Back in Ohio...

Well, I'm back in Ohio after an amazing summer. As of now I'd much rather be back in Saba. My family came down and spent the last ten days there with me, and here are some of my favorite photos from while they were there.

First, diving :) We dove for 7 days with Sea Saba. All of the dive instructors with Sea Saba were absolutely great, and I already miss them haha.

That's me with a big barrel sponge!

Very (surprisingly) friendly lobster @ Tedron

Sea horse!!! @ 50/50

K it's kind of hard to see, but if you look really closely you can see a Caribbean Reef Shark! @ Custom's House (click to make bigger)

Another reef shark @ Shark Shoal. This was my favorite dive of the entire trip. It is the one pinnacle that is kind of set apart from the rest, so the sharks are more inclined to hang around here. It was SO beautiful, with hundreds of fish around us at all times. There was even a school of bait fish being chased by some kind of predatory fish. It looked like the school of fish that makes shapes in Finding Nemo... You know what I'm talking about ;)

A closer look at the shark.

Beautiful anenome, also @ Shark Shoal

On the dive boat.

Chris, Bus, and me at my last Sabaoke

I fell asleep on the hammock, and of course the first thing my parents think to do is take a picture. Typical

On the Ecolodge quad :)

This is where I sat when I would update this blog and send emails. I passed my power cord through the window and had lovely chats with anyone who walked by!

Another view

And this was the view from that table. It was absolutely stunning on a clear day.

My home/workplace :) I miss it...

On the dive boat

A better photo that my dad managed to catch with his close-up lens.

More dive boat.

Yes, that's Chris wayyyyy up there. We were at the tide pools down by the airport and he decided to climb up instead of down to the pools.

So after a lovely ten days with the fam, they decided to drag me from my island paradise, back to the real world. If anyone who I met/worked with in Saba is reading this, please know that I miss you all terribly. Please keep in touch!

Day trip to St. Maarten!!

So on Tuesday Bus and I took the ferry over to St. Maarten for the day. We got some of the others to cover our shifts at the Ecolodge and took off. It was SUCH a fun day and we had beautiful weather! There were two cruise ships in Philipsburg - one Royal Caribbean and one Disney cruise. But even with a few thousand tourists there it still felt empty which was strange, but nice!

We wandered back and forth from the gorgeous beach, the restaurants, and the shops all over Philipsburg. When we got hot we'd go swim in the ocean to cool off, then head back out to wander around.

Shopping! And I don't even like shopping!

I love the Caribbean.

Cruise ships in the background

View from the lunch table :)

Beach :)

On the ferry heading back to Saba!

Tide Pools!

This past Tuesday one of the chefs at the Ecolodge (TJ) let me and Bus borrow his scooter for the day while he worked. We decided to head down to the tide pools near the airport. It was a really fun ride down the steep, windy road to the airport, and it was an absolutely beautiful day! This is Cove Bay, with the enclosed area for swimming safe from the waves.

Photo taken from standing out on one of the ledges, looking back at the water:

The tide pools are tucked in between these huge rock formations. It's so cool, and there are all sorts of fish and different sea creatures living in the pools :)

I didn't bring the underwater housing for the camera (dumb) so all of these photos are taken from above the water - shows how clear it was!!

Baby fish!

Gorgeous view.

closer
St. Eustatius in the distance.
This is why I love the Caribbean - blue waters

So yeah, that was really awesome. After this we went to a hotel pool for the rest of the day and I actually sort of got a tan! Not a bad life...

This is a photo of the current group that's working at the Ecolodge. It's Elizabeth, one of the cooks, Jorinde, Bus, me, and Dette. They're all great :)