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16 May 2012

Landgrens and St Maarten meet again!

I finally had a chance to get to the school and get some pictures uploaded so I could write this blog! I've been trying to catch up on school while also having Sary Marsh on island. I finally found some time between school assignments to write about my parents' second visit to St Maarten. They were here last November and saw most of the highlights of the island then. This time it was a bit more relaxed, and Owen was on break which made it much more relaxing and fun for all.  
Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest while they were here, we've been having much more rain and clouds than usual for this time of year. So they had a bit of a different experience of the island this time. One of the highlights for this trip was the massive rain storm and flooding we got on May 3rd. After getting kicked out of the movie theater due to the rain, my parents got to experience what it is really like to live on an island, as we drove through the worst flooding we've seen in 2 years. We don't have any pictures of it, but the headlights disappeared as water was coming up over the hood of the car. The water was up to the door handles of most of the parked cars, as we drove through a stream of rapids on the streets. Luckily we had a rental, so our car didn't get flooded, though the waters tore off the front license plate on the rental! 

Other than the flooding, we spent the week going to different beaches, some of their favorites from the last visit and some new ones. We made a point to watch KLM (Boeing 747) land, which they didn't get to see last time. We tried a lot of new restaurants, went shopping in Philipsburg, the guys rented wave runners. We also spent a day over in Anguilla, none of us had been there before. The weather wasn't the best that day, but at least we didn't get rained out like we had other days. The snorkeling was pretty good at Shoal Bay (East) and my dad and Owen saw some baby reef sharks in the shallows waters when they went for a walk.

Overall it was a great vacation for everyone. Lots of time to relax and enjoy the island. A big thank you to my parents for visiting and everything they did for us, allowing us to have a vacation as well! We really enjoyed the week with you and look forward to seeing you in the fall! Much love!

Can't even see the mountains!
Leaving Marigot
Welcome to Anguilla!
In Anguilla, looking back at St Maarten. The weather wasn't great, but made for cool pictures/colors
Shoal Bay East, Anguilla
love the water in Anguilla


07 May 2012

Night Diving

So I had this whole blog post done and I was just about to hit publish when the new blogger site decided to delete it instead. So now it's going to be the quick version.


Over break we had a chance to go night diving. I was pretty nervous about the idea at first, especially getting into dark water that I couldn't see the bottom. Turns out it wasn't that bad. We went out just after dusk, so there was still a little light and it made the transition to dark water easier. There were also 7 of us on the dive and between all of our flashlights, it was never really that dark.

We went to a site that we have dove many times (the training site) but it was very different in the dark. A lot more fish were out, especially the really small fish which hide during the day. I tried to get a few pictures, but apparently it's rather difficult to photograph in the dark, underwater, with just a flashlight; who would have thought ;) We did get to see an octopus though, which was really cool since you almost never see them. Overall it was a really cool dive experience.

Also over break, Owen got his rescue diver certification with Octopus Diving and I helped out by being the victim. Next it's the Advanced certification for me hopefully in the next month. Anyway other than that, break was pretty relaxed, which was much needed. Look for another update soon from my parents' visit. Until then, enjoy the few pictures from the night dive and the starfish in Grand Case bay. Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!

Sunset in Grand Case before the dive
Divers and boaters
Trunk Fish
Urchin


OCTOPUS!!!




Started changing to a blue-ish color
Huge starfish