Pictures from Carnival

Here are finally the pictures I was promising of the adult parade and one of the fireworks that same night. Some of the costumes were so heavy, they required a frame with wheels! Overall, very pretty colors and nice music.

As for Ben & Jerry's, yes, I did go after work and got my free ice cream. I opted for the Strawberry-Kiwi Sorbet...very tasty!

Free Cone Day

I just wanted to let everyone know that today is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's stores. Apparently, you can go for 3 times. I plan on stopping by for at least one free cone! Ice cream in the Caribbean, doesn't that sound nice!

Swimming with Dolphins!

I went for my first scuba diving trip out in the British Virgin Islands today with 6-Paq Scuba (with Colette) out to Tobago. On the first dive, we went to about 70 feet, and I got to see a huge Spotted Eagle Ray (about 8-10 feet wingspan). On the second dive, in the same area, we saw a smaller Spotted Eagle Ray, then 3 dolphins swam up to us! The dolphins swam over very close to us as if they were checking us out, then swam away. Colette, the dive master, was taking pictures and took a little film of it, so hopefully the video came out well. I have some pictures from the dive that she e-mailed to me, I will have to wait to get the CD in the mail for the others (including the dolphin video). The pictures above are of myself underwater, a school of Creole Wrasse swimming around us, and a Spotted Eagle Ray swimming through the water. It was a truly amazing dive trip, as you don't often get to swim with wild dolphins in this area, it was as if I was watching the Discovery Channel!

Adult Parade (pictures to come)

Today we went to the Adult Parade for the Carnival celebration. The parade was complete with majorettes, floats, music, Steel Drum Bands, beautiful costumes and lots of dancing troupes! We even got to see a few Mocko Jumbies (has to do with an old myth) who are dressed up stilt walkers! It was very hot, and thankfully, we left just before it began to POUR down rain. The parade is still going strong and will end around 6pm (so I'm told). Tonight, we are going to a cook-out and then to watch the fireworks tonight!

Children's Parade

I got off work early today (I worked overtime the other days so that I could leave early today), then I met Debbie downtown and we went to the Children's Parade. We saw a couple of the Steel Drum Bands, including the Elementary school that practices near our house. It was fun to see all of the talented children. The Adult's Parade will be tomorrow, I am going to try to go to a little bit of it as well. Then, scuba diving Sunday! The picture is of the band that has been practicing near our house and the video is of another steel drum band, the Panatics.

J'ouvert

As I mentioned in my previous entry, this week is Carnival. The Cultural Fair was yesterday, and they were playing music in Carnival Village until after 2am, then at 5:00 this morning, The J'ouvert Warm-up began with more loud Soca music. I could even hear the announcers over the intercom up in my apartment! From what I understand, the music will continue all morning, then the Carnival Troupes will line up, play music and dance all of the way down the waterfront and end around lunchtime. Everyone down here really is serious about Carnival, that is certain! I will try to post some pictures from the Parade on Saturday so that everyone can get an idea about what Carnival down here is all about.

Mail Day!

I went to check my mail today, and I had received my package from my mother. I believe that this one only took a week to get here, so that is pretty quick! Toby was excited to find that there was a new toy for him, he named it Ribbit. It is always nice to get mail from home, it helps me know that people haven't forgotten about me!

Also, this is Carnival week out in St. Thomas, which basically means a whole week of music, dancing, food, and fun! The governor announced it as a government holiday, so all government employees got off work today at noon and have off until the weekend! I will be working, but I have been working overtime for the last three days, so I will get off early on Friday so that I can go watch some of the Children's Parade. Then, on Saturday, they will have the HUGE Adults Parade filled with huge costumes, music, and dancing! I plan to go watch some of it and take pictures! On Saturday night, they will have a nice fireworks display, it should be a fun next few days!