Moving Day

In the process of moving house this weekend, so I'll try to get a picture up at some point, but it may be a day or two before I'm back up and running.

Stingray in Action

I glanced over this shot on my initial review, but I came back to it because I like how dynamic it is.  The blur around the stingray and on its outer fins is pretty cool (and I wish I could say that I planned any of that).

Fungi's On The Beach

If you find yourself on a boat and near water bay on the east end of St Thomas, you might want to pull your dinghy up to Fungi's.  The bar has a great location and a nice little dock.  They also cater to the boats moored in the bay, so you can order your food to go.

B&W Conch

Back underwater today for a close up view of a conch on the ocean floor.  I don't believe that this shell still had an inhabitant.

Shades of Blue

While it definitely looks like St Thomas, this is another shot from my summer holiday in Bermuda.  The shallow sandy bottom extends far away from the island producing such a great teal color in the water.

School

I managed to get quite close to this little school of fish on last weekend's dive.  Not sure what kind they are, but I'm happy with how the shot came out.

Blue Moon

Spent this afternoon at Secret Harbor on St Thomas.  I've been to Blue Moon Cafe for lunch a number of times but never spent any time on the beach.  The water was great and refreshing from the HOT sun today.

Backyard Foliage

Another shot of the plant life in the patio at my apartment.

Netting

With the amount of rain we've had this could almost be a shot from land, but its actually from a dive on Saturday on the Wreck of the Kennedy.  The barge has been there since the mid 80's and this net has been woven into the fabric of creatures growing around it.

Rain Rain Go Away

We've been doused with rain over the past week - a weather system has been sitting on top of the VI's for quite a while instead of moving on and bothering somebody else.  Parts of the complex where I live have been flooded out, mostly the walkways and parking lot.  Obviously this car's owner wasn't around to move it to the high side of the parking lot.

Jawfish

This little fish is one of my favorite fish ever.  The jawfish, with it's distinctive yellow head and white body, builds what could be considered a marvel of engineering for a home.  They build a burrow in the sand and swim vertically out of it and then reverse themselves into it (tail first) when danger comes close.  They look a bit like a cobra coming out of a basket when they have just their head poking above the sand.  

I saw a National Geographic video of a jawfish making it's home, and it was amazingly ornate.  Fully reinforced with bits of coral and rock, and then covered completely with sand to blend into the floor.  Maybe one day I'll have the patience to sit still and just watch these guys at work.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I was gone for a few weeks (both on the blog and in real life) to go to my sister's wedding.  She got married on a cruise ship and we sailed from Virginia to Bermuda.  While it's not a shot of the gorgeous beaches on St Thomas or St John, I thought I'd share a little of the beautiful beaches on Bermuda.  The sand was great and the water was shallow and that fantastic blue color.  The only problem is that the water was COLD (in comparison to the caribbean waters to which I've become acclimated).

Stingray

I went diving on Saturday morning and brought my underwater camera (for the first time in a while).  The seas were pretty rough, but underwater was nice and calm.  Saw this sting ray hiding in the sandy bottom on the first dive.  The colors underwater are usually so muted that a black and white conversion usually makes the picture pop a bit more.

Famous Tomatoes

My roommate has a very successful garden growing on our patio: tomatoes, basil, chives, mint, and other lovely edible plants.  We had some of the other variety of tomatoes in a caprese salad for dinner last week, so I thought I'd show off these delicious little grape tomatoes (or are they cherry tomatoes?).

Flowers After the Rain

Just after a brief rain shower in the afternoon, I went out into the patio and snapped a few pictures of the flowers.  I hadn't used my 50mm lens in quite a while, so I enjoyed playing with the shallow depth of field.

What a Long Holiday

So, technically I didn't specify which month my "I will be back on the 21st" message was referring too, but that's a pretty lame excuse.  The reality is that I fell off the habit of posting daily and it has been tough getting back into it.  To that point, I haven't really been taking photos and I've been procrastinating  - waiting for that "perfect" shot to get back into the swing of things.  In truth, I just need to put something up in order to get the ball rolling again.

To that end, here is a shot from last week that I captured while taking some lackluster sunset photographs.  Lets see if I can keep things going into tomorrow.