KTJ comes home

And somebody is pretty happy about it!

Two months ago we adopted a three-year-old filly. She was rescued from the racetrack here on the island by our friends at Hacienda Siesta Alegre (Save The Horses). Elaine first rode her about six months ago and just absolutely fell in love with this horse. For a variety of reasons KTJ has been staying at Ramey Riding Club (aka, "the ranch") up on top of the cliff behind us. We spent most of the last week - with much help from our nephew Ben - building a "stall" for her and a corral sturdy enough to contain both horses when our neighbors, the property owners, come to use the house.

Yesterday we brought KTJ down from the ranch to her new home. She and Chocolate met for the first time. "Dark chocolate" and "milk chocolate" appear to be a great combination: it was love at first sight. Of course, there's plenty of horseplay that goes with that as well as figuring out who's herd leader when it's just the two of them. So far Chocolate, although a pony by comparison, seems to be the dominant one. We'll see how long that lasts. KTJ seems to have quickly and easily adapted to her new home and new companion.

Next on the list will be her first visit to the beach - happening later this morning. Updates to follow... :-) :-)

You can see more photos of KTJ's homecoming on Flickr.

Hope you had a fabulous Fourth

We kept alive our now annual tradition of KAPping (Kite Aerial Photography) one of our local beaches on the 4th. This year is was Jobos, a beach about a mile and an half from Ola Lola's.

Jobos is a popular beach on any summer weekend but gets insane on holidays. Traffic past the beach and parking in the Jobos area get so bad, the police close the road. While the holiday spirit on the beach is fun - music, bar-be-ques, partying, swimming - the trash that gets left behind is tragic.

Except for taking pictures, we tend to stay away from the crowded beaches like Jobos. We much prefer our little beach where a "crowd" is a hundred people on two miles of beach. But it is fun to KAP at Jobos. It is colorful. As we walked along the edge of the beach taking pictures, Elaine remarked, "It's like being inside a gumball machine." That's a great description.

You can see more pictures from this set on our Flickr page.

Oh, happy 4th of July, a day late.

Happy Birthday, Kennedy

Happy birthday to our Boo.

A day for adventures

Yesterday started early and ran late as we crammed several adventures into one day.

First up, we went to Rincon to do the horse trail ride down there. We've done the trail ride down the road from us several times (and Elaine rides some of the same route almost every day) and we wanted to see what the Rincon ride was like. The Rincon ride, Pintos-R-Us, has great well-mannered and well-cared for horses. Julie, the owner/trail guide, was wonderful with our group of eight riders. The ride wound through some beautiful trails through forests and along the beaches around the point of Rincon. The Rincon ride doesn't spend as much time on the beach as the local ride nor does it have as much opportunity for riders to trot or canter if they wish. All in all it was fun, easy ride. It was a different experience from the local ride, which is what we expected and actually what we hoped for.

From Rincon our adventures took us south to Mayaquez and the experience of two hours of pre-holiday shopping and standing in line in Sam's Club, then back north for another hour or so in the Amigo grocery store (which is owned by Walmart). I'll leave that adventure to your imagination.

Then last night Darryl and I did a night dive through "The Caverns" here at Shacks. The reef at Shacks is pretty much like Swiss cheese with holes and tunnels and caves all through the reef. Many of them are "swim-throughs," passages a diver can literally swim through. We use several of these as passages between Blue Hole and the outer reef. "The Caverns" is a tour through the swim-throughs in and around Blue Hole. Darryl has done this tour many many times in the daylight, but this was his first night tour. Darryl was great. I, on the other hand, had a mild-to-medium panic attack. Don't know why. Everything was going swimmingly and suddenly I just kinda freaked, breathing hard, brain spinning ohmygod ohmygod! But between us Darryl and I got me calmed down enough to finish the dive and come out safely.

I think it was a learning adventure for both of us. Darryl has a better idea of how to lead a night tour through The Caverns and I have a better idea of how to deal with my own panic under water.

Our last adventure took us to 110 Thai. We weren't going to go but we remembered we were supposed to meet our nephew Ben there. He'd been waiting since about 8:00 and we remembered about 9:30. So off we went. It was a fun late evening, unexpectedly running into a number of good friends.

So, up this morning about to set off on a whole new set of adventures. It's gonna be a fun holiday weekend at Ola Lola's!

Happy July

And happy Canada Day!

How did it get to be July already? It really feels like we missed most of June. June, until the last week, was mostly cloudy and kinda gloomy and wet thanks to a couple of tropical low pressure areas (one of which became Hurricane Alex.)

Elaine divides her time taking care of and working with KTJ, her new Thoroughbred rescue, and riding Chocolate. I managed to get some diving in. We had such a good time diving at Desecheo two weeks ago we went back again. I posted some pictures from that dive as well as the best pictures from other dives so far this year on Flickr.

I haven't done a lot of photography lately. It feels like it's been months. I gotta work on that.

SCUBA at Desecheo

Desecheo is a small (1.5 square kilometers or just over 1/2 a square mile) island some 21 kilometers (14 miles) west of Puerto Rico. It is easily seen from Aguadilla, Rincon and Mayaquez riding on the horizon.

Two sites at Desecheo are listed in the top 10 Puerto Rico dive sites by Scuba Diving Magazine. The first is called "Candyland."

"Remember that old-school board game from your childhood? We dare you to tell us the huge, funky-shaped coral mounds don't look like the ones you remember from the Candyland game. There are a kaleidoscope of colors on this must-see reef, embodied in gigantic sea fans, lettuce corals and sponges . There are also crazy amounts of tropical fish, adding to the already surrealist vibe here. The maximum depth is about 80 feet." - Scuba Diving Magazine

Almost adjacent to Candyland is "Las Cuevas" - The Caves.

"Swim-through junkies, this is your spot. Welcome to a water wonderland of canyons and arches, where as many as 20 of you can explore at once, to your heart's content. Check out the triangular-looking windows that resemble Darth Vader's mask." - Scuba Diving Magazine

It's about a 45 minute boat ride out of Rincon to get to Desecheo. The ride out in the morning was pretty easy with light seas and beautiful sunshine. The ride back was a bit rougher through four-to-six foot seas. But it was really no problem for Cap'n Frank and the crew from Taino Divers in Rincon.

It was a beautiful pair of dives, a great day and a great time with Darryl, John D., Trevor, March and Ruchie from Technical Dive Center here in Aguadilla.

The two things that are most impressive about the Desecheo dives are 1) the 100-150 foot visibility and 2) the incredibly blue water of the Caribbean. The great visibility is due in large part to the fact that there are standing bodies of water and no rivers on Desecheo so there is no runoff. And there is a reason just about every paint company has a "Caribbean Blue" paint chip: it truly is spectacular. The minimal current, at least on our dive is also an advantage.

All that said: Diving right here, right off our beach at Shacks is a very similar dive to Candyland through the coral canyons of the outside reef. And the swim-throughs of the cavern tour around Blue Hole is actually more impressive than Las Cuevas. We frequently have 60-80 foot visibility here at Shacks. If Shacks has one disadvantage, it is the surge that sometimes comes up in the canyons. But that's a small price to pay for having dives that we can walk to from home.

Our local shore dives don't get much publicity from the magazines. The magazines get their information about dive sites from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company which in turn provides information from and about its paying members. That's okay as far as it goes but it means that magazine readers get a very limited view of what's actually available on the island. Some of the best dives are never reported. But in a way that's good: it slows the wrecking of the beaches and reefs and means less crowded dives for us locals. I'm okay with that.

Seeing double

"Well, I look out my window/what do you think I see?/I look out my window/and it's strange, so strange."

I thought I was seeing double! But it's just Lucky with Chocolate. Chocolate has a play-buddy for a while, until KTJ is ready to come down from the ranch. Lucky is our friend Sam's horse. She brought Lucky down to keep Chocolate company and so she could ride on the beach. So Elane and Chocolate have someone to play with and to ride with.

Oh yeah - Amber has two new swim buddies.

Adios, Sahara

This morning our friend Francisco took Sahara/Wavy-now-Lola up the road to her new home at "Hacienda Sanchez." (Francisco is the son of our dear dear friend and horseman extraordinaire Tito.) Many people thought this little filly had fallen in gravy when we rescued her. She's really in it now!

Francisco is himself a great young horseman. He sees a lot of possibility and has great plans for "Lola" (his name for her). He's planning to train her to show as well as to be a good little trail horse. He will work her hard but she will be so well taken care of. Francisco will give her the work and the training she needs to become the great little horse we all believe she can be.

The biggest reason for the move in the first place is to make room for KTJ, Elaine's new Thoroughbred filly. KTJ is up at the "ranch" (Ramey Riding Club) probably for another week or two while we get things ready for her here - not the least of which is strengthening the corral fences.

In the meantime Chocolate is a lonely guy, already missing his bud. He doesn't know KTJ yet. He doesn't know he's getting a new stablemate, only that his friend isn't with him.

We'll miss Sahara/Wavy/Lola too but we know she's got a great new home. And she's only half a mile away. We can always go visit.

Set the Wayback Machine for April

It's time to join Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman and set the Wayback Machine for April.

Our friend David, the golf course designer, visits us once a month or so. (That's David in the pink shirt and straw hat.) Occasionally his wife Liane joins him. (Liane is the lovely lady next to David trying to hide from the camera.) In April, David brought his daughter Melanie and her beau Mark (Mark is in the purple shirt on the left; Melanie is next to him) and granddaughter Stephanie and her husband Joe (the only two left besides the fish) to spend some time on the island.

This was a belated honeymoon/first anniversary trip for Stephanie and Jon. So from all the gang at Ola Lola's a twice-belated (once because it took them a year to get here and once because it's taken me so long to write this) CONGRATULATIONS! and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

By all accounts the gang had a great time PR. We hope they'll all come back and a visit again, with or without David.

Congratulations, Ana

Last night we had a great celebration at Ola Lola's: Our good friend Ana is graduating from college and we got to host her Graduation and Commencement Bash-o-rama. The celebration included the first (and hopefully last) performances by the Celebratory Durr-Durr Band. "Dr." John Delametter, "Dean" of the department of "FUNdamental Science," presented Ana with an official, framed diploma from "Loy-ola Lola University." And the commencement address was delivered by none other than Forest Gumpp's mother's ghost. Everybody had a great time, especially the new graduate. Congratulations, Ana!

All the drinks last night were served "shaken, not stirred." If you have friends in Puerto Rico on Facebook or Twitter, you've probably already read about the earthquake last night. A 5.8 magnitude quake hit Moca at 1:16 am. We are 12 km (7 miles) from the epicenter. I was just getting to bed after Ana's party and definitely felt the house shake. It felt like being right next to a major road and having a bunch of big heavy trucks go by very slowly. A lot of people we know slept (including Elaine) slept through it.

From what we've heard so far, there was some minor damage to buildings but no one was hurt. There were however a lot of freaked out people.

Leave Arizona to the Arizonians

A friend of ours just got back from a business trip to Phoenix. She is a beautiful, dark-skinned Puerto Rican woman. In Phoenix she was stopped and asked for her identification. She produced a valid Puerto Rican driver's license and was told that it was not acceptable because it was "not from the US." Our friend responded "yes, Puerto Rico is part of the US." The officer who stopped her said, "No it's not," and demanded her passport. Of course she did not have her passport because - since Puerto Rico is in fact part of the US - a passport is not required for US citizens (which all Puerto Ricans are) to travel between the island and the mainland.

Arizona's new anti-immigration law is scheduled to go into full effect on July 28, 2010. The law "obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable, to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien^[21] during a police stop for some other offense.^[22] Police may arrest a person if there is probable cause that the person is an alien not in possession of required registration documents." Acceptable documents are "the following four forms of identification: (a) a valid Arizona driver license; (b) a valid Arizona nonoperating identification license; (c) a valid tribal enrollment card or other tribal identification; or (d) any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification,"

Within a week of its signing, the bill was changed with "the amended text stating that 'prosecutors would not investigate complaints based on race, color or national origin.'^[25] The new text also states that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a 'lawful stop, detention, or arrest.'"

(Quotes are from Wiki-pedia.)

The Arizona governor said "profiling will not be allowed" to enforce the new law. If there is no profiling, on what basis will the the police determine "reasonable suspicion?" Either everybody is presumed innocent, everyone is presumed guilty, or some people are presumed guilty and others innocent. There must be some basis for how the latter are determined. Sounds like profiling to me.

By the way, on this same trip in the same town, our friend was denied entrance to a club while her lighter-skinned companions were admitted.

Seems like Arizonians want Arizona all to themselves. I say let 'em have it.

A new arrival

Sometimes something is going on and you just don't understand it and then you discover the Universe had something else in mind for you.

Last year at this time we were planning to go to Milwaukee to perform at a kite festival. At the last minute we had to cancel because of Elaine's shoulder injury. Instead of flying kites in Milwaukee, we were here, opening Ola Lola's. On Friday night, our son (whom we hadn't seen in more than two years) showed up with a friend and our granddaughter completely unannounced. It was a tough decision to not make our trip to Milwaukee but when we saw Steven walking across the parking lot, we understood why we were supposed to stay here.

Something similar has happened this year. For three weeks we have struggled to find travel arrangements back to Milwaukee to perform at this year's festival that fit both the event's budget and ours. We had just figured out we couldn't do it when we got the message that a horse we were planning to adopt in July was coming TODAY.

Holy Horse! We spent yesterday racing around making arrangements for her and this morning about 10 am she arrived. She - her name is KTJ - is a three-year-old filly rescued from the race track here on the island by Save the Horses, Inc. and Hacienda Siesta Allegre. She's a big girl, 16 hands plus. She needs to put on some weight but otherwise is in good health. She has been trained, ridden and shown by a young girl on the east side of the island for several months which is why we didn't expect to see her until July, after the show season. But the young rider is no longer showing her and now KTJ is here.

For now, she is staying up on top of the mountain at the Ramey Riding Club. She has a stall, which she is used to. There is also a round pen where Elaine can work with here, helping to her to get comfortable in her new home. Eventually, she will move down here with Chocolate and - for now - Sahara.

As you can see from the picture, KTJ is a big, beautiful dark bay. We toyed with the idea of calling her Dark Chocolate to play off Chocolate but KTJ she is. She's a little nervous still but quite well behaved for all that.

So now we start on another new adventure. And now we know why we had such a difficult time with travel plans: the Universe was keeping us here to take care of the new arrival.

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers and the mothers of mothers, to everyone who has a mother - Happy Mother's Day. Elaine and both miss our mothers, not just on this day, but every day.

Okay, more new news

Today Elaine and I did our second "solo duo" dive, this time at Wishing Well. We've snorkeled this beautiful reef many times. It's a great snorkel. As soon as you enter the water, you are on the reef. There is lots of life, fish, eels, and many soft corals. And it's not deep.

We've talked for a long time about diving at Wishing Well. There is so much to see there and as beautiful as snorkeling is, you're still an outsider peering in. On SCUBA, you can be part of that world, at least for a little while. You can just hang there and watch the fish. If you swim calmly and quietly, you can sometimes approach much closer to the fish. You can peer under ledges that weren't even apparent from the surface.

On this dive our deepest depth was 21 feet. There is a lot to be said for shallow water diving. For one thing, your air lasts much longer. I'm an "air hog" and even I was down for 45 minutes and only used half of my available air. (For those who aren't aware, because of the laws of physics, one uses more air in less time when you dive deeper. For example, diving to about 65 feet, 45 minutes is about the best I've done using more than twice as much air as I did at Wishing Well.)

The light and the colors are brighter when you are shallow. Water absorbs light and color the deeper you, starting with the red end of the spectrum. On shallower dives the colors are more "natural."

For Elaine the two long shallow dives have been an easy comfortable way to get back into diving. For various reasons (mostly injuries) she has not bee diving for almost a year. These two dives helped her get comfortable under water in (relatively) safe, low stress, (pun intended) low pressure environment.

By the way - that's a lionfish we saw at Wishing Well. Lionfish are a very agressive invasive species that have found their way into most parts of the Caribbean. According to NOAA's National Ocean Service, lionfish have been in the Atlantic for at least 25 years. We're seeing more and more of them around here.

New news

Before we get back to old news, here's an update from today.

Elaine and I went SCUBA diving today, together, just the two of us. We spent 45 leisurely minutes swimming around the piers at Crashboat Beach. We literally swam in a natural aquarium with hundreds and hundreds of fish, some of which swam right up to us. At one point Elaine was obscured by clouds of sergeant major fish, night majors, Spanish hogfish, and ocean surgeons.

This is something we've been working toward, where we can go out diving together regardless of who else is available. But don't worry, Darryl, we still like diving with you.

More old news later.

New old news

So - where have we been for a month? Here, mostly but for some reason not writing although there is much to write about.

This is something I've been meaning to write about for quite a while. A lot of people are interested in "The Project" down the road from us toward Villa Tropical. According to information we received, apparently the property owners have abandoned the idea of building a condo complex there. (Despite the name, Shacks Resort, it was never going to be a "resort," just condos.)

They are now planning to sell the property off as individual building lots.



This is the communication in the original Spanish and below that is an English translation.

Shacks Resort en Isabela Puerto Rico, es un desarrollo residencial turístico de 112 unidades de vivienda debidamente autorizadas y con plano de construcción. Este proyecto fue diseñado tomando en consideración los más altos parámetros de estética y tecnología con miras a preservar el medio ambiente y el alto valor del área. Su construcción final estará muy atado al alto valor en el predio de terreno.

Los que conocen Shacks, saben que es conocido a nivel como una de las mejores playas del mundo, por la diversidad de deportes marinos que se pueden practicar en un mismo lugar, otros han señalado que es la mejor, por que esta llena de gratas sorpresas como la Cueva del Manatí, áreas para practicar scuba diving, surfing, snorkeling, natación, sky surfing, windsurfing y otros.

Basado en una gran cantidad de factores y con miras a preservar este pedazo de tierra para las generaciones futuras, teniendo un gran significado, ya que algunos de nuestros hijos han crecido y se han desarrollado en esta playa, hemos tomado la decisión de reducir significativamente la densidad del desarrollo y su concepto para mejorar el balance entre desarrollo y ambiente. Los parámetros en el diseño Los pasos son los siguientes:

1. Reducir la cantidad de unidades de vivienda a un máximo de 31, con solares que varían desde 600 hasta 900 metros cuadrados aproximadamente.
2. Precios atractivos para el mercado local e internacional comenzando en $400.00 hasta un máximo de $850.00 por metro cuadrado.
3. Mantener unas restricciones en la construcción de unidades de vivienda con parámetros de uniformidad, valor de la construcción y discreción de cada dueño del solar para construir cada unidad de vivienda cuando estime pertinente, basado en factores económicos o en el momento que crean pertinente.

Estos cambios convertirán al proyecto Shacks Resort en un diseño de 31 solares de vivienda con un gran valor, debido a lo limitado y difícil que es conseguir solares con frente de playa o acceso inmediato a la exclusiva playa de Shacks. Algunas de las ventajas adicionales para los potenciales compradores son las siguientes:

1. Control de acceso para mantener la seguridad en el complejo.
2. Uniformidad en la construcción, para mantener un alto valor en la inversión.
3. Área de estacionamiento para cada solar sin tener que caminar hasta su unidad residencial.
4. Verjas en toda la periferia del proyecto.
5. Provisión para espacio de estacionamiento para visitantes.
6. Casa Club con piscina para evitar incurrir en gastos adicionales en facilidades recreativas.
7. Disponibilidad de utilizar la unidad de vivienda como residencial principal o someterla a un régimen de arrendamiento que produzca ingresos adicionales.
8. Amplia calle de acceso.
9. Nueva infraestructura de energía eléctrica y agua potable para evitar interrupciones.


Los que tengan un interés real en conocer un poco mas de Shacks Resort pueden comunicarse con nosotros, ya que en los próximos días comenzaremos con reuniones por invitación exclusiva para un grupo selecto que puedan invertir en este bello paraíso.

English translation

Shacks Resort in Isabela, Puerto Rico, is a tourist residential development of 112 housing units duly authorized and blueprinted. This project was designed by taking into consideration the highest parameters of aesthetics and technology in order to preserve the environment and the high value of the area. Its final construction will be very high value attached to the parcel of land.

Those who know Shacks, know that it is renowned as one of the best beaches in the world, the diversity of water sports that can be practiced in one place, others have pointed out is the best, that is full of pleasant surprises Cave and Manatee areas to practice scuba diving, surfing, snorkeling, swimming, sky surfing, windsurfing and more.

Based on a large number of factors and in order to preserve this piece of land for future generations, because it has great meaning, as some of our children have grown and developed at this beach, we have decided to significantly reduce density of development and its concept to improve the balance between development and environment. The parameters in the design steps are:

1. Reduce the number of housing units to a maximum of 31, with lots ranging from 600-900 square meters.
2. Attractive prices for local and international market starting at $ 400.00 up to $ 850.00 per square meter.
3. Maintain restrictions on the construction of housing units with uniform parameters, value of construction and discretion of each owner of the land to build each housing unit when it deems appropriate, based on economic factors or when they deem appropriate.

These changes will make the Shacks Resort project a design of 31 housing lots with great value, because of limited availability and how difficult it is to get beachfront building lots ,or immediate access to the exclusive Shacks Beach. Some of the additional benefits to potential buyers are:

1. Access control to maintain security in the complex.
2. Consistency of construction to maintain a high value on investment.
3. Parking area for each lot without having to walk to their residential unit.
4. Fences around the periphery of the project.
5. Provision for parking space for visitors.
6. Clubhouse with pool to avoid incurring additional recreational facilities.
7. Availability for use as residential dwelling unit or subject it to a principal leased to produce additional revenue.
8. Wide access road.
9. New infrastructure for electricity and water to avoid interruptions.

Those who have a real interest in knowing a little more than Shacks Resort please contact us, and that in the coming days we will begin with meetings at the invitation-only a select group that can invest in this beautiful paradise. (We have the phone numbers if you're interested. )

This is indeed a great step forward. This is in fact a piece of property that is attractive for development. Something is going to be built there. We like the idea of much lower density individual building sites rather than high-density condos.

More old news tomorrow.

April is National Kite Month

Okay, I'm way late on this one but there is still plenty of time for you to go out and fly a kite this month.

National Kite Month actually started on March 27 and runs through May 2. This month the American Kitefliers Association focuses attention kites in all their many many forms. "Kite events around the world help introduce people to the fun of kiteflying, the rich history of kites, the stunning artistry of kitemakers, and how kites can be used as educational tools."

You can check out the National Kite Month website for a schedule of events, suggestions for activities, kite plans and lots more.

So far there is one registered event in Puerto Rico. On Sunday, April 18, we are going to join another local kite event at Middles Beach. We're planning to put up a display of our single line kites and to perform our pairs stunt kite demonstrations. Come out and join us. You can watch or better yet, bring a kite to fly yourself.

So at least for this month, do as we do: if someone tells you to "go fly a kite," take them very seriously and GO FLY A KITE. See you on the beach!

http://www.nationalkitemonth.org/

http://www.aka.kite.org

Natural

Last night, John, Darryl and I did a completely different dive, a night dive on the reef we call Natural. I've done night dives before but this was the first on Natural. And just like SCUBA diving is entering a whole different world, diving at night is a DIFFERENT different world. Natural is a beautiful reef in the daylight and just amazing at night. Different critters are out and about so you see different things. And because your field of vision is pretty much limited to what your dive light shows, you vision tends to focus on smaller details.

Last night was a nearly perfect night for diving. No waves, a flat, calm sea, a bright half moon that gave us a little ambient light even at 60' and surprising for Natural, virtually no current. That made the dive easy and made possible to check out the little things like the decorator crabs, the cuttlefish, a good size moray eel, a big barracuda, and the corals and sponges with things extended to feed.

I do love diving. I'm glad I'm finally getting better at using my air so dives last longer. There is just so much to see down there.

Birthdays

We missed a couple of birthdays in the last two weeks. Our son Steve had birthday last week. Happy Birthday, Steve. We love you.

Our good friends Darryl and Billy also celebrated birthdays. We celebrated Darryl's birthday in a small way (more to come) at Ola Lola's. Billy is back home in the States but we celebrated for him in his absence. Happy birthday, Darryl and Billy!

Farewell, Doc

Last month we said good-by to very good friend. Lin "Doc" Andrews succumbed to cancer. Doc was a veterinarian with the US Department of Agriculture. Originally from the mountains of Montana, Doc lived here on the island for more than 25 years. He was a musician, a fine, fine jazz bass player. He was a surfer. Jobos was his favorite surf break. Some days he only had the strength to paddle out and just sit in the lineup, then catch one little wave to take him back to the beach.

As family and friends gathered on the beach, tossing flowers into the surf, several surfer friends paddled out and released part of his ashes into the waves at Jobos. Doc is now forever part of the lineup at the break he loved so much.

Farewell, Doc. We miss you.

Kaiden is here!

Last week we welcomed our latest addition, our fourth grandchild, Kaiden to the world. He's nearly a week old already and cute as a bug.

The proud parents - especially Papa Miguel - are so happy they could bust!







Kennedy wasn't too sure about this whole big sister thing when she first met Bebe Kai. But it didn't take her long to become a protective, caring and comforting big sis. At least for a while.





I can't believe I'm so far behind it's taken nearly a week even to mention Bebe Kai. I could claim that I was sick the whole week Bebe Kai was born and only functioning on bare existence level (that's true). But that hardly seems to matter in light of this beautiful amazing wonderful new life coming into our lives. Even though I didn't get to see him 'til he was two days old, I got to watch the amazing play of emotions as Kennedy met her little brother first time: jealousy (why is my daddy holding that OTHER baby? Who is that anyway?); protection ("stop, daddy, stop!" when Kai cried as he got his diaper changed); gentle love ("It's okay, Bebe Kai" with a gentle touch on his head). "Priceless" doesn't even begin to cover it. Words like "awesome" and "amazing" and "wonderful" and "incredible" are trite and flat and do nothing to describe the tremendous joy that threatens to explode my chest.

You WILL read more about Kai and Kennedy (and their parents) soon.

Monster from the deep

Actually, it's just a really cute little seahorse.



These were taken on a dive at Crashboat Beach a couple of weeks ago.

No words for it

Awesome. Amazing. Wonderful. Beautiful. Fabulous. Incredible.

Those are all good words. But they don't come close to capturing the feelings on our dive at the wall at La Parguera last Sunday. Our friends Darryl, John and Trevor and I headed out early and headed out for the southwest corner of the island on the Caribbean Sea side. (Here in the north we are on the Atlantic.) We had a date to go diving with Paradise Divers.

We were all geeked but I think me most of all. This was my first boat dive, my first wall dive, my first dive to 100 feet, and it was the certification dive for John, Trevor and me to become certified to use Nitrox, a different blend of breathing gas.

The good people at Paradise loaded our tanks and gear on the boat and we headed out into what passes for calm water in those parts. On the trip out to the dive site, the first thing we notice is the water color. The water in the Caribbean is a totally different color from the Atlantic side, that deep beautiful Caribbean blue. And clear. Crystal clear. We anchored in about 65 feet of water and the bottom was clearly visible. From the deck of the boat we could see fish swimming below us.

We anxious to get in the water so we quickly geared up and jumped in. As soon as we got in the water, even before we dropped to the bottom, it was obvious why this is one of the "must do" dives in Puerto Rico. Because the dive site is a mile or more off-shore and there are no rivers nearby dropping sediments, visibility is great, 100' or more pretty much all the time. There is also very little current, usually 1 knot or less. These combine to make a beautiful easy dive.

Not that the dive is without challenges. As we swam away from the boat, the bottom gently sloped down to about 75'. Then the bottom just dropped away plunging 150' or more. One of our goals for this dive was to reach between 100' and no more than 111' (The 111' mark is the bottom threshold of the Nitrox mix we were breathing.) In one of those quirks of instruments, according to my depth gauge, I was safely at 100'. According to the computer recording my dive, I hit 112', the absolute safe limit. But all is well.

We did a second dive to about 65' on another reef about half a mile away. So much life! There are seafan coral you can play hide-and-seek around. Absolutely amazing. For some reason that made sense to me at the time (but doesn't now) I didn't take my camera on the second dive. I'll quit kicking myself for that soon.

It was a great day. Thank you Darryl, John, Trevor and Paradise Divers. Not one of us can wait to go back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTER!

Today is our baby's birthday. Our youngest is 25 today. How did that happen? BTW - that's her on the left with her girlfriend Kasey. Sara, we love you and miss you. Happy birthday, baby girl!!!!!

After the robbery

So the robbery was just over two weeks ago. Honestly, I just haven't felt like writing, about the hold-up or anything else even though there is a ton of stuff to write about. It's time to move on from that too.

One note about the robbery: We've heard from "unnamed sources" that the robbers were arrested in a drug bust in a house near here. Apparently they a part of a gang operating in the area. At least some of the gang is now in jail and the police are looking for others. Score one for the good guys.

Thank you to everybody for you support and good vibes over the past couple of weeks. They are appreciated and welcomed and have been much help. Thank you.

Okay. Back to life.

We was robbed!

Seriously. I guess with the economy the way it is, it was inevitable. Tonight we were robbed at gunpoint. Two guys dressed in black, wearing ski masks and waving what certainly looked like automatic weapons came to the bar just as we were cleaning up and closing up. They grabbed the cash box with our night's take and then took off. We called 911 but that was an hour ago and still no response.

No one was hurt, thank goodness. The rest is only money. We'll manage without it. They/we will probably never know who did it but I hope their karma catches up with them.

A new yola on the beach

Another little yola landed on Shacks Beach last week. This was another small boat, most likely part of a drug drop rather than people-running. Apparently, several Dominicans were captured after the boat landed.

The boat came ashore in good shape right by the "boat ramp" at the west end of Shacks Beach. Some local fishermen hauled up on shore and eventually hauled it away in a pickup truck. So one "happy" ending to this yola episode is the boat won't break up on the beach, scattering chunks of fiberglass all over the reef. There are more pictures of the yola in this set of KAP photos on Flickr.

This KAP session was my first chance to use my new Premier PowerSled 24 kite as a lifter for my KAP rig. So far, I love it - stable even in gusts, good lift even in moderate winds (8-10 mph). I can't wait to try it in higher winds, which really what I want it for. But so far, our ripping trade winds winds have been pretty much absent. That's good for surfers (winds mess up the waves) but the kite surfers are crying.

Happy birthday, Marti

Yesterday, February 7, would have been my mother's 82 birthday. Happy birthday, Marti. We miss you

0-for-2 or 2-for-2

This week I'm 0-for-2 or 2-for-2 in KAP (kite aerial photography) sessions, depending on how you look at it. Two days in a row I tried to KAP, first kite surfers at Shacks Beach and then surfers at Wilderness Beach. Zero KAP photos to show for it (0-for-2). In fact I didn't even get the camera rig attached to the kite line, let alone in the air.

But...I did manage to break two kites (2-for-2). I ripped the back off one soft flow-form kite. It is a very old kite and the once-stiff ripstop nylon is now very soft and easily torn. On Wednesday my big delta kite did a nosedive right at the water's edge. A wave caught it before I could get to it and broke the spar in the leading edge.

Both "injuries" can be repaired. It will just take some time. Until then my options for lifting a camera rig are greatly reduced. Damn!

Sahara's first ride

Elaine has been working so hard with Sahara (or "Wavey" as she calls her), bringing her along step by step. First, Elaine worked with her on the ground, getting her used to being handled and led with a lead rope. Then she started riding Chocolate as a lead pony, still leading Sahara with a lead rope. Then putting a saddle pad on her and leading her with Chocolate. Then adding the saddle. On Monday Elaine and our friend (and horsewoman extraordinaire) Lisa took the final step: with Elaine leading first from the ground and then with Chocolate, Lisa mounted and road Sahara for the first time. The first ride went beautifully, in fact could not have gone any better. Sahara was calm and easy; Chocolate was a gentleman as the lead pony. It's amazing how far this little filly has come in just three months. I am so proud of what Elaine has accomplished with this scared, skittish horse. She is much calmer, MUCH healthier, and now ready for rider training. It's been wonderful to see and to be some small part of.

Return of the Blog!

Been away from this blog long enough!

Laura (getting her cake from Elaine), her husband Jeremy, and their baby Gigi came with her mom, Fran, and other family members for a winter break in the tropics - and to celebrate Laura's birthday at Ola Lola's. They were all here a couple of years ago. Since then, we've all kept in touch via email and Facebook. They wanted to come back sooner but there was the birth of that beautiful baby in between. Anyway, we are very happy Laura chose Ola Lola's for her birthday. We're glad we got to celebrate with her. Happy Birthday, Laura!

Three Kings Day

One of the things I let slip by unremarked upon was Three Kings Day. Here in Puerto Rico, as in many Latin countries, Three Kings Day is actually a bigger, more important holiday than Christmas Day. January 6th, 12 days after Christmas (also Twelfth Night and in the church calendar, Epiphany) is the day the three kings or three wise men arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.

On Three Kings Eve, the tradition here is to leave grass or hay in a box under a child's bed for the Kings' camels (or horses, since there are no camels in Puerto Rico). In the morning the grass is gone and the boxes either gone with it or magically filled with presents. Traditionally, this is when children here get their biggest present(s), not on Christmas morning.

This year Kennedy didn't put grass under her bed but she did come to our house to open presents left for her. The big box she is unwrapping in the picture is a "baby," complete with everything - stroller, crib, plate, cup, spoon and fork, diaper bag, even a pacifier.

Looks like Kennedy is getting ready for the arrival of her baby brother this spring. She's going to be a great big sister!

Haiti

Photo from AFP/Thony Belizaire

I've let a lot of news slip by in the last ten days. I planned to spend today catching up but the big news in the Caribbean - in the world, in fact - is the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and hasn't recovered from flooding during the 2008 hurricane season. Now this tragedy, in a country that has almost no resources to cope. The Red Cross announced today it's out of medicine in Haiti. Drinking water is a huge need. Communications, which are not great in the best of times, are nearly nonexistent. There are many ways to help. The major relief agencies seem to agree right now the greatest need is money. The Red Cross has set up a "texting" program to raise money. According to news reports, they've raised over $800,000. Countries all over the world - including the U.S., which under G.W. Bush could not mobilize to help New Orleans - are mobilizing massive relief aid.

And then, like a breath of horror, there are those voices from the extremist-right wilderness: Rush Limbaugh, proclaiming the U.S. response to this tragedy is merely a vehicle to "burnish Obama's image among light- and dark-skinned blacks," and, god help us, Pat Robertson declaring the Haitians brought this disaster on themselves because of a mythical "pact with the devil." Perhaps we should be grateful for such god-fearing men who try to keep the rest of us misguided mortals on track. Instead, I am sickened by them and terrified that people actually believe and act on this nonsense. These same men demanded an America united behind the Bushies' warmongering. Yet theirs are the first, loudest voices trying to splinter and degrade the response to a tragedy affecting thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. Unconscionable, unforgivable, and very un-Christian.

Awesome day at Surfers

Saturday started out as kind of a blah day for surf - tide was high, waves were mushy and no very good. So I left Wilderness and ran a few errands. I decided to check out Surfers Beach before I went home. Man, am I glad I did!

First the surf cleaned up and got better so the few surfers who were out were getting pretty good rides. Then Josie Graves and Maria showed up, I think to shoot some video. Then Jass Umbel and her brother Jack showed up. And I do mean "showed." It was an awesome show. the only downside for me was I had to leave! But I'm not complaining. I got some of the best surf shots I've ever taken! Thank you, guys.

Check out the full set on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com and a set of the best of the best on Flickr.

New Year's Day

We didn't have our traditional New Year's Day kite fly this year. Ola Lola's was open and we had a lot of prep to do. Really, just bad planning on our part. But I did go out and fly a kite on Shacks Beach for a little KAP (kite aerial photography) session. The winds were rippin' 20 knots+. It's hard to tell from here but those are 8-10 foot waves in the cove.

Since our New Year's Eve beach-bonfire-and-kitefly got high-winded and high-watered out, we spent a (fairly) quiet New Year's Eve with friends. It was actually a very nice way to bring in the new decade. I missed the kite flying though. We have to plan better for next year.

The Huge Christmas Week swell

This past week brought the biggest waves we've seen in more than a year and a half. There were some reports that the waves at Tres Palmes in Rincon were actually bigger this week than they were during the "Perfect Storm" of March, 2008. I chased around looking for surfers between here and Rincon. I finally caught up with some daring souls at Wilderness on Tuesday afternoon. The photos from this session are on the website, www.PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com and on our Flickr page. It was some amazing surf and there were some incredible rides. Check 'em out.

Happy New Year!!!

All of us at Ola Lola's wish you and yours a very happy new year filled will peace, love, joy and prosperity. May 2010 be your best year ever!

Christmas breakfast with Kennedy

and her Ama, Mama and Miguel. This is serious stuff!

Merry Christmas, everybody. Be safe and warm.

This Christmas Eve

One of the things (for me at least) about living on a tropical island is that it is difficult to get in the mood for Christmas. And this year has been a very quiet, laid-back Christmas season, especially by Puerto Rican standards. As I wrote in my last post, being from the North, that whole white Christmas thing is pretty much imprinted in my DNA. So, no matter how many Santas in red trimmed with white fur(!) or how many inflatable snowmen (we have one in front of Ola Lola's) there are, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

That said, Christmas isn't really about presents or snow or shopping or music or even the birth of Jesus for that matter. It's really about family and friends and love and peace and joy and the fading away of an old year and the promise and renewal of a fresh new year - the same things this winter solstice season has been about since hundreds of years before Jesus.

Even though we are many miles away from many of our friends and most of our family, we still feel very connected. Despite the miles between us, we love them and are loved in return. And of course, Elaine and I are here together, sharing this great adventure. Tonight we had the now-traditional Christmas Eve Chinese take-out dinner with Amy, Miguel and Kennedy, so we are sharing the holiday with family. To the rest of our big extended family out there, we love you and miss you. We hope wherever you are tonight, you are warm and safe and full of joy. Merry Christmas to all, and to a good night!

12th day of Christmas - nostalgia

On the twelfth day of Christmas - I posted a new blog!

We get asked a lot if we miss the cold and the snow we left behind in Michigan (as in the photo above of the park in downtown Kalamazoo, MI at Christmas time). My stock answer is "Maybe someday but this isn't the day."

This time of year I don't so much miss it as I get nostalgic for it. Most of our Christmas traditions are of Northern European origin, transplanted to North America. The dream of a white Christmas is almost imprinted in our DNA. The magic of the ever-green pine tree - the symbol of life continuing through the cold and dark of winter and the promise of its return in the spring - is an integral part of a norther winter. Back in Michigan we used to put up our Christmas tree around the first of December and didn't take it down until at least Valentine's Day, often later.

I never minded the cold. Yes, I get nostalgic for my sweaters. I used to have 25 or 30. Did I need so many sweaters? Of course not. But I love(d) sweaters! By mid-September (when the temps in Michigan are still often in the high-70s or low-80s) I started looking forward to "sweater weather." But I miss much less than I thought I would. The other day I found two that I brought with me and and I thought, "What was I thinking?" Yes, I get nostalgic about sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace sipping a "butter nipple" (Bailey's and butterscotch schnapps), watching the snow fall outside our window. I didn't move to the tropics to "escape" the cold, but I don't "miss" doing those things.

I loved the look of the light from Christmas rope lights I put under the railing of our deck falling on fresh snow. I miss cross-country skiing, but then I missed that in the years in Michigan that we had too little snow or too much snow or too little time. If I miss anything about snow, it is the postcard or Christmas card look of a fresh snowfall.

Cold in the north but sunny here

Our niece Kenzie escaped the north just in time, just a head of the first big storm of the winter. She showed up at our door (at 4:30 am!) on Monday. (If you notice a family resemblence, yes, Kenzie is Jordan's sister.) For now she's staying with Amy and Miguel and Kennedy and enjoying the sunshine. She's gonna be hangin' out on the island for a couple of weeks. She'll be at Ola Lola's off and on. Stop by and say howdy. Welcome, Kenzie. Have fun!

And for all our friends and family in the frigid north, we feel your pain. Well, not really - but we do remember it.

So what kind of bar are we?

Sometimes we're a surfer bar (Zan and her longboard in her sports car - not exactly the surfride of choice). Sometimes we're a dive bar (we talk about SCUBA diving a lot). Sometimes we're the "19th Hole" golf bar.

Sometimes we're a cowboy bar (what's a horse gotta do to get a beer in this place?).

We're always a great local place-to-hangout-and-chill neighborhood bar. And in the last year we've become known as a great local restaurant. (Our new friends Skip and Jane came to the island this weekend for a golf outing at Royal Isabel Golf Club. They were in Newark airport chatting with some folks. When their conversation partners heard Skip and Jane were coming to Isabela, they told them "Oh! There's this great little bar you have to go to! It's called Ola Lola's! They've got great burgers!")


Yesterday we entered a new phase: We became a biker bar! Our friend Jose brought a bunch of his friends on a ride from San Juan and they specifically came to Isabela to come to Ola Lola's. Awesome! Thank you, Jose - and everybody - for coming by. We had a great time.

Night dive

The ocean has finally cleaned up enough to make diving a fun idea. Darryl, John D. and I went night diving at Natural last night. It was beautiful! We saw shrimp, a big hawksbill turtle sleeping under a coral, lots of sleeping parrotfish, two good-sized moray eels, starfish, half-a-dozen reef squid and a really cool something else I haven't identified yet.

As we swam out in the dark to the "drop zone," I remarked that Elaine was going to ride Chocolate on the beach under the full moon. John responded, "That's crazy!" To which Darryl replied, "Well, think about we're doing." We all laughed, then dropped into the darkness and toward the sandy bottom 35 feet below us.

One of the most popular tourist activities on the island is to swim in the "bio-luminescent bays" at La Parguera and Fajardo. Swimming or just about any movement in the water for that matter, triggers these little creatures to give off light. It's like being surrounded by fireflies under water. Although La Parguera and Farjado are the most popular sites, you can see bioluminescence in many places. We could see the creatures just by looking in the water around our fins as we swam out. At one point in our dive we stopped and turned off our lights so we could wave our arms and watch them glow. Wow. Hey, just another one of the attractions of night diving!

Mary's (and John's) Birthday

On Saturday we had a "Surprise - it's not really your birthday" party for Mary Scott. We planned a little surprise party for her on her birthday, which was actually the Monday before. However, the surprise was on us: Mary was in New York! So we had a great time in her honor. Then on Saturday, we actually got to celebrate with her. We gave Mary the sombrero because - as the guest of honor - she deserved the biggest hat. All the rest of us wore hats too (supplied by Lacy), but somewhat smaller ones. A special Motown (Mary's favorite) mix of tunes was the music of the evening, including some songs like "My Girl" with lyrics rewritten especially for Mary.

And, to add to the Saturday celebration we also surprised our friend, John Delametter whose birthday was two days later. John got to wear the sombrego while he was lauded with "Happy Birthday" and "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" with lyrics written by Elaine especially for him. Everyone did a lot of laughing and helping to sing along. And, of course, there was yummy birthday cake. Evenings like that bring so many smiles to Ola Lola's. Thanks everyone!