Q'est-ce que c'est?

I was convinced these were "scotch bonnet" shells until I learned yesterday from my favorite shelling blog (and subsequent research) that scotch bonnets are a very rare find. So either A) Statia is a previously unknown breeding ground for them, B) I'm just really really lucky, or C) More likely, they're not scotch bonnets at all. In any event, they're pretty to look at.

My two favorites. I know the one on the right is really worn down, but I love love love the calico coloring.

If anyone out there can enlighten me, please do.

Not a baby iguana

Lianna and I were sure this was a baby iguana, but Jon glanced at the picture then looked at us like we were simple.

(Scroll down, I posted like a hundred times today.)

The usual

Photo dump!

Pearl asking complete strangers for beach toys.

My favorite dog! Lately she's been following us all the way to the beach to play.

Digging a tunnel with Lianna

Lianna's parents are visiting!! Their house was my second home in back in high school. Best thing ever - they're both named Lyn(n), so we lovingly refer to them as "The Lynns". Makes me laugh every time.

There was once a time when I knew the name of these creatures, but that time has passed. Super cool and prehistoric looking. I sure wish this picture was in focus.

Frisbee - Lianna and her dad

Nice catch

Squids! Hard to see, but they're there.



Pearl, kite, Zeelandia



I used to tell myself I won't miss this place when we leave, but I'm starting to realize that I was horribly mistaken. Six weeks to go.

Virtual Snorkeling

Our little underwater camera takes decent videos, though I've never had luck posting them to my blog. They always turn out grainy and awful, even when I don't compress the quality. Does Blogger do that automatically? Anyway, here's an assortment of videos I've taken snorkeling the past few days that hopefully aren't a complete eyesore.

Huge school of blue tang? I think? Watch for a lurking puffer fish at about 17 seconds:



The sea turtle! These are of the first one we saw, on Monday. In this first video, things get weird partway through because I dived down for a closer view:






Moray eel! I think. We'll just call it that, because it was an eel, and it had a really ugly face (photo in a future blog post). Beautiful color though - purple and yellow:



Trumpetfish! First one I've seen.


I looked up info on this thing and found out that trumpetfish are closely related to cornetfish. Go figure.

Guess who's having the best! week! ever!

ME!!!

This happened on Monday:

In the grips of an internal struggle. "It's so close I could touch it, but I won't, but I want to, but I won't"

Oh yeah, and Jon was there. We swam with it for over a half-hour. It would be no exaggeration to say it was one of the highlights of my life.


Then this happened on Tuesday:


Then this happened on Wednesday:


Also on Wednesday:


A BLUE BEAD. I finally found a blue bead!!! After only a year and a half of looking.



I can now die happy.

A Week of Sunsets

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Of course, the week I finally succeeded taking a photo of each sunset was the most cloudless week of the year, and everyone knows that clouds = the best sunsets. So maybe I'll try again another time, but no promises, because this was sort of a giant pain in the butt.

'A' for Effort

Over the past couple days, I took some beachy engagement snapshots for our friend Eric and his fiancé Cara (who was visiting the island and left today). They’re two of my favorite people and getting married in May to return together for the summer term. I’m so disappointed they didn’t meet a few months earlier when that arrangement could have benefited ME in any way. Instead, she’s arriving just as I’m leaving Statia for good.

I understand the irony in me taking engagement pictures given my thoughts in general of the gross oversaturation of the mediocre photographer market, my recent Twitter activity, and considering the fact that I am miles away from being even an amateur. I made sure they knew what I was before the decision was final, and it’s not like I charged them any money so stop looking at me like that. I told them that (A) I was confident in my ability to take at least one in-focus picture of the two of them, if they couldn’t find ANYONE else to do it, and (B) if one of them grew a huge zit at any point during the picture-taking, I could take care of it with Photoshop. That was all I promised.

Here are my favorites:

Photo Catch-Up

I'm going to be honest, my heart really isn't in this post. It's not exciting by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm falling behind on pictures, so here it is.

Jon and Eric, hiking the Quill:


Me, going into the crater. I had battle wounds at the end.











Snorkeling around (hi, dog):



Jon, feeling brave because of the ray's stumpy tail:

So many fish:



Puffer - you can see its spines!!





Day at the park:

Me trying out the torture device Lianna carries all over this island:





Interesting: