Carnival

Carnival is happening this week downtown.  I stopped yesterday after work and took a few shots - this one of a very festive (but empty) merry go round.

Powerboat

A powerboat speeding towards St Thomas, captured from the car barge a few weeks ago.

Cheeto Close-Up

Following from yesterday's picture, here's a close up of the crab attempting to pull this rather large cheeto into its hole.  It took quite a while for me to get this close without frightening the crab away.

Cheetos and Crabs

It turns out that if you put a cheeto on the beach, the crabs that live there will go crazy for it.

Waterfalls

The walk up to the top of Trafalgar Falls in Dominica provides quite a few spectacular views.

Blues

I love the water at Cinnamon Bay on St. John.  The big puffy clouds were a nice touch on this particular day a few weeks ago.

Coconut on Black Sand

A much closer view of the coconut that either ruined or was the focal point of a previous shot.  Happy Saturday! I'm off for a fun day of boating.

Footprints

These footprints (in a black sand beach on Dominica) were captured right at the end of the day.  The low light and long exposure captured the rushing waves about to wash the footprints away.  I like the idea here, but I think it could have been executed better.

Sunset

Sunset over the calm water in Dominica.

Spanny Falls

One of the many waterfalls in Dominica.  I really like the simplicity of this shot.

Reef Bay Waves

Looking out over Reef Bay to the secluded grouping of houses beyond.

Car Barge

Whoops! This weekend came and went and no pictures went on the blog.  Yesterday was a very fun-filled and busy day of boating (after which I promptly came home and slept for 12 hours).  I don't really have any excuse for Saturday though, aside from sheer laziness.

Here are two pictures from the car barge to make up for it.

The Roanoke feels so much more like a touristy mode of transportation.  There's a big open deck with plenty of seating, a little snack stand where you can get drinks, and the very noticeable palm trees. 

There's also this great sign just outside of the bridge. I think the Roanoke could be my favorite car barge, even if they run half as often as the other guys.

Reef Bay Trail

At the start of the Reef Bay trail - 2.6 miles from the main road down to the water.  The 2.6 miles down isn't that bad actually, it's the 2.6 miles on the way back up that make you sweat.

Wild Pineapple

This crazy looking plant is a wild pineapple, captured along the Reef Bay trail.  It looks fairly similar in shape to a regular pineapple plant, except for the bright red leaves extending from the top.  The fruit starting to grow from the top certainly didn't look like a pineapple just yet - although I don't know what a fully grown wild pineapple would look like.

Black Sand

This is a shot from "Number 1 Beach" in Dominica.  The black sand was beautiful, and almost mirror-like down by the water.  The only thing I didn't like about this shot is that darn coconut in the middle of the whole thing.  Oh well.

Reef Bay

Around the corner from yesterday's shot, this expanse of Reef Bay was completely isolated, with the exception of an egret.  If the sand were a bit softer, it would be the perfect place to soak up some sunshine.  I love how calm and green the water was close to shore, especially with the breakers crashing behind it.

Reef Bay

A shot from Reef Bay on St. John.  The beach at Reef Bay wasn't really anything special, but the hike was very pretty and full of history of the sugar mill that used to operate there.

An Egret at Reef Bay

Took a trip to St. John today and hiked the Reef Bay Trail (with pictures from that coming soon).  Down by the water was this egret, eagerly hunting fish, and no doubt annoyed by my presence there.  I really like how calm the water was and the great reflection that I got from the egret.

More Waterfalls

The water at Trafalgar Falls was beautiful and cold (with the obvious exception of the natural hot springs).

Trafalgar Falls

This is a shot of one of the two massive waterfalls that you can see at Trafalgar Falls in Dominica.  There is also a great hot springs that you can relax in.  Nothing quite like sitting in a natural hot tub and watching waterfalls crash all around you.

Crazy Eyes

When its not lighting up those radiant blue circles all over it's body, this flounder is nearly impossible to spot underwater.  Those eyes (which start on both sides of the head and move to one side as the fish gets older) look really wild up close.  I'm glad somebody in the dive group found this one so I could snap a picture.

Sunset

Sadly the horizon was hazy, so this was the last good shot of the sunset I could get.

Champagne Beach

A shot from Champagne Beach in Dominica.  The beach is named for bubbles that rise out of the coral near the small outcropping to the right of the picture.  Unfortunately there were no bubbles to be seen when we were there late in the afternoon.  The big rocks that make up the beach weren't that comfortable, but the waves crashing against them provided the perfect backdrop to watch the sunset.

Bird Of Paradise

I think that's the name for this flower, but I could be wrong.  I took a trip this past weekend to Dominica, so there may be a few shots from a different island on the blog this coming week.

Overcast Cinnamon Bay

A shot of the beach at Cinnamon Bay on a relatively overcast day (no rain, just clouds throughout the day).

Boards For Rent

You can rent all sorts of watercraft at Cinnamon Bay - catamarans, windsurf boards, kayaks, paddle boards and long and short surf boards.  The waves weren't so great on the day I was there, but the wind was up, so most of the people were renting paddle boards and going windsurfing.  These lonely surf boards will just have to wait for another day.

Roanoke

As On-St John.com noted a few weeks ago, the car barge Roanoke is back in action.  I caught this shot as the barge I was on headed to St John and the Roanoke headed back towards St Thomas.

Theme Day: Red

It's theme day again, and this month's theme is Red.  Above is one of my favorite fish in the Caribbean - the Squirrelfish.  They hang out under just about every coral head you can find and their bright red color and enormous eyes make them easy to spot.

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