Tag Archives: turtles

Winding down

December 20, 2012 Maurice Leave a comment

Thursday dawned with a wonderfully calm ocean, and perfect, beautiful blue skies. It’s going to be tough heading back to the normally cloudy Vancouver! We’ve been pretty lucky, weather wise this month away. Most days have been pretty darn good. Two or three were spoiled by rain, but overall, we really can’t complain about the warmth, the blue skies and the calm oceans. Pam took another great macro shot, this one features one of the locals, sunning himself on the rocks above the hot tub at La Cabana.

We took to the ocean around noon. And it was really great. Super clear water, and amazingly calm. Check out this self portrait! It’s how we’ve faced the world for basically three or four hours every day for the last month. Is it any wonder the fish are nervous when I peek under a rock at them?

We saw an amazingly huge barracuda today. Usually they don’t want to hang around snorkelers, and casually swim away when you try to approach. This one wandered off when we tried to get close, then came back a few minutes later. I swam after him to get a shot, and he slowed, turned and stopped. He remained stationary for a good ten minutes or more. We were taking pictures, filming him and a group of snorkelers from one of the ships started coming around. We said, “Hey, check out this big barracuda” – I’m always amazed how people miss seeing these fish that are so large! I said to one woman, “See the barracuda?” She looked at me, “Who me?” she says. I said, “Yes, look!” and pointed. Well, she looked, shrieked “HOLY SH**!!” and started swimming away as fast as she could move!

We saw quite a few turtles again, starting at the turtle grass just off of Boca Catalina. As we swam north to Arashi Beach, we spotted our friend the hawksbill. He’s a great looking turtle, and let me approach him closer than he has in the past. I guess he’s starting to recognize me! haha

I like this shot Pam took of a grouper next to some coral. They are a shy fish, usually trying to hide from the camera. Pam used to like to eat grouper, but she won’t anymore. She thinks they are too cute to eat!

Aruban waters have an awful lot of French Angels, and Pam is always distracted by them! They are larger than a lot of the fish, and are easily spotted. As you swim along, your eye is just naturally drawn to them. Here is a brief movie of three of them swimming along together.

Here’s a picture of another lionfish. They are such nice fish to look at, but such a pain! I wish there was some way we could do more as snorkelers to eliminate them when we find them. There has to be something we can do, other than take pictures of them! Some restaurants are starting to serve them, just not enough. With very few natural predators in Caribbean water , they are starting to decimate local fish populations.

One last day tomorrow in Aruba, then it’s the long flight home.

Aruba, Vacations

Just turtles!

December 19, 2012 Maurice Leave a comment

This trip has certainly been highlighted by the number of turtles we have seen! It’s been a rare day we haven’t seen several turtles. Tuesday and Wednesday were no exception with another half dozen or so sightings each day. The turtle grass we’ve recently discovered off of Boca Catalina had another four or five. Big ones and little ones, greens and hawksbills. It’s amazing how big some of them can get! The greens are usually between 250 and 450 pounds, and a couple we’ve seen have been on the high side.

While swimming toward Malmok Beach, there is a small reef. One green turtle was tucked under a chunk of coral, in fairly shallow water. When we started taking pictures, he started to swim around, quite unconcerned with us. He went for a long, lazy swim, towards Malmok, then circled back toward Boca Catalina in a big circle. The amazing thing was, there was no one in the ocean with us! Eventually we swam by a Dutch family of four, who had never seen a turtle. They were delighted when Pam told them we were following a turtle. The turtle took us on another big circle of both beaches. Eventually, other snorkelers joined in, and it was quite funny to see the turtle leading a pack of his own!

At Arashi Beach we came across a hawksbill in really shallow water too. I was swimming between two rocks whose peaks actually go above the water line, and coming toward me was this hawksbill! He took a gander at my ugly mug and turned and swam away! We followed him for a time, but he swam straight out to sea in almost a straight line. He wasn’t interested in leading the snorkelers on a conga line.

We saw some interesting stuff in close to shore at Arashi Beach. There were lots of little guys that have been tough to photograph because they dart in and out of the coral so quickly.

But today, once again the ocean was very calm and we were able to remain stationary over a single point for a long time, so we were able to get some of the more elusive guys, like the brilliant blue speckled juvenile yellowtail damselfish.

In the ocean, we often see fish cleaning other fish. The long needlefish getting cleaned by a juvenile french angel is one we see quite a lot, but they will not let us approach close enough to get a clear shot. Today we were able to see a smallish blue tang getting cleaned by a tiny French Angel. He was barely bigger than your thumbnail! The movie is fairly brief, so give it a look. It’s quite interesting.

Pam got a great shot of the mutton snapper. It even shows the blue streaks near his eyes.

We spent some time in the Glitz casino here at La Cabana. It’s a small intimate casino, with slots, almost all penny slots. There are a few gaming tables, that were quite busy. The drinks are free, and I’ve never been in a casino where the girls are so attentive! Not even Vegas keeps your glass as full as these gals! We had some pretty good success on Tuesday, so we didn’t mind going again on Wednesday.

Aruba, Vacations

Turtle Tuesday – a day early!

December 17, 2012 Maurice Leave a comment

Today was another calm, lovely day in Aruba. We slept in again, and got to the ocean around noonish. We checked to see if the green moray was in his home, and he was, but he didn’t come out at all, hiding under his shelf of rock.

We decided to go and see if we could see some more of the flying gurnards, and instead we saw the first of many turtles. That’s right, we saw an amazing six turtles today! It was absolutely unbelievable. We saw two really enormous turtles, one with a strange shell, with a ridge down the middle, and a concave shell, sloping away from the central ridge.

We did see lots of flying gurnards too, but this is easily the biggest we’ve ever seen. It had to be twice the size of the ones we saw yesterday. I’d say his wingspan was well over two feet. He was located a lot further south too, way down by the bait ball. The movie shows him under the fish first, then coming out from under (you’ll love this Karen!)

Another cool thing we saw was a strange bird hanging out with the pelicans along ridge overlooking Hadicurari. Not sure what the name is, but he was totally unconcerned about us. Maybe a cormorant? I dunno. The closer we got, the less it bothered him! The pelicans all hopped away, but he just stood there, kind of daring us to do something. So I splashed him with water! That finally got him to move.

While swimming along the wall, we saw lots of great fish of course. Pam got a great shot of the Night Sergeant, a fish who hangs around rocks, and like to get pushed around by crashing waves. He’s hard to get a shot of, because the water is usually so turbulent. But today was pretty calm, and she nailed him. Here is a video of a spotted moray eel, climbing up the wall. The video came out pretty nicely, so we decided to include it here.

We went to dinner at JH Yees, billed as an Asian fusion restaurant. It combined Japanese sushi and tempura with Chinese Szechuan and Mandarin dishes. The restaurant is on the second floor of a group of building close to the high rise hotels. It has a nice interior, highlighted with replicas of the Chinese warriors discovered in a tomb. There was a modern twist with unique architectural highlights, private rooms separated with curtains, and outdoor area and a unique central courtyard. Service was very nice, attentive and prompt, provided by Chiko, our Philippino waiter.

We started with Peking Dumplings ($6.25) for four plump juicy dumplings with a spicy pork filling. We split two mains, Orange Chicken ($19.95) and Szechuan Beef ($20.95). The white chicken chunks were deep fried, with a nice orange sauce, and served with fresh orange slices. Pam liked the flavour, but thought the chicken was a little dry. The beef was served with fresh vegetables, and was tasty. Singapore Noodles ($17.95) rounded out the dinner. They were very nice, tasty with lots of pork, shrimp and vegetables in a spicy sauce. I liked it a lot, but it could have had a few more noodles! With two Balashi, a Coke and 15% service charge, the total was $87.65. It was about on a par for what we’ve paid for Chinese food in other Aruban spots, but the ambiance was very very nice. I’d go there again.

Aruba, Vacations

Just a short post.

December 3, 2012 Maurice 2 Comments

Monday was a beautiful day. Super warm, super blue sky and super calm water in the ocean again. Aruba’s weather is certainly better than Curacao’s and I’m not sure why… the two islands are very close together, but we’re not complaining! There was barely a cloud in the sky, and the water was again nice and clear. We decided to try entering the water at Malmok Beach, and it wasn’t a total success. It was quite difficult for Pam, so I don’t think we’ll enter here again. Usually we enter the ocean at a beach just south of Malmok, then swim up to Malmok, but since the best snorkeling is at Malmok, well, we decided to give it a go.

Snorkeling-wise, it was a good decision. We hadn’t been in the water more than two minutes when we saw our first turtle. We saw another turtle later on in the day too. One of the neater things we saw was a golden moray eel. Nothing too usual in that, but this guy was “on the move.” Usually they might move from one rock, to another hidey hole. But this guy was out for a drive! I’ve uploaded a little longer video of him, moving from rock to rock.

This was International Get Close to a Pelican Day. The picture of the pelican I took. In the background is one of the lovely homes on Malmok Beach. The picture of me getting close to the pelican was taken by Pam. We thought it was pretty funny stuff.
The pelican let me get to within a foot of his rock, and he never took off, but he did spread his wings just in case I reached for him I guess!

The water has been so calm we’ve gone out a little further from shore than we normally do. We encountered this group of four trunkfish, seemingly having a union meeting. Not sure what was on the agenda, but it was fun to watch. This is a little shorter movie, of fish we don’t normally put up in a movie. We also saw a couple of fairly large barjacks, hunting and catching dinner! We see the barjacks cruising the reefs, and smaller fish swimming away from them. Today we saw the reason they’re running! Gulp. Down goes dinner.

We came home, had a soak in the hot tub, and decided to have a happy hour drink. The bar here at CPV is nice, and we’ve often had a happy hour drink – they are priced two for one. Well… it cost 19.80 for the “two” drinks! WOW – that’s a pricey happy hour! So we went to the store, got a bottle of rum, and bottle of pina colada mix, some limes, and a pineapple, and it was less than the cost of the drinks! Needless to say, we’ll be doing our own happy hour from now on. Dinner was home-cooked again, so no restaurant review.

Aruba, Vacations

Back to Aruba

December 2, 2012 Maurice 2 Comments

We flew out of Curacao on Saturday, leaving at 12:30 and arriving in Aruba at ten to one. A short flight on a larger aircraft than we are used to… we’ve taken the Insel Air flight a few times from Aruba to Curacao and back again, and it’s usually been on a little fifteen seater. This aircraft had two seats down either side and sat around fifty or so. It was a nice little flight.

We had a bit of a tough time getting our car rented – I don’t think I’d use Avis ever again. It is very annoying to see three couples who were served after you get their cars ahead of you! When I said to the lady, you know, that’s the third person who has gotten their vehicle ahead of me, she said, hey the traffic is bad! Ahhh… ok?? Anyway – we finally got a car, and we got checked in nicely here at Caribbean Palm Village, where we’ve stayed nearly every time we’ve come to Aruba.

We had a little swim in the ocean and it was nice. We had a nice dinner at Rembrandt’s, a nifty little restaurant near the high rise hotels. It’s a Dutch run restaurant (I guess the name Rembrandt’s kind of gives that away huh?) and the food is quite nice. The menu has changed since we were here last, and the owner told us it will change again soon since a new chef is coming from Holland next week! They had a “Sinter Klass” celebration – quite unique to have Santa bring you your beer!

Sunday we thought we’d rest, but the weather was so wonderful we decided to check out Malmok Beach, a beach I’ve come to call Turtle Beach. And guess what?? It was prophetic – we saw two turtles, a hawksbill and a green! And one VERY large barracuda too, about five feet long! And lots of moray eels. And tons of French Angels – it’s a very common fish here in Aruba. Pam calls them dinner plates – they are big round fish, visible from quite a ways away. They always attract your eye, because they are so much wider than most fish.

But the water! WOW! So clear, so calm, so warm. It was easily the best we’ve had so far this vacation. It’s nice to be back on Aruba. It just feels so comfortable here. I’m guessing it’s the familiarity of the place – we’ve been here so often, we know the streets, the beaches, the people. There are a lot of improvements going on – there is a nice new grocery store much closer to our condo. Several bad roads have been repaved. There is a big lovely looking hotel nearly completed, with a slightly Spanish style of architecture.

We also saw a number of Queen Triggerfish, my personal fave of all the fish we see. Pam took a great little movie of her, so you can see how she moves about with her flowing fins, lovely colors, and big eyes!

We had dinner in the condo tonight. It was a nice to have some home cooking after a solid week of restaurant food. And we found a package of our favorite Dutch cookies, speculaas with almonds. I had to drive to three grocery stores before I’d buy THE package – Pam kept saying, “These will be fine” and my reply was, “Not interested in Fine. Want the Best!”

Providenciales

Turtles, Turtles, woohoohoo

April 21, 2012 Maurice Leave a comment

Smith’s Reef is in the Turtle Cove, and it totally lived up to its billing today! The reef was filled with turtles, all kinds of turtles, from greens, to hawksbills, to maybe even a leatherback! I say maybe on the leatherback, because this turtle was the biggest one I’ve ever seen. Check out the movie, and you’ll see the hawksbill to start with, then I get sidetracked by the big guy…

The first thing we noticed on entering the water today, was a big barracuda. He was about four, maybe five feet? Quite a way to start the swim! When I swam out to the green buoy and saw the two turtles, there was an even bigger barracuda. He was just enjoying the sun, like the rest of us!

One thing we’ve really noticed, is how the clear the water has been. What a boon that has been! I’d have to say that only the Cayman Islands has come close to being as clear as these waters. Even when the current was strong, visibility was extremely good. One of the “problems” with the great visibility though, is that you can get easily distracted by something twenty or fifty feet away!

One ultra cool thing we saw today was a pair of ocean triggerfish. These trigger’s are large, about three or four feet tall, and although we’ve seen them in the past, they’ve usually swam away before we’ve gotten a decent picture. Well, not today! I saw a big one, digging in the sand, but he took off. I swam over to Pam and told her I’d just seen one right over there, and pointed. We swam a little ways, and he was back! I’ve got a movie of him digging in the sand. It’s a tad jerky to start, but watch through the early problems and you’ll be rewarded with a good closeup of this terrific looking fish. Kinda funny to see him spitting out the sand!

But turtles were the story of the day. We saw at least eight, probably more! Two of them even met up for a meeting at the bottom! It was unreal. One young couple were out swimming with their five or six year old, and we pointed out the turtles. Well the little guy was in a tizzy to see the turtles! He got to see the two of them meeting, and it was a lot of fun to see his exuberance. Afterwards, we met them on shore, and they couldn’t stop thanking us for showing them the turtles!

For our last dinner here in Provo we decided to check out the resort’s restaurant called the Mango Reef. It’s right on the ocean, completely open air. The stars were twinkling, and the waves were gently washing into shore. It was a very romantic setting. There was a duet playing, all romantic songs. It was a terrific setting. And the meal itself lived up to the billing. We started with some coconut crusted butterflied shrimp, served with three sauces, ($14). They were delicious, but one sauce would have been fine!

For an entree Pam had one of the daily specials, tiger prawns served with an asparagus risotto ($34) She pronounced it very good, but I thought the risotto was a little thick. I had the Mee Goreng ($24) a very good mixture of julienne vegetables, angel hair pasta with chicken and shrimp. It was very tasty, but might have had a little too much pasta (although I did eat the whole thing!)

Dessert was tiramisu for Pam, and chocolate coconut pie for me. (Both $8) The pie was more cake than pie, but tasty nonetheless. Pam enjoyed the tiramisu, but I thought it was a little small, being served in a small martini glass. Total bill with drinks was $109, without tip. It seems a little high, but still, we both thought it was well worth it. The music, the setting, the service – all impeccable.

Aruba, Vacations

Last day in Aruba for 2010

December 3, 2010 Maurice Leave a comment

Today was our last full day in Aruba, so we decided to hit our favorite beach. Boca Catalina was busy, our regular parking spot was taken! The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. We quickly jumped in the ocean, and were greeted by an amazing visibility. The ocean was clear and we could see for miles, it seemed!

We swam up to Malmok, and while I was taking pictures of a chain moray eel Pam called me urgently! She had spotted a turtle, half hiding under a rock. It’s still very exhilarating to see these guys in the ocean. I took a few shots, and we decided not to disturb her, when suddenly she just got up on her own and started going for a leisurely swim. We followed her and we were so close, we could reach out and touch her!

We swam with her for a long time, just enjoying the company. This area is usually filled with snorkeling ships, but there were none today. Later in the day we discovered there were no cruise ships in the harbor, so we figured there were not enough customers to fill the boats.

We saw another school of the torpedo shaped fish, we’ve called gauganche. They are really fast, and move very determinedly around the area. They look very suited to hunting, sleek and powerful.

Another turtle took our attention for a time. By this time a Pelican ship full of snorkelers had come on the scene. We called out to them that we’d sighted a turtle, and they all came swimming over. It’s always a big treat to see turtles, and you could see the grins and smiles on people’s faces right through their mouthpieces. We left them to enjoy her, and it was funny to look back and see thirty snorkelers all trailing off in the direction the turtle was headed!

We lazily swam around Malmok beach checking out some great fish. The visibility was clear as a bell, and we could see the tiniest little guys hanging around. We agreed it was time to head back, when we spotted another turtle! We followed her for a time, but by now we’d been in the water for nearly three hours, so broke it off and headed back to Boca beach.

We swam over the minor reef near Boca, and spotted a cornetfish. This was the first one we’d seen this trip! They are long fish, around five feet, but you can wrap your hands around their width. They are much like a trumpetfish, but have a long whip-like tail, so they are easy to distinguish. I’m posting two pictures of the same cornetfish.

Note the difference in the color. In the first picture you can see dark colored bands alternating with light blue bands. In the other, taken mere seconds later, (note the rocks beneath the fish – you can see both pictures were taken by the same rocks) you can clearly see blue streaks running down his length, with no dark banding.