A tropical breeze

I woke up to it being 41 degrees this morning. I wasn't quite ready for that chill so I thought a little tropical breeze might be in order.

The passing of a good friend

My good friend Marion, known as Parker to everyone on the blog, passed away on Thursday.

We spent a lot of hours in the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma hiking and talking and learning from each other.

His wife Charlotte wanted me to let everyone know that he passed away. He had been suffering from ALS and it finally got the best of him.

He will truly be missed as a friend, a hiking partner, a historian and a great story teller.

Farewell my friend.

Late bloomers...

I found these Blackberry blossoms a couple of weeks ago and took a few pictures. I'm thinking they are either 3 months too late or 9 months early!

Hitting rock bottom

Even though I wasn't overly enamored with the Virgin Islands I will say the snorkeling was pretty good. They have different coral there than what you find in Hawaii so it made it interesting to be in the water. I definitely preferred being in the water than being on land.

Hardy Bay Rainbows

A couple of Rainbow pictures from Hardy Bay.

Huge Blackbird!

I did a double take when I saw this huge Blackbird in a tree...

Turns out it wasn't a bird at all...

 It was a Black Bear chowing down on Crab Apples!

Sunrise on St. Croix

Out of the two weeks we were there I think we had two decent sunrises. The rest were without clouds and just bright sun, nothing to give the sky a nice texture and color. The sunsets were about the same too. The skies just were not cooperating. 

After the first week I just gave up trying to get a good sunset photo and concentrated on getting a good cocktail! 

Fort Christiansvaern

The fort is part of a national historical site and has been since 1952.

Christiansted, one of the two main cities on St. Croix, was the capital of the Danish West Indies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The fort was originally built in 1738. The drawing I have included I found on the internet (Wikipedia) and  it was made of the fort in 1836.

So there you have it, your history lesson for the day. No go out there and conquer the world!

Colorful Coral

We spent a couple of days snorkeling the Fredricksted Pier while on St. Croix. It's on the west end of the island and the water is exceptionally calm there.

If you ever take a trip to St. Croix and plan on spending most of your time in the water then staying on the west end is the thing to do. The only thing you have to watch out for is Sundays. Except for two dive shops, a KFC and a pizza place, EVERYTHING else is closed unless there is a cruise ship in port.

Our first snorkel trip to the pier was on a Sunday and I actually liked it. We probably only saw 10 other people in the whole town! Nice and quiet, just the way I like it!

Catching some rays II

This is a spotted eagle ray. I ran into three of these in a patch of sea grass looking for something to eat.

They weren't as friendly as the large manta ray I came across before. They didn't want me getting any where near them and "flew" off as soon as I started to get close.

I was looking around a lot more on this swim so I saw them long before they saw me!  I let the ocean current take me into where they were which is the only reason I got as close as I did.

Named by a pirate maybe?

This is the flower from the tree that forms the "fruit".

And this is the "fruit". The inside is supposed to be edible but I couldn't find anybody that had ever actually eaten the fruit.

What's the name of this really weird tree? 

It's a "cannonball tree". Really, that's the actual name! I can see where they could get the name. The fruit grows to about the same size as a "standard" ship cannon ball.

Say hello to my little friend

I came across this fellow while wondering around the island of St. Croix. He wasn't really to happy with me sticking my camera lens in his face!

Oh My, what big teeth you have

 

Just a barracuda looking for a meal.

This one was about 4 feet long swimming through small schools of fish trying to catch something to eat.

Funky potato

My neighbor waved me over a couple of days ago and wanted to show me the funky potato he'd just dug up, so I took their picture!

Catching some rays

 

And you thought I was just laying on the beach somewhere drinking beer.

 

The wing span on this one was over six feet wide which made him very, very big. Especially when he got close. Apparently he had circled me in the water a few times before I even saw him because when I got out of the water there were lots of people gawking at the ray and me because he was so large you could see him underwater from the shore.

 

The fact he had circled me a few times before I saw him made me a little nervous in hindsight. Had he been a shark instead of a ray I might have had a serious problem!

Vitamen Sea

We got tired of working so we took an early vacation. It's not Hawaii but it is an island. We are spending two weeks on St. Croix just to get away from the craziness of work.

These are considered an invasive species and are hunted/fished as much as possible because they are killing off the other fish in the area.

What is it? It is called a Lionfish. I found this one out in front of the condo we are staying at in about 6 feet of water.

Bad Hair Day

A Myna bird that was a little ruffled around the edges.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Just a couple of shots from Minnesota.

Sign, sign...

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery, breaking my mind

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

(5 Man Electrical Band 1970)

Daydreaming

My "happy place"!