This beautiful flower was given to me by a very special student and his family a few years ago. It blooms every year and brings back so many happy memories! Thanks for the memories Andres!!! This is one of my favorite times of the year. Everything is full of color. New leaves are coming out on the trees. The grass is bright green. The flowers are in full bloom. God just gets out his paintbrush and goes to town. Personally I have always wondered if he lets Van Gogh, Monet and O'Keeffe have a little fun helping. Here are a few pictures of the few I have in my yard.
Tug and Barge, of course! This is what Tug and Barge, located near Lee Stocking Island, looks like up close.
Dolphin! Just say the "d word" and we all look. Can't help but love those playful sea creatures that swim along with the boat. These dolphin came to swim in Valkyrie's bow wake off and on all day long as we were traveling along the coast of the Carolinas. We went out the St. Mary's Inlet on the Georgia/Florida line. It took just over two full days to get to Cape Lookout, NC. This video was shot along the way. We were several miles offshore and couldn't see land. The water was clear and calm. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of the bow in the water. If you listen closely, esp. at the beginning, you can hear the dolphins clicking. I added music to this one (at the request of a good friend :-)). Hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed the dolphin!!!
I know! I promised the dolphin video and haven't delivered. I really did shoot some great video. But life has this habit of getting in my way of blogging. I've just been out enjoying and living. Plus the dolphin came and went all day long. That means that I shot tons of video and took way too many photos. Looking at all that video and trying to decide what to keep and what to cut was hard. The video is just over 3 minutes long which is probably longer than most folks want to watch. Just be glad I didn't leave in all the video! It is now being uploaded by YouTube. I promise to hurry up and post it once it is finished uploading!
"No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea." While we were offshore on the way from Fernandino Beach, Florida to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, the dolphin came to play in our bow wake MANY times. Here are a few pictures to tease you. You KNOW I shot lots of video!!! It's a comin' soon!
While iguanas live all over the Bahamas, some islands are more noted for them. These were at Bitter Guana Cay. When we first walked up to check out the sign, at least 5 iguans came RUNNING out to greet us. Clearly they expected food, which we did not have with us. Let me tell you having 5+ of these creatures barreling towards you expecting food you don't have does more than just give you pause. It makes you run backwards FAST! Not only did I do the backwards dance, but so did everyone else on the beach. These are not cute little curly tail lizards. They are seriously hungry dragon looking speed demons. After we caught our breath and they realized we didn't have any food, things settled down. We realized that the iguanas, while they were running straight towards us, would only come so close before stopping on a dime. If you moved closer to them, they took off in the other direction. That was a relief! I filmed the video using my underwater camera, which is the one to the left. There is no screen on the back, so you can't see what you are videoing. I just held it up and tried to aim it. Please forgive the shots that aren't centered. It's a little jumpy and there is no sound, but it does give you a nice view of the iguanas. Iguanas at Bitter Guana Cay from Debbie Via on Vimeo. |