Tag Archives: triggerfish

Sunny days

June 5, 2009 Maurice 1 Comment

Today was sunny and warm, again. The weather is so predictable here, you can’t even say “nice day”, because it’s just as nice as the day before! We headed over to the beach, and piled into the water at the Fisherman’s huts, just north of the visible wreck.

We learned a funny story about that wreck. The wreck was not always in it’s current location, in fact, people aren’t even sure where it came from. One morning it just appeared on the beach. How is that possible? Well it was the morning after Hurricane Lenny hit the area! Seems Lenny dredged it up and deposited it there!

The water was calm, and clear and there were tons of fish! The fish in June have different behaviours than in December. In the winter, the squirrel fish is remarkably shy, and runs and hides at your approach. The triggerfish will usually not allow a close approach either. But here in June, they seemed to be showing themselves off. But upon reflection, it’s not that they are showing off, it’s that they are guarding their nests! The squirrel fish is actually a bit aggressive, protecting the holes they have dug in the bottom to lay their eggs.

We spent nearly three hours in the ocean, since it was so beautiful and clear. It was just so hard to get out! The only problem is, we kinda burnt ourselves out!

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing around Caribbean Palm Village, our condo. I’ve posted a pic Pam took of the view out the front door of our condo. It has a nice big hot tub, and we’ve spent quite a bit of time in there too!

We wanted something simple for dinner, so we tried the New Wei Tai restaurant, which is supposed to be the best Chinese food on the island. It was very good! Better than a lot of Vancouver Chinese restaurants, that’s for sure. The General Tao’s chicken deserves special mention – spicy and crunch and saucy! Marvelous!

We went over to the little mall and got an ice cream cone and strolled around hand in hand watching the people go by. It was a really nice finish to another day in paradise.

Aruba, Vacations

Monday must be a shopping day!

June 2, 2009 Maurice 3 Comments

Monday was very busy. We took in three beaches, did some shopping downtown, spent some time in a casino, then in the afternoon….

First we took in a beach just south of where we dove yesterday. It was nice, saw tons of fish of course, but mostly the usual suspects. One thing I saw that was unusual was five French Angels swimming together. Usually they are pretty solitary guys.

Next we had a quick bite at the end of the highrise hotels, in a small beach cafe. Food was soooo cheap, and very good. It’s near the Divi Palace, so we decided to try their fancy beach. It’s protected by two breakwaters, and has an incredibly sandy entrance. It was fairly cloudy, and difficult to see – but we did see a lobster – most unusual as they are nocturnal. And I saw what I thought was a shark. Pam kinda pooh-poohed the idea til she saw the picture! I leave you to judge….

We got in the car and headed north back to near where we dove in yesterday. It was really cool – got to see a triggerfish, and the world’s largest trumpetfish – well over 5 feet long – and we actually swam over to where we saw the porcupine fish again. He was still in his cave hiding.

We got out of the ocean, made a quick pitstop at the condo and headed downtown for some shopping. Guess what? My underwater camera died again. So this one is headed back to Olympus – but we picked up another at the same shop we bought this one last year!

We went into the shop that sells Inti masks, and the lady immediately recognized us! The Inti make masks, carvings of animals, birds, religious icons etc then “paint” them with this vegetable matter. It is not a liquid, but a kind of coating, that they knead, and mold, and stretch using their hands and teeth! It’s then put on the carvings, in intricate patterns. The final result is a gleaming, colorful statue or wall hanging that is uniquely Aruban.

We had a great dinner at Iguana Joes. We both had the keshi yena, a typical Aruban dish. It’s a bit like lasagna, without the noodles! Its origins are from the old sea vessels. They carried cheese, and scooped out the soft interior. The hard exteriors were filled with spices, meats, raisins, currants, and then baked. Marvellous! The woman who served us was unbelievably over worked, but did such an amazing job! She was visibly pleased when we ordered the keshi yena. Most people were there for nachos, burgers and fries.

Then it was over to the Crystal Casino to win back our money! Guess what? Didn’t happen.

Tuesday I think we’re heading down to Baby Beach.

Aruba, Vacations

Our last full day in Aruba

December 16, 2008 Maurice 2 Comments

On Friday, our last full day in Aruba, we split up the pack. Pete rented a jeep and toured the island with a local woman he met while at our first condo.

Pam, Mike and I were happy to see calm, clear oceans, so we headed north to the lighthouse, and Arashi beach. We had jumped in here early in the first week. The water is clear and calm and we saw some things we’d never seen before!

Tops on the list, was an octopus! Was that cool! Mike spotted him as he moved from the sand to over a rock and changed color from sandy white to a mottled kind of color matching the rocks. He was as tough to see initially as the scorpion fish. If you look at the enlarged picture, you’ll see his eye, and toward the center/right you’ll see one of his tentacles turned over, exposing his “suction cups.”

Some other intriguing fish we saw were the Queen Angelfish, a brilliantly colored fish that is on the cover of our “fish book” for identifying species. We’d never seen one in the ocean, and she was certainly worth the wait!

Also appearing was a lobster, a huge school of Caribbean reef squid, another Queen triggerfish, a smaller barracuda, and of course the French Angelfish.

By early afternoon. we’d tired ourselves out, so we decided to pack in a bit of shopping. Pam and I had been shopping for pinky rings, but had found nothing we really liked. We stumbled upon a nice small shop, A Touch of Gold, run by a nice family. Pam regaled them with her Punjabi swearing, and we had buckets of laughs with them.

It’s funny – you go into a jewellery store, tell them you are looking for a pinky ring, wanting to spend in the $500 range, and suddenly $1500-2500 rings are appearing. Nice – thanks for listening. I tell these guys what I wanted, and they show me 3 rings all under 600 bucks. Guess what? They got the sale! Then Pam started with her tales of Punjabi cussing, and suddenly she’s layered in gold! hah If we ever come back to Aruba, you can bet they’ll get a return visit from us!

Pam wanted another night in a casino, so we went over to the Seafront Casino. Nearby was a nice little shopping mall, open late. There we had dinner at a restaurant recommended by Linda earlier in the week, the Waterfront Crabhouse. Dinner was terrific! I had the same dinner I ordered at the disastrous Petit Cafe. The fish was PERFECTLY cooked, the shrimp were stunningly prepared and scallops a thing of beauty. A wonderful singer performed for us a few short steps away. The full moon was gorgeous; the stars twinkled merrily in the sky; sadness was in the air, but it was really a perfect finish to a really marvellous vacation.

I want to thank Pete and Mike for coming with us and joining in the fun. We had some fun times, some great meals, saw terrific vistas, met some great people, saw some amazing fish – all in all, just a great time.

Thanks Aruba. We’ll see you again some day!

(I’m going to post one more page of Aruban pics – of just the birds we saw. Some really cool birds make Aruba home – as you’ll see! )

Aruba, Vacations

Diving a wreck

December 14, 2008 Maurice Leave a comment

Today, Thursday, December 11, we woke up to a beautifully calm day, and the ocean was glassy smooth. So we headed north to a wreck that is easy to swim to from shore.

It was really quite something. Literally, MILLIONS of fish hang around the ship, inside and out.

The water depth is 6-8 feet so the viewing is fantastic. We saw tons of the usual suspects, plus some gorgeous French Angels. There was a huge trumpetfish. Man, what a big guy he was.

But the real treat was the trigger fish. I love that fish – had a really cool experience with one in the Caymans, but this was the first one I’ve seen here, I think. He was a great looking fish, but he didn’t like to be photographed. It’s not a bad pic of him, but wish I could have gotten a beauty of him!

We did see a barracuda, but it was a smaller one, only about 2 feet. We also saw a couple of cool scorpionfish. They look just like a rock, so it’s really tricky to see them in the water.

For dinner, we headed out to an Argentine steakhouse called the El Gaucho. We’d heard good things about this place, and it took us a while to find it. As we were about to give up, we stumbled upon it. It was busy, as we were told it would be. We had a small wait, but they are associated with a small club, Garufa’s, across the street, so you can go have a drink, listen to the entertainment, and they’ll buzz you when your table is ready. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE – skip Garufa’s! haha That night’s entertainment was karaoke, and I take back any nice things I’ve ever said about karaoke. My ears are still bleeding.

The meal, however, more than made up for it. It’s a beautiful restaurant inside. The tables are large, with leather/cow-hide seats. They serve you on wooden chargers. The waiter, a local Aruban, was funny, friendly and efficient. The food was unbelievably good. Our friend Jorge insisted that Argentine beef was better than Alberta beef, and guess what? He’s 100% correct! Easily the best steak I’ve ever had. Pete felt the same thing.

For desert, I had the tiramisu, and it was the best desert on the island. The meal was so fantastic I had to have a nice port and a Cuban cigar to finish it off in style. The port was really nice, but the threat of divorce stopped me from the cigar! haha

Another fantastic day in paradise!

Grand Cayman, Vacations

Sunday is the day to relax

December 3, 2007 Maurice Leave a comment

Today we mostly just swam in the ocean, since Sundays are pretty closed up around here. No shops or markets are open on Sundays, so it’s just a quiet day of relaxation.The weather was nice – about 28 or 29 C – the ocean was about 27 or 28 C – so it was nice swimming out to the reefs to see all the fish.

The queen triggerfish is really amazing. He was quite large, about 2.5 feet high. The way they move is so graceful and elegant. They don’t really seem to be doing anything, yet they are moving along at quite a fast clip. the coloring on his eye – it is amazing, wow. Really cool to have seen this fish today.

The coral is really cool. Very colorful, and lots of fish like to hide out among the spikes and growths. These yellow guys are called yellowtail snapper, or maybe a French grunt?

We have seen a couple different kinds of these flat-bottomed fish. They look like little ships floating in the ocean. They have the tiniest little wings to move them along. Cute! I find myself drawn to them!