Saturday, February 06, 2016

More Barbados trip!

This trip was not long enough!! But we saw/did alot during our brief stay!

On the Atlantic Ocean side, we spotted some of those huge aloe plants - that have stalks that look so much like 10 foot tall asparagus stalks!



A typical street scene - narrow and hilly on the interior of the island. 



We stopped at the "Round House" - a 200 year old hotel - for a nice lunch.




Lovely, strange and un-even architecture on the interior.  Certainly wouldn't pass building codes today - but the test of time proves it structurally sound!!


Our little car - it did well....Duane did most of the driving - on the "wrong" side of the road!


View of the ocean from the Round House.



More Atlantic Ocean views.




We drove thru the countryside to a lighthouse.....was a little disappointing, but you don't always find treasures when you're hunting for them!


Pretty view, though!



We spent the better part of one day on a dive boat - Reefers and Wreckers was the name of the small company.





Pat used my camera and snapped this unusually sweet photo of Duane and myself!



Pat getting ready for the first dive.



Pat on the descent to our first reef dive.



Duane -



Sorry for all the "blue" on my photos.  I don't have a good program to "clean up" the color balance.

I need a better camera with better filters!


Here is a dreaded LionFish.....they are an invasive species in the Caribbean - they were brought from Asia and don't have any predators due to their stinging spines.  They create an imbalance on the reef by eating too many of the small fish and animals.

They are beautiful, though!   Divers all over the Caribbean spear them to try to control the overpopulation. 



I alerted our dive-master Phillip to the Lion Fish - he came with his spear and took care of business!  The yellow tube is his container to carry the Lion Fish back to the surface.



Just a pretty reef dive - around 65 feet was the deepest we were.


Back on the boat for our "surface interval" (the time we have to wait between dives to allow our bodies to get rid of the nitrogen that has accumulated in our blood while we were diving.



Our second dive was a shallow one - only about 30 feet - along a large dock.  I was surprised that they would dive at a place like that - but it was actually a great dive!  Lots of fish and we stayed underwater for 70 minutes!  My longest dive ever.  (You can stay underwater longer at shallow depths because you do not use as much of your air tank).

Pretty juvenile French Angel fish.


I believe this is a Triggerfish



Another Lion Fish


And this was the coolest "new to me" find - a Flying Gurnard.  He swims along with the "wings" at his side - then occasionally spreads the "wings" and they're vibrant blue!


Short video of the Flying Gurnard:





A yellow Trumpet fish and what I believe is a Spotted Drum.






Some more juvenile French Angels








Lobsters!!!  They were all just hanging around under the ledge.



More than I had ever seen in one place before!





Phillip spears another Lion Fish!




A Trunk Fish - this one's body is shaped roughly like a triangle.


And a Balloon Fish - these are funny looking with their spiny skin!





A beautiful adult French Angel Fish



And more juveniles.



And on our way back to the dive boat office, we passed a crew of local fishermen hauling in their catch of the day!


2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Lovely tour of the island. Not like being there, though, I'm sure. Welcome change from our weather here. MOM

affectioknit said...

...nice dive...

Love,

T