Day 2 in St.Croix: Diving at Sweet Bottom, and moar Christiansted

Date: 09.03.2014

Today was something I was waiting for some days - I had the chance to go diving again! I have to admit, I'm addicted and little bit annoyed I didn't find this hobby when I was younger and did a lot of free diving. Well, now it's time to take back all those lost hours under water :).

Great star coral

Timo didn't feel well, so I booked two shore dives for me and stnz from Sweet bottom Diving, which was located in a expensive looking resort. For me it seemed that most of the tourists were located in these resorts, where they had everything they needed and because of that, they didn't have any reason to go outside and see the towns or interact with the locals. Or bring their money to local businesses - which is really sad.

I got reaaally close to this guy and had my time to take pictures of it because I was first to notice him

My peacock flounder on the move

The diving company had some really sweet place in the resort, good places to storage their equipment, good washing places and also places for dry their and other people's stuff. And of course they were located just next to the wall, so there was lots and lots of beautiful diving places for many days..

Flamingo tongue

Ocean Surgeonfish and French Grunt

We did 2 shore dives with one other guy who worked with the military. I was sooo envious when he told us that he dived at the Bikini Atoll inside of a sunken aircraft carrier some years back.

There was lots of more different species of fishes than  I saw in Vieques, but in Vieques the fishes were much bigger. I would've loved to dive here couple more dives without 'supervision', so I would've had all the time I wanted to explore very nook and cranny.

Sand diver not giving a single F... about me hovering around him

Mmmm... brainns... coral.

Ocean Surgeonfishes

On our second dive we saw a small shark far away, or I should say deeper. Because of that, I couldn't go there to see the guy. I really need some training with nitrox before I get back to St. Croix, so I could see more of The Wall. And I also need a bigger camera - or just the red filter / good light for my current one. I'm still pretty pleased what my 300EUR little camera can do without extra lightning nor filters :).

stnz diving above me

Small shark and me

The image I got of the shark, probably a small Caribbean reef shark

On our last dive we heard that it started to rain on top, so we dived a lot longer along the shore in 1,8-1,5m depth. When we got on top, it flooded. It was pretty funny that you felt more wet above the water than when you were diving. Putting on your dry clothes wasn't really a good idea because there was more water coming down in bigger pressure than any of the showers we used during our trip..

Banded butterflyfish

These guys weren't scared at all, they just hanged around and didn't seem to mind at all.  White spotted filefishes.

It's raining (and yet again, not men)

Ewww it's wet up here, I want to go back down where it's nice and warm...

After the dives stnz was supposed to go and fly with Diamond DA20, but because Joe Biden was just leaving the island (evidently he had a cabin there) he couldn't go yet. We went back to our apartment and I did fell a sleep pretty quickly on my bed.

When I woke up, stnz was gone (called to do the familiarization flight after Biden and his entourage was gone) and halen was watching Netflix in the living room. I asked if he wanted to go outside and photograph some stuff, and in 10 minutes we were out.

There was a little carnival next to our apartment where the kids were playing in a bouncy castle and music was playing. We took some photographs of the nearby ruins, and went to see the same place where we were at a bar yesterday and noticed some really cool liana around the buildings.

The sunset was pretty cool, and the town was somewhat quiet. We were hungry and stnz was still nowhere to be found, so we decided to head back to Angry Nate's and eat some food. When we got our food - stnz decided to show up and ate his dinner with us.

After that we left to drive around the countryside, and of course I didn't have my 15mm with me - so the good weather for taking night pictures was lost yet again :).

Lianas wrapping around few buildings

Day 1 in Vieques: Diving

Date: 01.03.2014

Yes, I love to be photographed under water too

Today was the time to start my open water dives for my OWD-certification. The day started early and we went outside to wait for the cab the scuba diving ppl had arranged us. When we reached the nearby baseball field, the only car that came there just in time was a minibus (it's a long GMC van), I asked two times from the guy did the diving ppl order him to pick us up, and in local way  "don't understand = YES" he got us on board. When we reached the nearby city of Isabel, he asked us "where now?" ..Shit.

We found a guy who spoke English and he translated stuff for us. Turned out that he wasn't really knowing where to take us. The diving ppl's organizer was really concerned who took us, but after I gave her the full name of the guy, she relaxed.

The Sea Cow in her black burrito covers

We got to the pier and turned out that it was just me and the guys - it was funny to see that the guy's instructor was the same guy I said at the ferry terminal that "if that dude is not a diver, I don't know who is" :D. I was lucky and I got to do my open water dives private - it was just me and Carlito. He is pretty much the nicest guy I've ever met, and he really is a wizard underwater. I'm usually the kind of person who goes fast from A to B if I have A and B, but he likes to do things veery slowly underwater and he dives near the bottom. It was a good thing for me to see that you can go even slower underwater and see more stuff, and because how low he was diving, I had to learn to control my buoyancy pretty quick simply by breathing, and forget about using the BCD.

Carlito stealing Brrandoon's fin with a sneaky underneath dive (by Halen)

Sea turtle searching for food (by Halen)

Braaandon floating around the pylons (by Halen)

The pier was really beautiful place, and I can imagine that if I lived in Vieques, I would be diving there almost daily. The place is just magical and there is just so much to see and photograph. During our dives we spotted a huge stingray (around 1 metre wide) and lots of more interesting animals, and some really beautiful fishes I just stopped to stare and almost forgot why I was there. One point we noticed Brandon and the guys diving by, and they didn't notice us our the sounds Carlito was making, so he swam underneath the guys to the other side and just took one of Brandon's fins from his leg. Now I've tried laughing through the regulator too :D. Fortunately Timo got a picture of this nice surprise, which we Finns could describe as "Vittuilu on välittämistä" = "Fucking around with someone is caring"

Apparently I did pretty well and I was a natural according to Carlito, but maybe he just says it to all of his students :).

My hairy walrus friends and Brandon (or Bob the diver), their guide

After the dive we got back home and walked back to the town to get something to eat. We walked around for an hour or so, and stumbled upon some cute animals. I've been missing my dogs, so I had to give some TLC to a dog we saw. He had a timid friend, who started to trust me pretty quick, but unfortunately he seemed to have some painful sores around his neck, so I couldn't touch him. But it was really heartwarming to see him gnawing his buddy with his front teeth after I was done scratching his buddy.

Finally the guys settled on a place where we should go to eat, and it was a pizzeria where they had a fast internet = we could upload pictures and update our blogs, which is nearly impossible at our apartment. The diving really wears you off, so we were all done for the day at 22.

Locals are in a bar next door

Day 3 in NOLA: Saint Louis Cemetery #2

Date: 24.2.2014

Because of the slow start of the day, we had to skip coffee and Pirate Alley geocache in the French Quarter and head straight to the cemetery. These cemeteries in New Orleans are something really different, they are said to be the cities of the dead, because the bodies have been buried above ground in different types of structures and mausoleums.

The reason why the  bodies are buried above ground is due to old French and Spanish traditions, and in part because it's on old swamp land. What the reason is why this tradition started, it has given birth to beautiful, intriguing places around the city, where you can find interesting things to look at for hours and days.

This Cemetery was consecrated in 1823, as the St. Louis Cemetery #1 is from the year 1789, which is now the oldest and most famous cemeteries in New Orleans. Lots of the graves we saw was from the 1900s, and there was really a lot of signs that they were really old and starting to fall apart. There were also couple of graves where the coffin was visible.

Well yes, that's a coffin

Next to the cemetery was a huge demolition site with high fences - it was the former housing development with 75 buildings, which was being demolished so they can build different kinds of housing instead of a neighborhood full of public housing complexes. Earlier, the cemeteries weren't safe because of the Iberville neighborhood which they were surrounding. Now because Iberville is empty and the "ghetto" is gone, the cemeteries are also safer. Still, driving a car around Iberville gives you a eerie feeling, the huge amount of similar buildings empty, the yard full of mud and some children's play spots still up. More eerie than walking in the cemetery alone.

Iberville