Snorkeling Toucari Bay

Aaron is officially done with his 3rd semester of med school and we are on our two week staycation before 4th!  Here are a few pictures from our first snorkeling trip this break :)  Friday morning we met a few other couples at the med school's front gate and negotiated a taxi ride with "Mr. Brun" to and from Toucari Bay [TOO-coddy] (15 minutes north) for $7.00EC each, round trip (~$2.60US).  The water was clear and the jellies were definitely present, but not plentiful or aggressive enough to keep us away!   Good day!

 Megan putting on her son, Owen's, goggles :)

 This is a Smooth Trunk Fish

Balloon Fish

Caribbean Blue Tang (Dory's Caribbean cousin)

  

Cool sponge

 Owen, and his dad, Nate Russell, getting ready to dive

 The Dynamic Duo

 Blue/Grey Tang

The other Dynamic Duo 

Cool spikey vase sponge

Barrel Sponge

Aaron's head at Toucari 

Playing with the jellies

Megan Russell

Blue-Headed Wrasse

School of brown and blue Tang

Squirrel fishies

That is a piece of coral/sponge that I accidentally broke off.  As soon as I put it back down a bunch of fish came to check it out and eat little newly-exposed organisms that were invisible to me

Blue-Headed Wrasse

Coney Fish (Part of the Grouper family)

Pretty reef life (Blue-Headed Wrasse)

A little island under the sea...

 Those things that look like palm trees are called Feather Duster worms.  The top "flower" is the crown of a sea worm that lives in the tube and is both a feeding apparatus and a breathing gill.  If you wave your hand by it or touch it the worm reflexively withdraws into its tube

Sunset Kayaking and Roseau trip

I borrowed some of my friend, Bree's, kayaks and we all snorkeled and went kayaking at sunset.  It was such a great day! 

Charlie running in front of the beach cottages at PBH. They were built for the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean during filming and are now rented out to vacationers. 

We always walk down the path behind the cottages and pick Carambola (star fruit).

 Silly Megan

Matthew LOVED kayaking.  I got some sweet shots of him and the setting sun.  I love this place

The explorer!  What a cool kid.

 Megan and Cami getting out after Matte's brother paddled them around

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A group of spouses took a trip to Roseau to shop (there is much better selection for food and things in Roseau.  It's the capitol and takes about an hour to get there).

I love my envelopes I got at Astaphans!!

Here is a random cellar door we walked past on our way to Pizza Hut (YEAH BABY- there are only 3 American fast food places on the island- Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway- the only one by where we live is Subway).  It looks like the building owners found it somewhere else and propped it against their wrong shaped cellar doorway.  I love the stone holding it in place.This is so typically Dominica.

Haha this picture still cracks me up.  I took that last pic of the door and then my friend, Chris, said hey go sit in front of it and I'll take an artsy picture.  He positioned me and everything. lol what a goof.

The goof under a fisheye lense.

I used the color filter on my camera where you can select a color in the viewfinder and then any other color turns to grey scale.  Pretty cool green nail polish.  Lacey goes crazy when I pick it off. HA! I'm pretty sure I painted these the night before at her house.

On le bus.  I'm sitting in the very back seat because I don't get car sick like everyone else on the relentlessly winding roads. It's quite a ride!