Late afternoon and two pelicans perfectly synchronized take to the air
What a magnificent sight as two brown pelicans take flight over the calm seas. The late afternoon formed a pastel palette with rose tinted shades of colour. It was a ballet dance duet as these beautiful birds hovered over the water slowly gaining enough lift to soar off into the skies.
I love the gentle feel of this photo and hope you enjoy it too.
Marta
My computer died and so I'm left with my old computer and some of the photos there. This is one of my favourites of Ania standing by this charming freshly painted picket fence. The ocean was as spectacular as ever on this day and shows a variety of hues...blues from sea to sky and that amazing turquoise.
A lone figure strolls along a deserted stretch of beach........Our islands have the most amazing beaches of soft white sand and of course that turquoise water.
The other day a white, airy wedding canopy was erected and readied for a sunset beach wedding. A hobie cat was sailing by almost on the horizon as I took this photo.
The Turks and Caicos Islands are some of the favourite destinations for that romantic island beach wedding. Our villas have provided accommodation for many wedding groups and couples, honeymooners too. Give us a call or send us an email and we’ll help make all the arrangements for you. See you on Provo for that dream wedding on the beach. Check out our website at http://www.cloudnine.tc .
Ready for a perfect beach wedding ceremony at sunset
Marta
We used to go to a certain stretch of beach along Grace Bay to find sand dollars a few years ago. They were plentiful in those days but soon disappeared as more and more developments sprang up. But the other day Tina searched and sure enough she found a few. Can you believe the colour of this water???? Nowhere else in the world is it as amazing as this.
Marta
We went to Grace Bay today and were treated to seeing some beautiful Sea Stars also known as Cushion Stars very close to shore.
I took Tina and Sheldon down onto Grace Bay close to the Club Med area. The water was beautiful but unfortunately, the sand under the water was really crusty. It used to be one of my favourite beach spots but I think the dredging at Leeward has been a detriment to this stretch of Grace Bay. The same can be said of Leeward Beach which is also rocky and full of bits of shell and coral instead of soft sand under the waters. We still enjoyed it because we saw at least a dozen large Cushion Starfish close to the shore.
Three large Cushion Sea Stars and each one was a slightly different colour combination.
Three beautiful Cushion Starfish
Marta
Here's the little baby hummingbird just waiting for Mama to bring him some food.
Hummingbirds have long tongues and I didn't know that until I saw this photo.
To reach the nectar at the base of a long flower tube, a hummingbird will extend its tongue past the bill to a distance at least as long as the bill. I’m not sure if the baby hummingbird was trying to lap something up or just preparing for his Mama and feeding time.
The Mama hummingbird arrives for a feeding.....she's on the left and baby has cocked his head away from the camera for the feeding so I didn't get any good photos.
He was looking around for his Mama......we could hear her but couldn't see her.
Hummingbirds feed by dipping their tongues into nectar at up to 12 times a second. The mother humming bird will eat nectar and bugs and then regurgitate the substance into a slurry mixture the baby hummingbirds can digest. She inserts her beak all the way down into the mouths of the baby hummingbirds while dropping the regurgitated insects and nectar inside.
Almost grown and ready to venture out on its own.
Hope you enjoyed the last few posts on these extraordinary little creatures. I sure had fun watching and photographing them.
Marta
The two baby hummingbirds have almost outgrown their little nest.
Here's a closeup of these two cute little baby hummers.
The Bahama Woodstar hummingbird babies are almost ready to fly and leave the nest
I’ve been keeping an eye on the two baby hummingbirds these last few days. All of a sudden when I checked, there was only one baby left in the nest. I looked around for Mama and the little one that had flown off but couldn’t see him. Then yesterday, there was lots of twittering going on and the the mother hummingbird was calling to the one baby who had flown a short ways into our ficus tree. He was low enough that I managed to get a few photos which I will post tommorrow.
The proud Mama hummingbird perches on our clothes line and keeps flying off to find food for her babies.
Marta
I looked up and straight ahead and saw a small hummingbird nest with two beaks sticking up in the air.
I was taking in the laundry today and all of a sudden I heard the humming of a hummingbird………..Barry had told me that he had seen one frequently out back of our cabin. I looked up searching for the tiny bird and to my surprise, I looked directly at a nest that was in our Poui tree. I could see two little beaks pointing straight up in the air.
The two baby hummingbirds were snuggled side by side in the nest.
The nest is made out of soft materials like moss and lichen, cotton fluffs, soft plant pieces, dryer lint, and leaf hairs. Items are brought back to the nest a little at a time and glued together with spider webs……..there’s loads of those here at Harbour Club!
I wanted you to see how this nest is cradled in a tri-fork of a Poui tree.
The Mama hummingbird looks for a place that is well off the ground to prevent predators such as ants, snakes, and predatory birds finding the nest. It must also be sheltered from wind and the heat of the sun during the main part of the day. She found a really good solid base in our Poui tree where three branches had grown from a knot.
The two baby hummingbirds are so sweet and almost look like they are getting too big to fit both of them together.
I’m thinking these two little ones will be flying the nest pretty soon as they seem to be really squished in there together.
A beautiful twosome.........I'm hoping if I watch close enough, I'll see them trying to fly really soon.
Here's a closeup of one of the babies in the nest.
And so, I’ll be watching the babies and hoping to get a few photos as they learn to fly. The positioning of the tree and the nest may make it difficult as I don’t want to scare them. We’ll see………hope you enjoy these photos.
Marta
An abundance of Lobster as we headed out late this afternoon to find some lobster.
A late afternoon, spur of the moment decision had us heading out to find some lobster for Pete’s last night on island before he leaves tomorrow for Kentucky. I wish we could say that we actually caught them ourselves!!! No such luck as we motored off towards Five Cays and the fish plant knowing we could hail some boats and get some lobster the lazy man’s way. We whistled to a local fishing boat and they had a few lobsters on board.
We managed to hail a small local fishing boat.
As the fishing boat drew near, we could see that their catch for the day was not huge. In past years the boats would be filled……………over harvested perhaps???
A nice, one man dinner sized lobstertail.
Pete looks like he's ready to sample some delicious Caribbean Spiny Lobster
Do you think anyone will believe Barry when he tells them he dove and caught several lobsters?
Lobster fishing on the second day of Lobster Season in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Once we had bargained over the price for the lobsters, we stopped at Bay Cay for refreshments. It’s hard work negotiating you know!!!
Marta