoying the breeze (it really is a breeze tonite, so we might pack it in early to avoid the bugs that brave the breeze). It really is great being here! So, I will leave you with the best picture of the trip, I think.
One particular harbor, eh?
Keep Smiling!!!
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All Images and Accounts of this Adventure are strictly the doings of the Author, and have Nothing to do with the Official Positions or Opinions of Timethief Photography, its affiliated divisions, or anyone associated with the company. If you have any issues with the accounts, how people or places are portrayed, or with any statements of fact, take it up with him! Of course, he'll probably be off on another adventure!
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