A pretty good day

Yesterday was a pretty good day - scuba diving in the morning...

then a great ride on the beach...

then a sunset run on the beach with the dogs.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

More visitors

Monday we had more visitors, this time from the mainland. Our friends Pat and John Pawlak from Kalamazoo were on the island and came for a visit. Pat and John were our neighbors in our 'hood in K'zoo. Their children gave them a week in a resort in San Juan but they managed to break away from all that relaxing to come to our side of the island.

We gave them a whirlwind tour of some of our beaches Jobos, Bano de la Princessa -

Crashboat

 and more.

Pat is fascinated by graffiti. As we were riding and talking, she wondered if there a school or training for graffiti artists. We don't know about anywhere else, but there is a graffiti art school here. For years a local artist has been teaching art by painting huge murals on the side of an abandoned warehouse. So we took Pat and John to the only graffiti art school we know of.

They said they enjoyed our side of la isla more than San Juan Metro, that the west is more their style. We couldn't agree more. They will be back and we'll have more time to show them more of our beautiful Isla del Encanto.

A weekend of weddings

This has been a weekend for weddings. I am privileged to work with Ashley Wright of PR Destination Weddings. We had two weddings this weekend.

First there was a sunrise ceremony with Brenda and Darryl at Puerta del Mar overlooking Crashboat Beach.

Then we met Andy and Brenda on the beach at Royal Isabela for their wedding.

They were very different affairs but both were beautiful and casual and laid-back, just the way an island wedding should be.

 On Monday evening the magic of Ola Lola's got to Hector and he decided this was the time and the place. He proposed to Jenny. Of course she said yes!

Congratulations to all three couples! Thank you for sharing a bit of your special time with us. We wish you nothing but the best.

Marti

I can see her face and hear her voice like she's right here beside me. I can't believe it's been 10 years since she left us.

Marti, we miss you every minute, every day.

First dive of the new year

The first dive of the new year was supposed to be on the first day of the new year but that didn't work out. I had to wait until last night, more that a week, for the first dive. But it was a good one - a night dive at Natural with Darryl and our friend Wade.

This is a Giant Basket Starfish - Astrophyton muricatum. During the day they fold themselves up into a small spot on the side of a barrel sponge. At night they unfold until they resemble a radar antenna. They feed by filtering sea water. This thing really is a starfish, related to the brittle starfish. Amazing creatures! Oh - they can live to be 35 years old!

I love scuba diving!

Feliz dia de Reyes

Happy Three Kings Day - Feliz dia de Reyes in Spanish.

Today, January 6, is also known as Epiphany and Twelfth Night. In the biblical birth story this is the day the three kings or wise men or magi arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.

In Puerto Rico, as in many Latin American cultures, el dia de reyes is actually bigger holiday than Christmas Day. Many families reserve the "big" presents for today rather than on Christmas Day.

The Three Kings are iconic in local art. Nearly every home has some representation of the kings on display year round.

Three Kings Day marks the almost-end of the Christmas season in Puerto Rico. Almost.

First sunset of the new year

(Okay, I'm  little late with this post since it January 4th already.)

We took our friend Hazel to Crashboat to watch the first sunset of the year. Hazel is visiting from the UK and has been here for nearly two weeks. We haven't written much about her visit. For one thing, she doesn't like having her picture taken. And, we have been so busy with Ola Lola's we have had little time to take her anywhere. We're lucky she's happy sitting on the beach reading.

But we did get to Crashboat in time for a lovely sunset.

And she did get to see the Pelican Whisperer.

This guy comes to Crashboat and feeds the pelicans. But not just feeds them. He talks to them and they respond to him. They wait their turn. He tells one to move off the post - and the bird moves. He turns round to another one and waves him up onto the post. He gets them to sit, to fly, to jump, to swim, all on command. It's really fascinating to watch. I'll try to get video of him next time.

Not a bad way to start a new year.

3,000 Peanut Butter Burgers

With horns blowing, confetti flying and Kool and the Gang celebrating the good times, last night Ola Lola Garden Bar had practically a parranda to celebrate our 3,000th Peanut Butter Burger! Who'da thunk it? Congratulations, Carmen Villanueva and her husband Carlos Marin Vargas! Cash money, a standup paddle board tour for two courtesy of Verde Azul, chocolate, champagne - it was a GREAT night! This was Carmen and Carlos's second visit to Ola Lola's but the first time they tried the Peanut Butter Burger (they loved it, by the way)! Thank you, everyone, for helping us reach this milestone.

We know it sounds weird - peanut butter on a burger? - but this is one of those times where the way the flavors come together is almost magical.

So now we're on our way to the next milestone - whatever we decide that is!

10 years after

On December 26, 2004, a devastating tsunami hit Thailand. As the news broke, we were at sea, on a cruise through the Caribbean. We even got the news on board the ship.

Three days later we got married on a Caribbean island.

Five nights after the tsunami struck, on New Year's Eve, we were sailing back toward Puerto Rico. As the clock moved toward midnight and the toll in lives and property in Thailand continued to rise, I confess the thought occurred to me - was I the only one on this cruise ship who had seen The Posidon Adventure? That was a movie about cruise ship that was capsized by a giant tidal wave just before midnight on New Year's Eve.

I meant - and mean - no disrespect for the people and victims of the tsunami in Thailand. The tragedy was huge - and very scary.

Thailand is rebuilding. And our cruise ship survived New Year's Eve.

3,000 peanut butter burgers?!?

This weekend? Maybe. If not this weekend, then next weekend for sure. It all depends on you. Are you going to help us get to 3,000?

Three THOUSAND peanut butter burgers.

Wow! Who'd a thunk it?

Merry Christmas

It's been a wonderful Christmas - a wonderful dinner last night with friends, Christmas morning Skyping with the grandkids (almost as good as being there) then a wonderful dinner at home with more friends.

We hope your holiday has been equally wonderful.

Merry Christmas!

Sargassum returns

 

Sargassum - a brown seaweed - has washed up up on our beach for the last few days. We don't really know where it comes from. There are rumors it is disturbed by fishing trawlers passing out at sea. I don't know.

What I do know is that even though we've seen sargassum on our beaches before, we've never seen this much or seen it last this long. It's coming in waves. Fresh seaweed washes ashore even as yesterday's and the day before's change color as they dry in the sun. It is piled up in ridges like brown snowdrifts two or three feet high. It stretches all along the north shore. Fortunately it doesn't wrap around to the beaches in the west, Crashboat, Natural, etc.

We'll see how long this lasts.

 

Por fin - buceando! (Diving at last!)

 As I wrote before, it has been a great fall for surf but at the expense of diving. That - fortunately! - came to an end this week. We've been diving three out of the last four days.

The waves have been down, at least around the corner, so the "west" has been good. There hasn't been rain in the mountains for a couple of days so there is nothing washing down the rivers and visibility is getting better.

We've been to the reef at Natural all three times, expecting to get the strong current from the south. We've parked one truck at Wishing Well thinking we would do the drift dive. This week has been a great example of why you don't take anything for granted at Natural. Saturday we had  a gentle but noticeable north current. Sunday we started drifting on a south current and thought "ah! Here it is." About halfway to Wishing Well the current turned to the north. So we turned and headed back to Natural, drifting the other way. We were almost back to Natural when the current shifted back to south so the last little bit was a kick back. Today, it was north all the way, strong enough that we nearly overshot our landmark to turn to shore.

But it as been wonderful getting back in the water! It looks like we have the rest of this week and then another big swell comes in on Saturday. Right now we're planning dives Christmas morning and Friday morning. Then it's back to surf.

But I have some good photos to remember this lull by.

 

Surf Surf Surf!

It has been all surf all the time this fall. After one of the worst surf seasons in memory last year, this fall has been rippin'! I've taken more surf photos in October, November and so far in December than I did all of last season (October to April). And honestly, it's some of the best work I've ever done.

Of course all that great surf comes at a price. I haven't been snorkeling or diving in nearly six weeks. The last time was in early November, nice easy dive at Natural. Since then, between the waves and the bad visibility caused by lots of rain - nada.

The other price I pay for all this great surf photography is time. I go out for two or three hours of shooting and come back with 600 images to post process and edit and then post on the website. Then I edit them again to put the best-of-the-best on Flickr. It all adds up to a lot of time sitting in front of a computer. I'm not complaining - I love it! But it is part of the reason I haven't written more here.

You can see all my surf photography on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com. If you want the "readers digest" version, check out our Flickr site. We are up to just over 6,500 photos on Flickr that cover pretty much our whole Puerto Rican adventure.

Today it's rainy and windy so no photography. I'm off to the weekly shopping for Ola Lola's.

Criollo Thanksgiving dinner

It's a week after Thanksgiving and I'm grateful for LEFTOVERS! This is the first time I got to try our criollo Thanksgiving from last week's specials. Pavo-chon - turkey seasoned the way the local lechon asado (roast pork) is made. Arroz y gandules - Elaine's most excellent first attempt at this local criollo rice-and-beans staple. Batatas y amarillos - batatas are the local sweet potatoes, milder and not as intense as American sweet potatoes. Amarillos are ripe plantains. Elaine roasted the two together and tossed them with just a hint of cayenne pepper. And lastly, homemade cranberry sauce, my only contribution to the feast. 

As one of our Ola Lola's specials it is the most criollo meal we've offered at Ola Lola's. We made a conscious decision at the very beginning that we weren't going to do criollo. There are so many wonderful criollo cooks and criollo restaurants nearby. We felt - and still feel - we should let others do what they do best and we'll do our thing. 

However, Elaine certainly proved she can do criollo with the best of them. Was there ever really any doubt?

Sick sucks

Being sick anywhere sucks. Being sick on a tropical island sucks more. Elaine is finally shaking the chicungunya virus but we both have acquired a respirtory "thing" that's going around. Fever, yo-yo-ing temperature, cough, a complete energy drain...this SUCKS!

Haven't been able to spend any time with the horses. Running the dogs on the beach has been short and sporadic. Haven't been out photographing surfers all week. Because of ocean conditions - rough, wavy, and poor visibility because of lots of rain - I haven't been diving in TWO MONTHS!

Okay, I'm not really whining. After all, it's still 81 degrees. There is no snow in our forecast. And while surf forecasts are for fair-to-middling surf through the weekend, it looks like great surf mid-week next week.

We're looking forward to felling better and to great surf! And to diving again soon. I miss it!

No "black" Friday here

  

Nothing "black" about Friday here in Ola Lola's neighborhood! We are surrounded by a stunning tropical palette of greens - from translucent jade to turquoise to the light in the depths of an emerald, of blues - from the paleness of a star sapphire to deep-ocean cobalt, of sparkling whites, all under this blazing clear Caribbean sun. 

We are so grateful that we get to live in and share this amazing place. We are constantly awed by the beauty and the wonder of the world around us.

Come hang out with us a while. 

Thanksgiving Day

From Elaine:

To all my friends and family - near and far - just know I love and appreciate you soooo much on this Thanksgiving day! I am dealing with chikungunya still and in the past 24 hours some new virus has found my depressed immune system so it's been less than pleasant to say the least. And I don't normally post this kind of personal info but there are people I have wanted to write, call, talk with, be with and reach out to who may wonder where I am. And, well....I'm here and just trying to get through what's directly in front of me, and being very very grateful for all the help I have received from my love, John Cosby and friends who have been so supportive, shared in my pains, given me many moments of humor, and helped me see rainbows when it just felt like rain.

(Chicungunya is the latest tropical mosquito-born virus to hit the Caribbean. It was first discovered in Tanzania in 1952 but was mostly confined to Africa. The first confirmed case in the Caribbean was in St. Thomas in 2013. Since then, in a little over a year, it has swept through the Caribbean and most of Central America. Estimates are 800,000 to 1 million people in the Caribbean have or have had it. It is rarely fatal but is incredibly debilitating. Although the fever phase is relatively mild and short, other effects can last for weeks, months or even a year. The disease mostly affects the joints. Descriptions range from "having ground glass in all my joints" to "being pounded by sledge hammers every time I move." Elaine is in her ninth week of this crap.)

Still, there is so much to be grateful for - family, friends, our home, our animal "family." From here on our little island we wish a very happy and grateful Thanksgiving.

More vistors from St Lucia

So it has been a busy month since our last post. I really do apologize for the delay. I've started bits and pieces of posts but for one reason or another haven't seemed to finish them. Not that there is nothing to write about mind you - there is always a lot going on. It's just finding the time and motivation to make it happen.

Two of Elaine's friends and colleagues, Wendy and Marie, from St Lucia came to visit in October. We, and especially Elaine - spent a bit of time showing them around our island.

It's always interesting comparing thoughts and impressions with visitors from other islands.  I think for many the phrase "Caribbean island" conjures up stereotypical images - white sand beaches, tropical drinks, fabulous hotels, rain forests. And I think there is there is and impression that "Caribbean islands" are all pretty much the same. Honestly, they are not.

For example, Puerto Rico is unusual in that it is not a volcanic island like Dominica or St Lucia. It is rather a limestone uplift, caused by the North American tectonic plate sliding under the Puerto Rican or Caribbean plate. We, that is Puerto Rico, sit right near the edge of that plate. Because of the tectonic activity we have a number of relatively small earthquakes around us practically everyday. Most of them we don't feel but occasionally one shakes the buildings. (One occurred in the middle of the night two years ago. With the memory of the tsunami in Japan still fresh, people living down here near the ocean fled, trying to get "up the mountain" to higher ground. There were so many people trying to drive up the hill there was a traffic jam at 2:30 in the morning. And really, there was no danger of a tsunami: that terremoto, like most of the ones we feel, happened inland, not in the ocean.)

Then there is the perception of size. As small as Puerto Rico is (111 miles by 39 miles, the smallest of the Greater Antilles), it is larger than any of the islands down the chain. Puerto Rico is big enough that it doesn't feel like an island, although people do get island fever and have to get off to the mainland U.S. St Lucia feels like an island. It is very small, less that 300 square miles. Because it is a volcanic island, the interior of St Lucia is very rugged, very steep and impassable so most of the living space is concentrated around the edges, making it seem even smaller.

And then there's shopping. A lot of mainlanders just have to get off the island to shop. They just cannot find anything here. This in spite of the presence of Plaza Las Americas, the largest shopping mall in the Caribbean, outlet malls, malls in Mayaguez and Ponce and and and. A lot of statesiders, both visitors and those of us who live here, bemoan the lack of selection in grocery stores, especially fresh produce. There is something to this complaint:fresh produce is less plentiful here than in the States.

But for visitors from other islands like St Lucia, Puerto Rico is a shopping heaven. In fact, one of the major goals for Marie and Wendy's trip to PR was to shop for thing they cant get in St Lucia.

Celebrating differences is part of why we travel and why we choose to live outside our comfort zones.

Surf season

Surf season has begun in earnest. We got double-overhead waves from Hurricane Gonzalo But that was just one day. We've pretty good surf for a couple of weeks. We already have 10 galleries of photos up on our website, www.PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com. That's just so far this month. I think that's about the total for all of last surf season. One, it was a bad surf year. Two, with Elaine in St. Lucia, I just couldn't get out much. Here's hoping that will be very different this year.

In addition to our website you can also see our photos on Flickr. Take a few minutes and check 'em out. We hope you enjoy them!

Dodged one that time.

 For a couple of days we sat here and watched Tropical Storm Gonzalo take aim at la isla. Just before it hit the island the tropical storm strengthened to a Cat 1 hurricane.

And then, Gonzalo made a hard right turn away from us. We got a little rain, a little wind and today some waves from the storm but that's it.

Now, Gonzalo is a Cat 3 hurricane churning toward Bermuda. Latest forecast indicate the storm is weakening a bit so Bermuda may only see tropical storm force winds.

We were lucky. The northernmost of the Lesser Antilles - St Marrtin, St Martin, St Barths, Antiqua - were hit pretty hard. We were spared. And we're grateful.

Visitor from another island

We recently had a visitor from another island - Elaine's (and my) friend, Elaine from St. Lucia. That's Elaine on the left and Elaine on the right.

So how does one entertain a guest from another island? Well, first you ask! "What do you want to do while you're here?" Fortunately for us Elaine had some pretty definite ideas: horseback riding on the beach, snorkeling, scuba diving.

As I've written before, all those things are available in St. Lucia but the options are more limited than here in PR. And, each island is different. Riding on the beach in St. Lucia is not the same as riding here.

We got her off to a great start. She'd barely arrived when we took her swimming with the horses.

For her first beach ride, she rode Chocolate bareback.

The next morning it was off for a full-on beach ride, the first of several.

After riding and a bit of lunch, we were all off to Wishing Well to snorkel at one of our favorite sites.

 They were almost too tired for the pot-luck party at Ola Lola's (since we weren't open).

Another day, another ride on the beach. Then, scuba diving!

 

For a final adventure, we all went to La Parguera to snorkel among the mangroves.

And a Lucian picnic in Puerto Rico - Pitons (the really good beer from St. Lucia) and homemade "bakes."

We managed to knock quite a few things off Elaine's "50 things to do in my 50s" list. So much fun!