Hermit Crab

Hans Lollik is covered in hermit crabs.  I guess they like to congregate together, because I saw a pile of a few hundred all scurrying over each other on the beach.  This one was pulled out for a friendly hermit-crab-race - but I don't think it was the winner.

From the Top

At least, pretty close to the top of Hans Lollik, looking across at St Thomas and St John.

Looking Out

Looking out at St Thomas (and St John in the distance) from Hans Lollik.  The island is pretty big, in terms of minor outlying islands in the VIs, and has a great view from the top (more on that coming tomorrow).

Hans Lollik

This shot is from the beach of Hans Lollik, a smaller island off the north side of St Thomas.  I have no idea why these two posts are stuck in the sand, but I thought they looked pretty cool.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Mrs. USVI Daily Photo.  The shot above is from almost a year ago at Coki Beach.

Structurally Sound

This house up the hill from my apartment looks like its being held up by some rather interesting supports.  I was definitely keeping an eye on it during Hurricane Earl to see if it would topple, but I suppose the mess of crooked timbers underneath is stronger than it looks.

Transformation

Its amazing to me how the ocean can take something like a sunken ship and have it teeming with life in just a few years.

Palm Tree And Water

Hard to argue with a view like this.

Cargo

A large cargo ship heading out of the main harbor - and being led out of the channel by the harbor pilot.  Captured this shot at sunset from my balcony the other day.

Sunset and Palms

Sunset from Cabrita Point on the East End of St Thomas.

Night Lights

A dark shot of the Celebrity Solstice leaving harbor, with some intensely bright lights on its stern.  You can also see the Norwegian Pearl as a bright light off in the distance - headed for either Puerto Rico or St Martin depending on which way they are navigating around the Caribbean.

Warm Sky

Looking out of the harbor before sunset.

Red Hook At Night

Looking across the water at Red Hook from Cabrita Point a few night ago.

Coral Forest

Attempting a macro shot underwater is not the easiest task, but I like the way this one came out.

Allure

The Allure of the Seas is the sister-ship to the Oasis of the Seas.  Both are absolutely massive ships, but the Allure is actually 6 cm longer than her twin.  Both ships can carry almost six thousand passengers, which means downtown Charlotte Amalie can get crowded in a hurry when they're in port (in addition to the three other ships on the other side of the harbor on Wednesday).  Makes me glad I don't have to make that commute every day.

Diver in B&W

Not the clearest water, but a nice shot of Mrs. USVI Daily Photo at about 95 feet with the wreck of the Grainton in the background

Sunset In The Harbor

Sunset over some boats in the harbor.

Celebrity Cruise

I went on an afternoon / evening sailing trip yesterday and cruised around the harbor.  There were four ships in port on Wednesday and two of them went right by us on their way out.  This cruise ship is the Celebrity Solstice, up close and personal.

Eerie and Blue

An eerie shot from my recent dive.  There's not much going on inside of this shot, but I like the mood.

This wreck is absolutely huge, I think we only made it around a third of the ship or less.  At such depth, you only get 15-20 minutes of no-decompression time to check out the wreck.  But that also makes for a perfectly good excuse to go back another day.

Trunkfish

Another shot of one of my favorite fish - the spotted trunkfish.  They really are one of the goofiest looking fish in the ocean, but pretty nonetheless.

Towards the Light

Following divers through one of the many channels that span across Armando's Paradise (the name of the dive site).  One of the former employees of St Thomas Diving Club (Armando, to be precise) dove this area extensively and apparently documented every fish that one can find in the Caribbean (at least, all of the fish listed on the fish identification cards like this one).  It's easy to see how, the whole reef was teeming with life and was a great follow-up dive to the deep wreck earlier in the morning.  Check out more about the site here.

Nurse Shark

We saw a number of nurse sharks on our dive yesterday, along with 2 black tip reef sharks (no pictures of them).  What an awesome dive, definitely worth another visit soon.

Lionfish Sightings

Had a great dive today with St Thomas Diving Club.  We did a deep dive called the Grainton, a great wreck with tons of life and a bottom depth of about 110 feet.  Saw multiple nurse sharks, black tip reef sharks, and (pictured above) lionfish.  There were actually 2 lionfish spotted on the wreck (one by Mrs. USVI Daily photo!).  Both of them were marked by our dive master and called in to the Lionfish Hotline (340-643-0800).

Lionfish are a serious problem in the Virgin Islands.  They are not a natural species and have poisonous spines all over them and thus have no natural predators.  Once they find a home on a reef (or wreck in this case) they can take over the food supply and drive out all of the fish in the area.  The Lionfish Hotline takes tips from divers and then goes out and captures or kills the invasive fish.

Thanks everybody for your comments about what you'd like to see.  I'll definitely keep a variety of photos going on the blog, with a few more of the USVI's beautiful beaches thrown in for good measure.

What Do You Want to See?

I thought I'd throw the question out to you: What do you want to see on USVI Daily Photo?

More sunny beaches?
More "life in St Thomas"?
More people?

I try not to put up picture after picture of blue skies and sunny beaches, but maybe that's just because I find it repetitive.  Do the beach pictures help you live vicariously in the islands (while dreading even more snow shoveling waiting for you outside)?

Let me know in the comments.

Downtown Alley

A little bit of leftover Christmas spirit in one of the many alleys in downtown Charlotte Amalie.

Palm Trunk

An up close shot of a very scarred palm tree trunk.  I like this one in black and white, but I wish I had a cleaner looking background to make the tree really pop out.

Pelicans

I was trying to get a shot of the pelican sitting on the tree out in the water when another one swooped into the shot.

Green

I love the harsh shadows and bright green contrast in this shot.

Waves at Reef Bay

The reward for making it to the bottom of the 2.6 mile long Reef Bay Trail is a nice dip in Reef Bay itself.

Theme Day: Photo of the Year 2010

This month's theme (which you haven't seen here in a while) is Photo Of The Year 2010.  One of my favorite photos from 2010 was captured on Sandy Spit in the BVIs.  I had a couple of these printed and framed for Christmas presents, and I think I'm going to get another one framed to display on my wall as well.

FYI - if you're looking for a great frame shop on St Thomas, I can highly recommend Mango Tango as the place to go.  Their framer is fantastic and they helped me pick out a wonderful matte and frame combination to match this photo.  They even helped me package everything up so it wouldn't break getting shipped back to the states.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants