Recently in Caribbean Category

As you race to the edge of a precipice one MUST believe that you can find your way, there is no other option.  Be it a hang glider, skiing, diving, sailing, love or life.  If you are not racing to the edge, you are not believing in the life you have now.  Wake up, it's happening now.

Moments of discovery.  On the beach of Baie St. Jean, St. Barthélemy, FWI.  July 16, 2009.

I have had a lot of discussion about this image in my Caribbean gallery so I am going to elaborate more on it.  I did an exploratory trip of the Caribbean in 1978 on an old 1930's schooner for six weeks.  I traveled from the Grenadines to Antigua.  May 15, 1978 was the first time I saw English Harbor (I kept an extensive written log so I know the dates).  There were not any boats in the outer harbor then (lower part of the image with a lot of anchored sailboats) and I took a small dinghy and rowed over to the far end of the bay.  For the next few hours I snorkeled the entire length of the shallow bay, repeatedly diving to the bottom.  The whole expanse of water was full of shimmering schools of juvenile fish, and with each plunge toward the bottom the fish would open a "hole" to let me through and then close behind me, covering my view of the surface.  It was magical.  I was 28 years old and had been free diving and SCUBA diving since my mid-teens in California, but I had never experienced anything like this.  It was an enthralling, interactive contact with nature.   I did not visit this harbor again until 1990 when it became my first landfall after sailing across the Atlantic.  Another visually intoxicating experience with the elements. This trip was only my third visit over this 31 year history.  I knew that there were steel drum bands playing on Shirley Heights on Sunday evenings, having been there before, so we set off just before sunset in Pele's Taxi, the driver a local personality.  I knew the view, I was armed with a basket full of memories and I knew exactly want I wanted to convey in an image.   Which I might add as was quite different from the throng of commotion behind me... a hundred steel drums, children & adults dancing, beer and wine flowing to the staccato of the drums... even some palm fronds being woven into baskets. 

This image was published in the March 22, 2009 issue of the Austin American Statesman as it won their "Win in a Flash" contest.

Some journeys are defined by place, or perhaps the act of getting there, while others are judged by the company one keeps along the way.  It is rare when all of these factors are exhilarating at the same time.  I was very lucky, fortunate, and grateful at New Years.  My thanks to my friend Bob who made it possible. The rest of the images are here (plus video in the upper right). - rj.

I think it is the random nature of the place and it's effect on the not-so-random things we build to sail upon it.  It is magical.

My 1997 photo that I took and titled "High over Los Roques" (left) was just chosen for publication in JPG MAGAZINE Issue 14.  The caption along with the image reads as follows:

Sometimes great travel experiences just require taking a chance. So I paid a small fee and strapped myself into an ultra light aircraft (hang glider with a motor) pinned against the back of the pilot. In a heart beat we were in the 25 knot trade winds trying to make some headway against them before turning for a quick spin around the island downwind and finally landing (best part of plan). We spiraled down toward the foot of the runway racing over the village and beach below us. I traced the whole path with my camera, freezing in part the life and livelihood of the island residents. I was so excited when I landed, I did it again the next day. Gran Roque, Los Roques, Venezeula. 1997

Here I am strapped in the contraption that enabled the photo and experience. (right)

Christmas has past, and News Years is upon us.  So I have been reflecting some on the past year's images.  A few from the Caribbean (right) had never been touched before [night time shot with my little Canon SD800, Gustavia, St. Barthélemy, FWI].  Several more can be found here in this gallery.  The most interesting perhaps is a Flash VR of five images taken in 1984 of Baie St. Jean, St. Barthélemy.  Taken a decade before Apple Computer invented QTVR.  CLICK HERE, it is a window into the past, everything but the pecan pie at Chez Francine on the beach.  In 2008 I'll go back and make an update.  Happy New Year.

... page 14-15. I received my copy of the book yesterday, featuring one of my images from last December.  "Morning Beckons" of the rainbow over Baie St. Jean, St. Barthélemy, French West Indies.  It was an inspirational moment for me and I am happy others felt the same way.

I knew this beach and the moment were special. I had never seen sand or water like this, and save for the fisherman, I was alone. He was quietly bringing in his catch in the early afternoon sun. An epiphany in travel happens rarely, but when I find that essential part of nature that I seek, it stops me in my tracks. I breathe slowly, wiggle my toes, soak it all in, and take a photograph. I am on full mental record. It is the essence of why I travel. This was such a place. I have not been back for decades, but I know the a world of people followed me to this place. Negril, Jamaica, 1972.