Aruba.
Jody Melanson
Registered Users Posts: 416 Major grins
Got back last Sunday from a week in Aruba. Beautiful windy, little island. It remains around a constant 33c or 91f. With humidity it is around 42c or 107f. The constant breeze (or should I say gale force winds when we were there 
) keeps the temperature managable. You drink half a beer, set down your cup and whoosh, where'd my beer go??? 
My wife wasn't too keen on the wind. You know fellas, women and their hair.....another reason I keep mine buzzed short.
We didn't take our kids with us for the first time in 7 years, so it was somewhat peaceful. We would get up, go put our towels on the chairs we wanted, then go eat some breakfast. After breakfast, my wife would go and lie in the Sun while I went shooting for a couple of hours. Overall I photographed for about 10 hours. I managed to take 2860 photos in this time period. I kept 1184 of them. I will be displaying them here over the next 4 years. Just kidding...
This was taken the first morning after we arrived. It is taken steps from our room. 15 photos stitched together. Taken with a 28-135 at 28mm.
The water is such a beautiful colour!
1
I didn't go out for birds/wildlife the frist day as we had the meeting in the morning for things to do around there. Also we wanted to get acquainted with our surroundings.
These were from the first night's sunset.
2
3
4
Luckily we had a bird sanctuary about a mile and a half from where we were staying. (Bubali Bird Sanctuary) So I walked it everyday to get some exercise.
Bare-eyed Pigeon. These birds are the same size or a little bigger than a Ring Billed Gull. (looks like he got a black eye!) They were quite common.
5
I'm not sure what kind of Lizard/Anole this was. I am having a hard time finding any good websites for identifying Lizards, Crabs, etc from Aruba.
6
It was pretty cool to see Brown-throated Parakeets all over!
7
Bare-eyed Pigeon.
8
Eared Dove. These birds were all over the place. They are about the size of a Mourning Dove. They were everywhere at the resort and would almost take food from your hand.
"What's that? You're say you're Canadian, eh?" "Show me your toque!"
9
Brown-throated Parakeets.
10
Even Aruba has Killdeers.
11
Eared Dove.
12
Great Egret with a Moorhen.
13
Tri-coloured Heron.
14
I have never seen so many Green Herons before. In one little water area, I could see 10-15 Green Herons at one time! Not skittish like they are here, either.
Green Heron.
15
Pied Billed Grebe. This is another bird that you cannot get close to around here at all.
16
Walking on my way back to the resort, I came upon this Carib Grackle bathing. They are also quite common in Aruba. They are smaller than a Common Grackle.
17
My wife and myself in the resort pool. I put my camera on a tripod. (one of the only times I ever use such a cumbersome tool) I focused on my wife. I set the timer and ran and jumped in the pool. Click.
18
Sunset from this day. Wonderful sunsets there.
19
18 photos stitched together.
20
This ends the first day of shooting. What an amazing place. Stay tuned for upcoming posts containing, Sanderlings, Magnificent Frigate birds, and I won't give away too much....:)
) keeps the temperature managable. You drink half a beer, set down your cup and whoosh, where'd my beer go??? My wife wasn't too keen on the wind. You know fellas, women and their hair.....another reason I keep mine buzzed short.
We didn't take our kids with us for the first time in 7 years, so it was somewhat peaceful. We would get up, go put our towels on the chairs we wanted, then go eat some breakfast. After breakfast, my wife would go and lie in the Sun while I went shooting for a couple of hours. Overall I photographed for about 10 hours. I managed to take 2860 photos in this time period.
I kept 1184 of them. I will be displaying them here over the next 4 years. Just kidding...This was taken the first morning after we arrived. It is taken steps from our room. 15 photos stitched together. Taken with a 28-135 at 28mm.
The water is such a beautiful colour!
1
I didn't go out for birds/wildlife the frist day as we had the meeting in the morning for things to do around there. Also we wanted to get acquainted with our surroundings.
These were from the first night's sunset.
2
3
4
Luckily we had a bird sanctuary about a mile and a half from where we were staying. (Bubali Bird Sanctuary) So I walked it everyday to get some exercise.
Bare-eyed Pigeon. These birds are the same size or a little bigger than a Ring Billed Gull. (looks like he got a black eye!
) They were quite common.5
I'm not sure what kind of Lizard/Anole this was. I am having a hard time finding any good websites for identifying Lizards, Crabs, etc from Aruba.
6
It was pretty cool to see Brown-throated Parakeets all over!
7
Bare-eyed Pigeon.
8
Eared Dove. These birds were all over the place. They are about the size of a Mourning Dove. They were everywhere at the resort and would almost take food from your hand.
"What's that? You're say you're Canadian, eh?" "Show me your toque!"
9
Brown-throated Parakeets.
10
Even Aruba has Killdeers.
11
Eared Dove.
12
Great Egret with a Moorhen.
13
Tri-coloured Heron.
14
I have never seen so many Green Herons before. In one little water area, I could see 10-15 Green Herons at one time! Not skittish like they are here, either.
Green Heron.
15
Pied Billed Grebe. This is another bird that you cannot get close to around here at all.
16
Walking on my way back to the resort, I came upon this Carib Grackle bathing. They are also quite common in Aruba. They are smaller than a Common Grackle.
17
My wife and myself in the resort pool. I put my camera on a tripod. (one of the only times I ever use such a cumbersome tool) I focused on my wife. I set the timer and ran and jumped in the pool. Click.
18
Sunset from this day. Wonderful sunsets there.
19
18 photos stitched together.
20
This ends the first day of shooting. What an amazing place. Stay tuned for upcoming posts containing, Sanderlings, Magnificent Frigate birds, and I won't give away too much....:)
There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness!
0
Comments
Cuong
Dave
500mm for the bird images?
I grew up on Curacao which is the neighbor island to Aruba.
Great images
The locals call this lizard 'Toteki'
whenever it feels threatened it extends the skin under its throat like a swiss blade
it is a beautiful sight to see
Now I'm inspired to take my photo gear with me next time I go visiting with the family.
Thanks for sharing Jodi
Although I have to admit to liking the parakeet and killdeer images quite a bit. And the sailboat in the sunset pic, the Green Heron pic and the stitched together sunset .... sigh.
Nice stuff Jody. I look forward to not commenting positively on the next set that you post!
Bob
Maryville, TN.
http://bhowdy.smugmug.com/