2010 - Year in Review

It has been a fun first year with USVI Daily Photo.  According to my calendar, instead of 365 days in a year, apparently there are only 222 (and the month of November doesn't exist at all).  I've enjoyed taking pictures around the islands and sharing them with all of you.

I'm going to do my best to bring that number quite a bit closer to where it should be in 2011.  Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement.  Happy New Year!

Crash!

The waves on the north side of St Thomas (and the rest of the islands I imagine) have been pretty violent last week.  This picture is from the eastern point of Hull Bay.

Lounging by the Pool

An adorable bulldog that we're dog-sitting for over the holidays lounging by her backyard pool.

Pelicans On A Perch

A couple of pelicans sitting on a perch and preening themselves before flying off to catch another fish.

Hiking Reef Bay

I haven't been over to St John in a while, so yesterday I went to do a hike on the Reef Bay Trail.  The trail has been mangled a bit by all of the rain during Hurricane Otto and the storms after.  Large portions of the trail were tangled with deep guts and there was a bit more scrambling over rocks than the last time.

Boat Parade

Another shot of the Miracle On Main Street boat parade.  You can see the line of boats circling around in the background.

Merry Christmas

As part of the Miracle on Main Street celebration, they have a boat parade right in the harbor.  A bunch of boats get lit up and cruise in a big circle along the water front, throwing out candy to the spectators.  Merry Christmas!

Miracle On Main Street

This was my first time to Miracle On Main Street - a street fair held every year in downtown Charlotte Amalie.  They keep all of the shops open (which are normally only open during the day when cruise ships are in town) and have steel drum bands, food and a boat parade (pictures of that coming tomorrow).

Footprints

Some footprints in the sand (my own footprints actually).

Enjoying The Scenery

Some friends enjoying the view with the island of Jost Van Dyke in the background.

Splash!

Waves crashing in on an exposed rock on Sandy Spit.  The whole beach has eroded away considerably (from my memory at least) after Hurricane Earl (and maybe some of Otto as well).  Hopefully it'll get back to normal in a few months.

Sandy Spit

Another beautiful day on Sandy Spit in the BVIs.

Driftwood

A large and cool looking piece of drift wood washed up on Sandy Spit.

Smuggler's Cove

As I think I've said before, Smuggler's on Tortola is one of my favorite beaches in the VIs.  Great sand and great water, this shot is from a few weeks ago on a boating trip.

Merry Christmas

Well, it's been quite a while since I've put anything up here, huh?  I wish I had an excuse, but its mostly laziness.  I'm going to try and get back into the habit for the rest of the year and on into next year.

To (re-)start here's a palm tree in a friend's backyard on the East end of St Thomas.  It is a little bit difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when the weather is in the high 80's and sunny.  Although I probably wouldn't trade this weather for the snow that most of the continent is getting right now.

Farming On Vacation

As I mentioned, I was in North Dakota last week.  It was part work, part vacation and a large part of farming.  I had a great time driving the grain truck (big-rig truck not pictured) as we brought in the corn harvest.

In the Waves

Beer in hand - life is good.

Sandy Spit

After a very long hiatus depriving you of sunny beach pictures, I am back.  I was on a much needed break to the mainland to get my fill of the good ol' USofA.  After a week or so of some cold weather in North Dakota though I am ready to soak up the sun and enjoy the Virgin Islands.

Detail Shot - Downtown Shutters

I like the high contrast in this shot, despite not having much context.  Everything is boarded up downtown on Sundays - no cruise ship in port means no tourists means no reason to open up shop.

Window

A fun remnant of a building near Government Hill in downtown Charlotte Amalie.  There were a bunch of chickens in the little open space behind this window, I only managed to get one rooster into the shot.

Its a dull and rainy day today, the type of day where you just want to stay home and not venture outside at all.  I would say the type of day where you can sit on the couch under some blankets with a cup of hot cocoa, but its still way too hot for any of those things.

Real Grapes

As a nice juxtaposition from yesterday's Sea Grapes photo, here are some real grapes.  They're not from St Thomas however - Mrs. USVI Daily Photo took this picture on a trip to Kosovo.  I'm sure she can give you some more details in the comments.

Sea Grapes

A nice little bunch of sea grapes on a tree by the beach (shot from Cabrita Point).  I thought that these were genips at first, but a little research proved me wrong.

Sidestreet

One of the many streets downtown that connects to Water Street and looks out over the harbor.  The rusted lock from yesterday was on the third window in this picture.

Rusty Lock

Went for a walk downtown on Sunday to take some pictures.  Almost all of the shops are closed on Sundays, and I was perplexed by the sheer number of locks on the doors - some had 3 or more locks to secure a single door.  Seemed like a bit of overkill.

This door only had one lock, and the salty air is doing its best to make this lock fall apart.

Palm Tree

Looking skyward for this shot.  The wind was really whipping around, so it was tough to get a nice shot of the palm fronds spread out nicely.

Little Frog

I saw this little guy stuck to my wall as I got home and immediately ran to grab my camera and flash.  It moved down the ground in that time, so I improvised this shot (sprawled on the ground, holding the flash almost directly above the frog while framing the shot in the other hand).  Not much context in the shot, but I like the washed out background.  For reference, it was about an inch and a half long.

Stormy Weather

The moon should have been rising just above St John in the distance, but the weather had something to say about my plans for a pretty picture.  The wind was blowing really strong, as you can see from the surface of the water.

Dusk on the Beach

I went out yesterday to capture some pictures of what should have been a super harvest moon last night, but the air was way too hazing to get anything good.  I took a few pictures around Cabrita Point to pass the time waiting for a lackluster moon.

Birds In Flight

A line of birds skating across the ocean on a calm day.

Weekend Adventurer

You can see the one and only Weekend Adventurer snorkeling back to the beach at Stumpy Bay in the middle of the picture.

Stumpy Rocks Part 2

A wider view of the rocks from Friday's picture at Stumpy Bay on the west side of St Thomas.

Pelican On Its Perch

The same pelican from a couple of days ago, this time sitting and watching.

Stumpy Rocks

Close up on the rocks in the middle of Stumpy Bay from last weekend's trip.  I'm learning to be a little more adventurous with my DSLR and taking it more "risky" places (like anywhere close to the water).

Stumpy Bay

Looking out from Stumpy Bay this past weekend.  The beach was half rocky and half sandy, but completely deserted, as I'm sure The Weekend Adventurer will tell you all about soon.

Pelican

Pelican flying from one perch to the next.  I only wish the sky were a little more dramatic.

Weather

One of the interesting things about living in St Thomas is that it can be a bright and sunny day in one part of the 13 mile long island, and a torrential downpour in another part.  I captured this tiny bit of rain on the south side of the island shortly before pulling my laundry in off the line this morning.

Sunset

A great sunset a few nights ago as I was leaving the office.

Stumpy Bay

Took a trip with The Weekend Adventurer to Stumpy Bay on the west end of St Thomas today.  Our beach day was cut short by a bit of nasty weather that's been in and out of the area all day, but we still had a fun time.

Cabrita Point

Looking back towards Red Hook from Cabrita Point.  That palm took a bit of a beating during Earl, but it held up pretty well.

Repair Work

Not the most exciting picture, I know, but it does show WAPA finally getting to the light pole that has been leaning ominously over the drive to work.  The leaning light pole is still there, but now there's a brand new one right next to it.  Progress!

Pre-Earl Sailboat

Not sure how this sailboat faired in the storm, but quite a few were rock solid on their moorings around the islands (a few were also tossed about and ended up on various beaches).  This shot is from boating last weekend, captured on Sandy Spit looking towards Jost Van Dyke.  From what I hear, the BVIs took a much harder beating from Earl than St Thomas and St John did.

Great Invention, or Greatest Invention?

These Armor Screens are absolutely fantastic.  They anchor at the top and bottom of the balcony and cut the wind speed by up to 90%.  So when 150mph winds hit them, you feel a 15mph breeze inside the balcony.  They are stretched tight from top to bottom, but allow enough wind to pass around them that the pressure doesn't build up and rip them from their anchors.

Looks like we might get a chance to try them again with Gaston coming up next week!

Aftermath

Some of the trees at the top of the driveway (the ones in the background of yesterday's picture).

Some of the banana trees on our property were knocked out.  We still have a few that are standing, the ones nearest to the house were more protected.

This seems to be the extent of the damage around the island.  Lots of downed trees (and the power lines they were near), but I haven't seen too much structural damage.

Just a little on the windy side

Well, that was certainly an interesting night.  I don't think very many people expected the storm to get quite that bad - the talk throughout the weekend was that we'd have a glancing blow from a Category 1 storm, not a raging Category 4.  This shot is from our front door around 5 in the afternoon.  The winds really picked up around 8 or 9 and got a little crazy.  We were well protected, both being on the leeward side of the building, as well as the generator, wind screens on the balcony and hurricane shutters on the windows.

Haven't ventured out of our apartment complex just yet to see what other havoc Earl has caused.  There was a curfew in effect from 6pm last night to 9am this morning, not that I would have been on the roads then in any case.

Now lets just hope we don't see any sort of repeat from Fiona.

In The Middle Of It

Right in the middle of it at the moment - from NOAA.  Still online thanks to the generator and WiMAX internet.  Power's been out since about 11 am, but we're hunkered down and ready for Earl to move on out of here.

Sandy Spit

A great day for boating yesterday.  Stopped at one of our usual beaches off Jost Van Dyke.

We're getting prepped for Hurricane Earl to head our way tomorrow, fingers crossed that we don't get hit with anything too nasty.

Blue Skies and Blue Water

Alright, last shot of Trunk Bay (for now) - I just had to get some of those puffy clouds on here.

Coconut

A little bit more up close than my last coconut shot.

Clear Water

Some unbelievably clear water in Tortola.

Trunk Bay

Another shot from Trunk Bay in Tortola.  Great sand and great water!