Promises, promises

So much for a new picture every day. Sheesh! So here's a whole bunch at once:

"Someone to watch over me" It's very unusual to see both horses lying down asleep at the same time. Usually, one will stand guard while the other lies down. Must have been a tough day for Chocolate because he's "laying" guard over KTJ. But he is sleeping-alert and watching over her.




We did a little "hometown tourist" stuff this week. Tuesday evening we had drinks and appetizers at the Eclipse at Villa Montana and had a wonderful time. Great mojitos by the way - almost as good as the mojitos at Ola Lola's. (The photo of the Eclipse and the beach in front of Villa Montana is from a recent KAP session.)

Then on Wednesday, we went to Sonya Rican on Playa Jobos and sat watching the beach and eating marlin bites and drinking cold Coronas.

On Thursday night, our friend Darryl and I did a night dive at Natural. (No pictures - it was a night dive!) We were within touching distance of one of the largest green turtles I've ever seen and heard whales singing somewhere off in the night. Awesome!


I did get in a KAP session at Shacks this week, trying to do something fun with kitesurfers. This is my favorite of the set.




I also managed a couple of surf photography sessions this week at Wilderness. You can see more from these sessions on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com.

More to come!

How did I miss Valentine's Day?

I missed Valentine's Day?!?!?!?! How did THAT happen? We had a pretty busy week at Ola Lola's - lots of prep and set up but there is no excused for missing Valentine's Day!

So - somewhat belatedly - Happy Valentine's Day!

This week's adventures: my Tuesday Adventure was spending most of my morning back in Puerto Rican court while the lawyer for the guy we believe stole the Pathfinder (and broke into our friend's rental car and stole her laptop, camera and clothes) cut a deal to drop the charge from felony possession of a stolen car to a misdemeanor. He does have to pay us restitution but only for the actual damage to the car. Since there is not enough proof he actually stole the car and broke into the other cars, all that has nothing to do with the charges. ARRRGH! But at least he has to pay something and will now have something on his record. Of course, he's probably going to pay restitution with the proceeds from selling the other stuff he stole from us.


My Wednesday Adventure was much better. Darryl and I and two new dive buddys dove a new (to me at least) site in downtown Aguadilla in front of Rompiola's. This is a very cool site, like a combination of Natural (one of our favorite dive sites) and Wishing Well (a favorite snorkeling and sometime dive site). Natural is a beautiful reef and so is Rompiola's. But like Wishing Well, Rompiola's is a shallow dive, bottoming at 20' or so. For a diver that means you can stay down and explore for a long time. (A tank of air lasts longer at shallow depths than at deeper depths.) So this is a very cool new site, one that Elaine and I can dive together. It's her kind of dive - not too deep, lots to see, easy to get to, easy entry, very little current, short swim out. Wow! What more can you want?

Kite surfers are happy

The kite surfers are happy - the winds have been howling. The surfers on the other hand are crying. This is the longest no-surf stretch in February that anyone can remember. A friend who has lived and surfed here for more than 30 years has never seen anything like this flat stretch. I haven't even gone out to look for surfers in almost a month.

I have done some KAPping though. This is from a late-afternoon session this week KAPping the beach at Bajura and the kite surfers at Shacks. There are some really nice images. The best are posted on Flickr.

There is supposed to be a little bump in the surf today and tomorrow so I'm headed out to see if there is anyone out. I'll let you know.

Happy birhtday, Marti

Today would have been my mother's 84th birthday. Happy birthday, Marti! We miss you.

Where did the week go?

Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the day-to-day.

We had two parties at Ola Lola's last week. The first was a birthday party for our friend Kelda, her first birthday party since she was like 10. Happy birthday, Kelda.

The second was a going away party for our good friends Steve and Tracy. Steve's job has been moved from PR to Las Vegas, a move that seems to make no sense but there it is. Good luck and safe travels to you guys. We know you're giving up diving in warm waters for hiking through sand, but we know you'll always find something fun to do.

Let's see...I haven't been diving, although it's not for lack of trying. We had a trip planned to go to Coffin Island off the south coast of the island, but that fell through. Then a couple of us were going to dive the wall off La Parguera with a new dive operator and that got canceled. We had two night dives planned for this week but neither of those worked out. A group headed to Rincon to dive at Desecheo Island on Saturday. By the time I called to get a seat, the boat was full.

No surf to speak of so I haven't been shooting pictures of surfers.

So what have I been doing? I've been riding Chocolate almost every day. KTJ spooked and threw Elaine last week and she (Elaine) has a badly bruised, very sore backside. So I've been riding Chocolate to give him some exercise. One we went all the way to Survival Beach (where the trail rides go) all by ourselves. I was pretty proud of that. Yesterday I worked him hard enough to make him sweat. We're actually getting much better together. I can't wait for Elaine to heal so we can ride together.

I did manage to get in two KAP (Kite Aerial Photography sessions this week, one at Shacks and an early morning session at Montones. That's a site I've wanted to KAP for a long time. As always, it was a learning experience. I'll have to take what I learned and go back again. The timing is difficult: for all the wind we have, we don't usually have good wind early in the morning, near sunrise, which is when I want to shoot this particular beach. Another adventure for another day. You can see the best from these two sessions on Flickr.

Adventure Tuesday

This week's Adventure Tuesday had multiple adventures.

I got to go diving for only the second time this year. Darryl was taking a couple from the States to Crashboat and I got to tag along.

Then Elaine, Kelda and I went to the Guajataca Forest and to the Cave of the Wind. Finally, after four years, we made it to Bosque de Guajataca!

Like many journeys, the hike to the cave itself is part of the adventure. It's about a 40 minute hike up to the cave. The area is crisscrossed with trails. The map we got from the ranger station was a great help keeping us on the right path.

The trail is narrow and frequently rocky. As it winds upward, it crosses back and forth over what must be a ridge. First a vertical wall is on your left and a drop-off of a hundred feet or more is on your right. Then suddenly you realize they've switched: the drop-off is on the left and the wall is on the right. Then back again. And yet again. Bosque de Guajataca is a rain forest but this is the dry season here in Puerto Rico so the trails were dry. I suspect the trails can be pretty slippery and treacherous in the rainy season. The good news is even if you slipped off the trail, you could fall far because the trees grow tight against the trail.

On the trail we met another couple coming out. They asked if we were going to the cave and when we said "yes," asked if we had a flashlight "'cause you're going to need one!" When we said we didn't have a flashlight, they gave us theirs, one they borrowed from the ranger station.

As you near the cave, the trail starts a steep descent with a couple of cut backs. It ends on a platform at the cave entrance. A set of narrow creepy-looking narrow wooden stairs spirals down into the darkness. We all stood there a moment, not really sure of the wisdom of disappearing into the darkness, all three of us a little freaked out by it.

As we started down, we were really really happy to have that flashlight. Within just a few feet of the bottom of the stairs the circle of light from the cave opening was absorbed by the dark. It was pretty much impossible to see anything.

The light from the flash revealed a surprisingly large open cave that disappeared into the hillside to both the left and the right with fascinating, unexpected limestone structures underground. Creepy, but amazingly beautiful. I have no pictures from inside the cave: the flash on my little camera quit working. But we're already planning another adventure to the cave, this time with more lights and cameras. Now that we've been there once we probably won't be as freaked out by it. Probably.

A week in a day

We've had no - or at best very limited - Internet access for the last week so here are the daily photos I would have posted all week.

Elaine riding KTJ on the beach from a morning ride we took together. Yes, we actually got to ride together!

Sunset through the palm trees at Playa Bajura at the end of "Deadend" Road. Playa Bajura is the stretch of beach east of Shacks going toward Jobos. Even though it is one continuous stretch of beach, each section has a different name.

The full moon rising over the field next to Ola Lola's. I was just coming back from walking the dogs. I forgot it was a full moon night. If I'd stayed on the beach a few more minutes, this would have been a picture of the moon rising over the ocean.

The ocean at Shacks Beach yesterday morning. We don't often see the ocean this flat at this time of year, especially here on the North Shore.

Our dogs, Amber and Jazz, love to swim. This is quick underwater snap of Amber under water.

Our friend Janelle whale-watching on Shacks Beach.

Good karma

We got the Pathfinder back! Remember the one that was stolen? Thursday we picked the vehicle from the police impound. We had it towed to a mechanic to have the steering column and ignition rebuilt from where the thieves tore it apart to hotwire it. It's dinged up in places it wasn't before but basically it's sound and runs good. The new tires are still on it and the new battery is still in it. The stereo and the spare tire are gone but oh, well.

The thieves took all the surf stickers off it but they didn't bother to use Goo-gone to take the glue off so you can still see the outlines. They wrote "se vende" (for sale) on the window with a telephone number but only the area code and six digits.

The police found the car in Aguadilla. A 20-year-kid was joyriding it up and down the street and making the neighbors nervous. They called the cops. The police stopped the kid, ran the VIN, and it popped as stolen. The original license plate is gone and it had a plate stolen from another car on it.

The kid denied stealing it; he says he bought it. The police officer told him, "fine. Bring the guy you bought it from in with you and we'll only charge you with possession of stolen property, rather than Grand Theft Auto." Still waiting to see if that happens.

On Tuesday we go see the district attorney to discuss charges and restitution.

We are all truly amazed that the car was recovered. I'm really happy we have our karma and not the thieves.

The hurrider I go...

My first whale sighting at Wilderness this morning.

the behinder I get.

The new year is less than two weeks old and I'm already behind. Not because there's nothing to write about, but because there is SO MUCH going on.

I haven't written yet about the great night we had with the band Los Petardos on Sunday. This was Day Two of our Sirah's Birthday Celebration Weekend (even though she's back in Colorado). It was a great party and lots of fun with a whole bunch of friends, new and familiar. Thanks to all the guys in the band and to everyone who came out to celebrate.

After a long, unintentional hiatus due to crappy waves, crappy light and much work over the holidays, I finally got back out to photograph surfers this week.

This morning I had my first whale sighting while shooting at Wilderness Beach. There were at least two whales. They didn't fully breech but we did see them come up to breathe. They weren't very far outside the lineup. All the stand up paddleboarders, who are standing on their boards (duh!) and thus had a better view, all turned around to watch.

Besides the whale photo, I got some great shots of surfers. You can see them on our website, PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com. As soon as I get a little time, I'll put a set on Flickr as well. Enjoy. Hopefully, there are lots more to come this season.

Morning beach ride

We took a little beach ride this morning to let the horses go swimming - or at least wade around in the ocean a bit. Elaine rode KTJ, Sam rode her 32-year-old Paso Fino Nappy and I rode Chocolate.

Damn, that boy has a boney back to ride bareback!

KTJ did really well. She waded in a little and pawed at the water then walked back in the water at the edge. That's pretty amazing. Just a couple of months ago she would have spooked sideways and moved up the beach away from the water. Now she's taking it in stride, literally.

Chocolate was a pistol. Because Elaine has been sick all week, he hasn't been riden as much as usual and he was a handful. Hanging on was the worse because I didn't had a proper bridle, just a halter with a rope. I didn't feel like I had much control so we didn't venture in the water. But we made it and had a good time doing it. I probably won't try riding with just a halter again anytime soon.

Happy Birthday, Sirah!

First let wish Sirah a very very happy birthday. We're happy you get to spend your birthday with your Colorado family but your Puerto Rico family misses you a ton.

This morning Darryl, John D., Kelda, a visitor named Curt and I went on a birthday celebration dive. Thank you, Sirah! It was one of the most beautiful days we've ever had at Shacks. The ocean was like a lake - calm, flat, no wind, no chop, no surge. Visibility was unbelievable - 70' or more. We saw a turtle in Blue Hole, before the dive even started. We saw three spotted eagle rays during the dive. We don't get many days like this in the summer, let alone in January.


Happy birthday, Sirah! Hope it was great in Colorado. We missed you here in PR.

Feliz Dia del Tres Reyes

Today is Three Kings Day, also known as Epiphany and Twelfth Night. Today celebrates the day when the Bible says the the three kings/wisemen/magi arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.

In many Puerto Rican households today is a bigger day than Christmas Day itself. Last night churches were crowded, more so even than on Christmas Eve as many churches here don't have Christmas Eve services. Today is a day for exchanging gifts. In many households Christmas Day brings small gifts while larger gifts are reserved for Three Kings Day.

Three Kings Eve has a tradition that echos stockings hung on the fireplace mantle and leaving cookies and milk for Santa: before they go to bed on Three Kings Eve, Puerto Rican children put hay or grass in their shoes and slide them under their beds. The hay is to feed the Kings' camels. In the morning the children wake up to find the hay gone (presumably eaten by the camels) and sweets or presents in their shoes. (Hey - camels in Puerto Rico is no weirder than flying reindeer in, say, Arizona.)

It's hard to describe "typical" when it come to PR Christmas. There are so many "northern" traditions that have been introduced here, most of them terribly incongruous. For example, we have an inflatable snowman sitting in a chair in front of Ola Lola's. There are strings of snowflake lights in people's yards. Most of the people have only seen snow in pictures. There are wreaths on doors and buildings. Some places - mostly Walmart/Sam's/Amigo - sell cut Christmas trees shipped by container ship from Oregon and Washington. I think that's just weird. Images of Santa in a red suit trimmed in fur are pretty strange when it's 80+ degrees.

I have heard some older Puerto Ricans bemoaning the loss of local traditions. Many of them blame the change on the government's crackdown on drunk driving over the holidays. "Family parties aren't as big as the used to be" according to one old timer (although it's hard to imagine how big they must have been in the past given some I've been to and seen).

The other tradition that has suffered is the paranda. A paranda is like caroling on steroids. You get together a bunch of your friends, at least one of which is really a musician, and go to another friend's house at, say, 2:00 a.m. You sing, you play music, you bang on drums or kitchen pots or plastic buckets. In return for this joyful awakening your host friend is obligated to provide food and drink (preferably coquito made with pitoro, the local "moonshine") for the entire paranda band. After feeding you, your host joins the paranda and you move on to the next victim's, er, friend's house. This continues until daybreak or until everyone is passed out in someone's yard. You can see where a few DUI's would put a damper on this tradition.

However, according to Fox News Latino (always a reliable source), Puerto Rico does have the longest Christmas season in the world. They do have couple of things wrong though. Christmas does not start at Thanksgiving. It starts at Halloween which is really just there to remind people that the Christmas season has officially started. (Halloween is not a huge holiday here, but it's growing.) Thanksgiving is just another part of Christmas, the first BIG family party of the season. The big box stores, particularly Walmart and Kmart, have two seasons, summer and Christmas. Each store has a section dedicated to "seasonal." About the third week of September they take out all the summer lawn-and-garden stuff and put in aisle after aisle of Christmas. Then, about the end of January, they take out what's left of picked-over Christmas stuff and put the lawn-and-garden stuff back in.

On a somewhat more serious note, I do take issue with the Fox report's emphasis on depression and suicide here during the Christmas season. Not that it's not true; it is. But no more so here than anywhere else. The holidays are a time of increased depression and suicide EVERYWHERE, not just in Puerto Rico.

So be HAPPY this season!

an ocean to match a mood

Dark, cold, choppy, disorganized, all dampened by a passing rain squall.

Fortunately, a few moments later the sun reappeared and at least lightened the ocean's mood if not mine.

A great anniversary adventure

It was a gift anniversary gift from Elaine but she didn't go with me share it. (She's currently looking for more hammock time, not more adrenalin.) But I had a great time with friends (although I missed Elaine; I love sharing adventures with her).

Batey Zipline Adventures is way up in the mountains about an hour and a half from us. Over the past seven years Jorge and his family and friends have built an amazing nature adventure park in some of the most beautiful property I've ever seen.

Like rural mountain areas everywhere, things are different here. The adventure begins on the road in. The road is (mostly) a solid one-lane wide, flanked on one side by the vertical stone side of the mountain and on the other by a steep, several hundred-foot drop. I've been in the Smokie Mountains and in the Rockies and I don't think I've ever seen such steeply pitched roads. There are four things your vehicle needs: good brakes, a strong transmission, lots of low-end torque and a good horn. You drive up a steep incline. As you reach the top. it's like a good roller-coaster: you literally cannot see what is over the crest. Does it go down in a steep drop? Is there a curve? Is there another car coming? (This is where the good horn comes in to play.)


Once we got to the office, we looked across a spectacular karst valley to Jorge's house. We didn't know it yet but that's where the Zipline Adventure begins. We piled into the back of a 4x4 pickup for a short ride down a dirt track that was just like the road we came in on - without the pavement. We stopped above a ford across the river (Rio Tanamá) and piled out of the truck. Rather than ford the river we crossed on a suspended swinging bridge then climbed up to Jorge's house.

At the house we put on climbing harnesses, climbing helmets and gloves then a short climb/walk to the first zipline start platform. Jorge - and seven-year-old Alyssa - were the first off. Jorge zipped to the other side to be the "catcher" for the rest of us. Paulo stayed on our side to make sure we were hooked up properly.

All the zip lines are double. That is, there are two cables and two wheel rigs each time you zip. Before he took off, Jorge showed us how to "steer" using the caribiner at the top of our harness. "But", he said, "you don't have to steer or even hang on. Whether you're sideways or backwards, I'll be on the other side to catch you."

Zipping is awesome! With each successive zip, we got more comfortable, letting go, even hanging upside down (well, some people did).

After the third zip, we got to rappel down a 70-foot cliff. I've never rappelled before and this was something I was really looking forward to. Hmmm - I was much more nervous about it than I thought I would be. I let myself down slowly and it was only when I reached the bottom that I realized how tense I was. But I loved it. I want to that again. I'll be a lot more comfortable next time. (And there will be a next time!)

The last two zips were across the river. Wow - just amazingly beautiful. Once we "zipped" to the river level, we got in two small boats and paddled up river and through the river's cave. All along the route, Jorge gave us information about the land, folklore of the area, and a bit of geology. In the cave, in addition to bats nesting high above us, we saw plastic bottles and bamboo jammed into crevices, left there by the last flood. This cave, more than 20 feet high in places, completely fills with water when the river floods.

On the up-river side of the cave, Jorge showed us a spring with clear drinking water pouring from the hillside. Jorge caught water in a cup made of a leaf to share.

We drifted back through the cave to just below the swinging bridge. Another ride it the back of a four-wheel drive pickup brought us back to the starting point. but the adventure wasn't completely over yet. There was still that drive back out to the main road.

If you can't tell, I am completely taken with this adventure. It's definitely in my top five fun things. I am really impressed with the way Jorge has built this playground into a spectacular natural setting. Thank you, guys, for a great adventure. And thank you, mi querida, for making it possible. Next time, you're going along.

Happy Anniversary, Mi Querida

Six years ago on beach in Barbados, we said "I do." Thank you, mi querida, my amor. You are the love of my life.

Merry Christmas!

and Happy Boxing Day! (For those who don't know what Boxing Day is, more on that in a minute.)

Ola Lola's was open Christmas Eve and what a night it was! We set a new record for number of food orders. One of our regular guests told us it was a great Christmas party. We're really glad. Frankly, we were too busy to notice.

We spent Christmas Day with our daughter Amy's family. It was so much fun being with two of our grandkids on Christmas Day. (We hope the other two grand kids had a great day as well. We missed them.) We had dinner with Amy's family and some of our extended Puerto Rican family. Totally awesome Christmas! No snow though. Oh, yeah. We live on a tropical island.

Boxing Day: "Despite its name, Boxing Day, which is celebrated on December 26 in Great Britain, has nothing to do with pugilistic competition. Nor is it a day for people to return unwanted Christmas presents. While the exact origins of the holiday are obscure, it is likely that Boxing Day began in England during the Middle Ages.

Some historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes.

Church Alms Boxes

Another theory is that the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on December 26, which is also the Feast of St. Stephen.

As time went by, Boxing Day gift giving expanded to include those who had rendered a service during the previous year. This tradition survives today as people give presents to tradesmen, mail carriers, doormen, porters, and others who have helped them." --from Factmonster.com

Happy birthday, George

Last night we joined a bunch of friends to celebrate George's birthday. We won't tell you how old he is - we'll let Mary have the pleasure.

Happy birthday, George! And many many happy returns. May all of them be celebrated in Puerto Rico!

Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!

We didn't get to see the eclipse last night because of cloud cover, and so no picture. A bit disappointing but I've seen eclipses before.

Today is one of a series anniversaries in Puerto Rico. Four years ago we started our own adventure in paradise. We landed on the island on December 19th. On this date, the 21st, we sat in an attorney's office and closed the deal and took over Ola Lola's. We spent another week getting things ready and reopened Ola Lola's (which had been closed since August) on the 29th.

The 29th is not only Ola Lola's anniversary, it's also our wedding anniversary. You could say that that was really the beginning of our adventure but that's another story for another day.

Enjoy the lengthening days.

The copper-colored sky

The light this morning at sunrise was the most amazing beautiful copper color. The sky and the whole land- and seascape had this amazing color. There are no filters or Photoshop trickery here. Both the photo above and below were taken with the camera's white balance set for "daylight." the bottom photo, taken just seconds later, was taken with the white balance set for "tungsten." Eerie, eerie light. But, to repeat myself, amazing and beautiful.

Speaking of sky, I hope it clears up so we can see the eclipse tonight.