Remaining Natural Bridge (courtesy Sylvia Kaplan)

Tomorrow our idyll on Aruba, this small paradise 35 miles from Venezuela will end. While only 21 x 8 1/2 miles, it is like two distinct islands. One boasts white sandy beaches where birds dive to catch silvery fish while we float and lull in the sun, gazing at the tranquil azure Caribbean on the leeward side, blowing breezes from the northeast cooling our browning bodies. The other, excitingly explored, is the windward side on the northeast coast, craggy with roughly weathered coral and igneous rock thrust up by moving plates and volcanic activity eons ago.

This island is usually desert, like with only 10 inches of rain a year - much of that, out of the normal, having fallen these last two weeks. The plants, many succulents cling tenuously to the coral where wild goats and donkeys graze on the thorn bushes. How they avoid bloody lips is beyond me.

After exploring the lighthouse perched on the northern tip of the island, Ken adeptly navigated over "off-roads" in our NON 4 wheel drive, finally arriving at the famous "Natural NOT Bridge." The main bridge collapsed in 2005 after eroding from the natural crashing waves that had undermined the supporting rocks. A smaller bridge now exists. Fortunately, the demise of the major bridge occurred at 4 a.m., absent the hoards of tourists who are there during the day. more...

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This photo was taken from our Cowpet Bay condominium on the East end of St. Thomas, USVI, looking SE, 135° Magnetic to Chrismas Cove on Great St. James Island.

This was an unusual day with dead flat seas. Generally, we experience SE winds of some 15 knots.

The boats are all moored to the St. Thomas Yacht Club buoys in Cowpet Bay , the club being about 100 yards to the right.

Christmas Cove is one of the premier overnight mooring spots in the Virgin Islands with great snorkeling. Many small cruise ships and Mega yachts spend a few hours there.

The strange looking craft in the foreground is the STYC race committee boat. An even stranger craft is that to the right of the Committee boat, the "Magic Carpet," a decked over Beach Cat, fitted with a small bimini cover, two cut-off stacking plastic deck chairs, an ice chest, fuel cans, and an outboard engine with a long extension handle such that noted boatbuilder and sailor, Morgan Avery, can control from his seat. Last year he transited on the Magic Carpet, round trip to attend a regatta in St. Martin, over 100 miles of open water, each way!

  - George Martin

Ahhhhh, the Caribbean Islands! With their glistening white sands, turquoise waters, and vibrant blue skies they are what daydreams are made of. So this month, I offer a few basic photography concepts to keep in mind in capturing the simple beauty of such scenes.

In such locales finding attractive compositions is quite easy. How to capture them is a matter of using some photography rules of composition and adding a few points of interest to make them unique.  ...more