Category: Caribbean

  • Throwback Thursday: Dead Dolphins and Live Whale Sharks

    Throwback Thursday: Dead Dolphins and Live Whale Sharks

    It was with a smug superiority that I returned to vacation: living it up while climbing ruins, rafting rivers, and stalking whale sharks was the name of the game. To summarize: The Belizean landscape was raw and rife with exotic wildlife. The Mayan ruins were breathtaking and fabulous. The whale sharks were one of the…

  • The Recalcitrant Seahorse

    The Recalcitrant Seahorse

    Once upon a time, in a magical far away land called Curaçao, there was a seahorse.   And it was a jerk.   Every time I approached it with my camera, it would turn its back to me. Every. Single. Time. Sometimes, it even just got up and walked away. I hated that seahorse. And…

  • Curaçao: Stunning Slugs, Snails, and Worms, or… the Pretty Yucky Stuff

    Curaçao: Stunning Slugs, Snails, and Worms, or… the Pretty Yucky Stuff

    Christmas Tree Worm Go anywhere stateside after Thanksgiving (hell, after Halloween), and Christmas stuff is everywhere. We arrived in Curaçao Thanksgiving Day, and I don’t recall seeing anything glaringly festive. That’s OK. The only Christmas tree I needed in the Caribbean was of the worm variety. Possibly the prettiest worm ever: the Christmas Tree Worm.…

  • Curaçao: Claws, Jaws, and Cephalopods

    Curaçao: Claws, Jaws, and Cephalopods

    Just some crustaceans, eels, and mollusks we encountered on our recent scuba diving trip to Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles: Banded coral shrimp…   The batwing coral crab…   The red reef hermit crab…   The white speckled hermit crab…   Banded clinging crabs… which I think are just ADORABLE…   Spotted cleaner shrimp…   The perennially-grumpy…

  • Diving with whale sharks in Placencia, Belize

    Diving with whale sharks in Placencia, Belize

    Who wouldn’t want to swim with whale sharks? We certainly did–so when we realized that our anniversary trip to Belize was going to coincide with the May full moon (that is to say, smack in the middle of Belize whale shark season), we shuffled our itinerary around to include a couple of days in Placencia,…