Diving at Shacks

 
 
 
 
The water was unbelievably spectacularly, gloriously wonderful today. So, we grabbed the dive gear and headed out to Shacks for some fun in the water. Never gets old! Found a baby octopus, a cowfish, and yet another lionfish today. After ooohing and ahhhing the lionfish, we decided it was our civic duty to remove it from the reef (apparently they eat some 300 different species, and with no natural predators here, they can wreak havoc) but he was smarter than us and darted away.

As if there were any doubt why I love this man

 
 
 

Flora and Fauna

 
 
 
 
First picture is my favorite fern on the back patio. Then my orchid, which is totally blooming its heart out. Last 2 pictures are of an old gnarled tree trunk that I've always been smitten with.

Saturday night Shootin

 
 
 

Saturday was a great day spent at Las Cascadas waterpark with Cory and Jordan - it was shiny, sparkly clean and splashy, and we essentially had the park to ourselves the whole day. Heaven! Unfortunately, I am totally sans underwater camera right now, so no good pictures to show for that part of the day. Steve and I came home tuckered from a day of fun in the sun and water, and played video games all night long. You know it's a good night of gaming when the helo helmet comes out.

Our favorite hardware store

 
 

This store is right around the corner from where we live, and I absolutely love it. It doesn't matter what you need; somewhere in the bowels of this building, you will find it. Add in the fact that it has blazing yellow painted corinthian colums in front, and how can you go wrong? I was enough in love with the first picture of it. But, when Steve came sauntering out, matching it like a pair of prom shoes, well that just pushed my love over the top. (if you look closely, you'll see that Steve's boondogle this shopping trip was "his-n-hers" machetes. Nothin says romance like...)

We teach Mom to play wii...

 
 


And she then proceeds to kick both our butts! My mama can play one mean game of darts, let me tell you!

Catching Up!

 
 
 
 

More shots of the rainforest. In the last 2 pictures, you can see more of those humongous ferns. I love the big fiddleheads that are sprouting up from the top of them!

Catching up!

 
 
 
 

Here are more pictures of the rainforest, making good on it's name. Man, did it ever rain that day!

Catching Up!

 
 
 
 

Ok - it's been too long since I've updated the blog! Here are some of the pictures from the last weekend Mom was here on the island. The first three were taken here in Isabela, on a heck of a rainy, foggy day. The last picture was of one of the 20 foot tall ferns in the rainforest.

Trail through the foliage

Loved the quality of te light today. Unfortunately, camera batteries
dead, so just phone to try and catch the sunbeams!

Rail bed at Guajataca

End of the road

One of the cool thongs about Guajataca beach is that it's still got an
old railroad tunnel and portion of the railbed that you can walk down.
This is where the rr trail ends, and routes you down to the beach

Mom enjoying the Caribbean blues

Guajataca beach

Guajataca beach

Guajataca beach

So far, I think this has been mom's favorite beach.

Nice roots!

Baby lizard!

I just never get tired of these little guys. This one was really friendly - he would have stayed and hung out on my hand or mom's shirt all night long!