Totally in Caribbean paradise again..........Lobsters, living shells and more...........

When one hasn't written a blog post for 10 months, you do sit and wonder where you are going to start!  There is no doubt it has been an incredible year!!  After living in France and overseas for 3 years, I finally came home to Melbourne in January and moved back into my own comfy house on the Mornington Peninsula.  After 3 years of tenants it needed renovations which I threw myself into for a few months, new carpet was installed throughout, then the painting, (and more painting which I did myself except the window frames!!) a new kitchen with matching chrome Bosch appliances and arctic green glass splash backs & new bench tops, new fancy toilets that "soft close" (yes, I hadn't heard of that either!!), elegant Italian tiling with mosaics out under the back pergola, a new swisho BBQ, chiminea and a freshly loved garden.  So delightful now its finished.  There really is nothing as comforting and endearing as being "HOME!" It is where the heart lies!

After a lot of long hard work it wasn't long before that was all completed and I stood back smiling when my daughter Becky arrived from Singapore for her pre wedding Melbourne events in May/June. Her Hen's night was a wonderful mix of a "High Tea" in a hotel suite followed by the sensational "Princes of the Night" at the Casino and finally a burlesque in Fitzroy!  Concerned about how her "chooks" would get from venue to venue, she lashed out and provided the "biggest longest hot pink Hummer" I have ever seen!!  We were utterly spoilt in the luxury of that limousine.  I am exhausted just thinking of it.  The two of us also sat for hours and finished off the detailed planning for her Italian, Lake Como wedding which occurred last month, went shopping for all her wedding accessories, and generally had a super time!!  By the time she left, it was not long before I had to pack my suitcases for a few days in Singapore with her before the wedding..........carting all sorts of large "wedding" packages for them, then Europe and the wedding itself........and then onto paradise where I am now for 3 months.

So "where to start" with the photos which so many of you have been hounding me for..........OK ok, they ARE coming........ I have decided to start from NOW and work backwards!!  I thought I would re start my blog with totally "WOW factor underwater photos"!!
My friend Michelle sadly left the Caribbean yesterday after her 3rd year visiting now.  It's a wonderful thing to be able to share one of the most divine islands in the world with my friends and family.  To think I have a home here on a beach and it has become an integral part of my life is still something I need to pinch myself about daily!!  How amazing is this first photo is of a large living conch shell found just outside our place........you can see our two cottages in the background next to our coconut grove.........our main house right of the coconut grove is not in the photo nor is our beach which is blocked from view by the jetty my Dad built 30 years ago.........What insight my father had!!

As you probably know from former blog posts, we are in the North Sound, a superb protected body of water surrounded by smaller islands.  It is paradise!  End of story!!  The water is warm and crystal clear, the sands white and my coconut palms sway in the glistening sunlight.  Unlike other islands there is little or no crime and the locals are the most friendly people you have ever met.  It is no wonder that Richard Branson's home is around the corner, and within the last 2 odd years others like him have joined in owning a part of this utter paradise.  "Mr Google" now owns two islands I look out to, the Aga Khan built a huge mega yacht marina,    Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Marina, (for those wanting to see the site -  http://www.yccsmarina.com/home)  at the other end of the sound and a couple of other well known business men have made this island a part of their lives.  Photo below.......its a stunning and elegant marina and club house.  Our little island is really on the map now!!

I have another two months here doing my property maintenance and then return to spend wonderful family time with my parents in Munich. But every day includes a swim or snorkel somewhere, somewhere in the blue blue, azure blue sea..........awesome snorkeling is right off our own beach and the shells and lobsters to be seen are GOBSMACKINGLY beautiful..... I really struggle to find the words to describe how amazing it really is.  Thanks to my Bec, I have a fabulous digital underwater camera and have taken some (if I may say myself) incredible photos of "my" lobsters.  There are 100's of these photos, the lobsters, fish, corals, turtles and so on.......... so I have had to chose the best of the bunch to display for your enjoyment. 

 Thats me in search of lobsters...............woo hooo!!

That's me holding my breath till I burst, my hand holding a huge lobster's feeler........he just rests it in my hand!!  Then he lets me stroke it.  Awesome!  Especially when he is looking straight at my face...........so much trust!

This photo is under water IN a cave where I have stuck my head in upside down snorkeling.......the lobster is looking out the front and doesn't realise I am RIGHT BEHIND HIM........I can rub his backside........how clear is this water!!!!

Another angle of this same very large lobster.............how gorgeous is his rounded bottom and the silly duffer doesn't know I am there!!  He is looking out the front!

 Two other lobsters in another coral cave..........I was hanging upside down and just put my camera inside the entrance of the cave and there they were!!  Bit crowded in that place with fish and all!

This is the front view of the large lobster with the huge bottom tail.  Look at his claws and feelers!!

Onwards to the next snorkeling spot................and followed by Michelle in a larger swell at a different beach further down the island!

Further up around the coast, a baby lobster looks out but is protected by his mummy!  They are so curious and will actually walk out of their caves when they see you there.  It constantly takes my breath away...........magic beyond magic!!!

 This turtle was idling her way around the crystal clear waters at the famous Virgin Gorda "Baths" on the other end of our island!!  I followed her as fast as I could go with my fins........when she realised I was there she moved faster.......My lungs were bursting...............How beautiful is she!!

 Then she waved me good-bye...........XXX

Kayaking around the North Sound and its safe azure waters...............another tough day!!!

"I like to be........under the sea, in an octopus' garden in the shade!  He'd let us in, knows where we've been... In his octopus' garden in the shade!!"

Looking for lunch!! I dived down to show Mish how delicious sea urchins were to eat but this one didn't have any roe.  Perhaps it was the wrong season!!

 

 A hot pink living conch shell.............total wow factor.  We look, we admire, we take photos and then we put them back to continue living under the sea!!

I so much wanted Michelle to discover some of the other surrounding islands so we took a Dive BVI day trip; we spent a lot of time at Norman Island, exploring the famous caves there.  Norman is famous for being the INfamous "Treasure Island" from the R.L.Stevenson fabled book.  Treasure HAS been found there, for sure.  In 1972 a poor fisherman took refuge from a bad storm in the caves there, (pics above and below) and some months later his family were buying business es and building houses!!  That family now owns a substantial part of Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas.  Our whole area of islands are famous for pirates.......Black-beard and his fellow mates sailed all around here!!  Great history!!

Here I am below, inside one of the fabled caves.  No one knows for sure which cave the treasure was found in.  But we know it was there.  Many treasure hunters still hunt for lost treasure from Spanish galleons around Anegada too. 

Michelle's last day in the turquoise waters.......we had lunch on the old "Willy T", a barge that is permanently anchored in the generous Norman Island bay and just around the corner from the famous pirate caves...........I celebrated my birthday here last Saturday night so it was great that Michelle was still here and a bunch of 13 of us gathered at the Sugarcane Restaurant in Nail Bay, another building steeped in history.  It was part of a sugar plantation worked by slaves.  The restaurant has part of the old stone walls.

After coming here for 30 years, these islands still take my breath away..........

Next blog post coming up........the wedding from Becky and AJ in Italy!!