~* Under the Sea and Around the mountain*~

School's out for Christmas holidays and Nathan and I made the most of our weekend to truly appreciate the island of Saba. It couldn't have been more beautiful. Really feels like we're on vacation:). Saba is one of the top diving areas in the world, so we decided to use this time to get our diving certification, eat at some great restaurants, hike, and relax. It started on Thursday for our post exams/ Nathan's birthday dinner at the Ecolodge restaurant. This is a unique place, it requires a hike with flashlights to the restaurant and hotel in the rainforest. You can only get there by hiking. It is a really cute atmosphere, you can hear tree frogs and other various creatures and sounds while enjoying dinner via candle light. Excellent food! Friday we relaxed and got ready for our PADI diving certification exam. After the exam and knowledge review we enjoyed dessert with some friends at Shearwater resort, it was beautifully decorated for the holidays (got me a little excited). Saturday and Sunday were full diving days, each day we returned to pool at Shearwater and learned some skills in the pool and then each afternoon we did two open water dives. Our four open water dives occurred at three different locations: Tent reef, Rays and Anchors, and Ladder Labyrinth. We saw lots of beautiful and colourful fish. I am definitely addicted, can't wait to dive again:) No pictures of our diving, as I uploaded them to another computer and packed it:(

Today we had an amazing day ashore! Hiking a trail I've wanted to hike since arriving on the island: The North Coast trail, goes around the other side of Mount Scenery. It is recommened to hike this trail with a guide so our friend Keith volunteered to guide us. This trail ends in Wells Bay.

There were a few tricky parts

This trail was truly a hikers trail, requiring all fours at time, but it was a lot of fun. 

Josh and Nathan making the climb!

Keith and dog Rips using a giant leaf as a bowl;)

Huge Tree!

View of the other beach which there is no trail or road to reach



Mary's Town Ruins




View of the Road down to Well's Bay



Hiking back down to Wells Bay

Wells bay is the area of the island which sometimes has a beach. So far this year there was only rocks and no beach to be found...


Rips the dog vs Iguana (the iguana won:)

Until today... It was our extra lucky day, the beach was in:)

What a nice surprise:)

There was enough beach so we could stick our feet in the sand and enjoy the waves body surfing... The waves were fantastic, so much fun! I'm afraid I brought home half the beach in my hair... We came prepared with a picnic, the boys lit a fire, we cooked some shish  kababs... Ahhh, it was the life...

The wanna be boy scouts;)

Beautiful December Weekend!

Perfect weekend above and below the sea! However, there is no place like home and it's hard for me to get into the holiday spirit in a tank top and shorts.  It is time to go home for the holidays! We are all moved into our new place, our bags are pack and our journey home starts tomorrow (tuesday) 7am. Arrive in Halifax the Wednesday morning:)

Christmas in the Carribbean

~*Happy First Anniversary*~

November 21st. Happy First Anniversary 

 For those who know me, this is, a very big milestone in many ways. As this is the First anniversary I am acknowledging (although I did, eventually, become accustomed to getting flowers around certain other times of year). It is amazing to me how quickly one year has past and how different, but wonderful, our life is now.  This whole week I couldn't stop thinking about our life last fall, with all, the wedding preparations. I LOVED every minute of our wedding day. There is only one thing I would change if I could: A videographer. But our pictures do speak a thousand words. Everything was perfect, the memory of it makes me so happy and warm inside. I am getting mushy, but I really, truly, loved everything. Welcome to memory lane, here are a few of my favorite things...

My Bouquet

Friends being friends, last min nail colour change, subway sandwich, etc..

Our beautiful ceremony and the laughter we shared

The church, which is now gone

My whole family together

My other whole family together, even baby William:)

The Handsome Boy Band

The Ladies

The Beauty that we found in the stark November days

All the girls and guys

The infamous train station pictures, where we first met

Here's where it all started, except there was a train;)

Our gorgeous, delicious cake

Our First Dance

Obviously, this is only a few of my favorite things, so many people helped make our day so much more special than I could have ever imagined it to be, but, I can't load pictures forever...

Today we are making the most of being stranded on a Caribbean island together and celebrating the many adventures this year has brought us. So far, today we have enjoy a beautiful breakfast, literally hiked around the island, saw some of the most amazing views I have seen, thus far, on this island. We plan to go out for dinner tonight. Nathan couldn't resist exchanging cards, so we already did that. As our first anniversary gift is 'paper' we are giving each other scuba diving lessons, which will give us a paper open water diving certificate and opens up a whole new world, under the sea... 

~*Just Another day in Paradise*~

It was a very busy week, lots of studying for Nathan and paper writing for me. I feel like we're in a groove now and on the downward slide. Our very lively neighbor has been blasting the Christmas tunes and I am enjoying it very much:) Here are a few pictures of some cute baby goats, our pet Lizard (Rachel my pet Lizard roams free), and, the all important kick back to the 80's, Movember Update;)

Aren't they Adorable!

Our Reptile Roommie...he earns his keep

Movember... Hello 1980

~*Come on Lets Celebrate*~

This weekend was full of events! It is interesting that Saba is the smallest place I have ever been, and probably will ever be, but as Nathan pointed out, we have been exposed to more cultures during our time here than anywhere we've ever been!

Friday night we celebrated Happy Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights celebrating the triumph of good over evil. This is a festival celebrated by Hindu and many other Indian cultures. Saba students, professors, and local people, participated in a show which included: dancing, singing, music, and food. The show exhibited music and dancing from various Indian, American, and Saban traditions. It was wonderfully done and the food afterwards was delicious. I didn't get any good photos, but, I have one of the stage.

Diwali Festival

Saturday, was also full of Celebration! Our friends Steve and Deven have special visitors, their girlfriends were here for a visit. The six of us, went for a hike called the Ladder. The Ladder has an interesting history on the island of Saba. The Ladder used to be the only way to import supplies onto the

island, it is a very steep climb, it is impossible to imagine how people managed to survive under such harsh circumstances.

A Ladder, But not, The Ladder

The Ladder



A Saban Beach



Enjoying the Sea

At the Bottom of the Ladder: Devon, Michelle (visiting), Nathan, Steve, Ashley (visiting).

After a good hike we enjoyed some lunch as Saba Snack shop and prepared for more celebrations at the midway party. Count down until home is officailly starting:) The party was at Queens Garden, it was good food, friends, music, dancing, drinks and more!



The Guys

The Ladies

Mr. & Mrs



The After Party



Movember

Movember is in the air. (Mo as in moustash)

This year Nathan has opted to join in the Movember Madness raising money for men's health and prostate cancer. As of today November 1st, he is clean shaven, in a fundraising effort he will grow a moustash for the following 30 days...This should be an interesting look for him...photo documentation is a must! Donations can be made at: http://ca.movember.com/mospace/925290/

~*Happy Halloween*~

Happy Halloween!

It was really fun to see all the kids out in costume:) On Saba they actually got to wear their costumes outside without four sweaters or a snowsuit underneath...crazy!! I had no idea how many kids their were on the island, but I think we had about 40 trick or treaters! I think before today I only saw a handful of kids in total. Halloween in Saba was celebrated on Saturday because the kids here trick or treat from business to business and store are closed on Sunday, going house to house would be WAY to hard:) So keeping with tradition, as part of the SOS Anne and I parked her car in the parking lot, decorated the trunk and handed out candy to the kids!!! Anne and I had no idea how this was going to work so we just winged it...I was able, with creative use of my hair and a borrowed bow from my 2 year old friend Sydney to pull off a costume which seemed to pass as Minnie Mouse

  



Minnie Mouse and a hard working med student!

  



Happy Halloween, the local kids got all dressed up!!



Trick or Treat!



Behind us is our decorated truck, from which, we handed out candy:)