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.