True Story: (long, and rated "R" for language) I came across a few shots of a trip Leslie (my wife) and I took to the Caribbean. Normally I wouldn't write about a vacation, but this venture is rife with "duh". Back in '93 we set off for Maho Bay on St. John Island in the Virgin Islands. Being tree-hugging, eco-tourist that we were at the time we decided to stay in the Maho Bay Camp. The place was beautiful, and there was plenty to do. You could: explore, sail, windsurf, scuba, snorkel, fish, eat, drink, shop or just lapse into a coma on the beach. All-in-all the "camp" was pretty cool, sparse, but a really neat place. We stayed in our own cabana (hah, cabana... it was a tent with a kitchenette) nestled in the rain forest and over looking a blue bay. Our first day there was warm, but overcast and drizzling. The rain didn't keep us out of the water though, within the first hour I had on my mask and snorkel and I was face down in the ocean checking out the reef that was right out my back door. The water was "Evian" clear, you could see forever. There were fish of all sizes and colors, sea turtles, starfish, stingrays. It was an underwater eden. We explored for hours... Face down... In the tropics... At the time, we didn't consider the fact that even though it was overcast we still needed to take precautions against sunburn. Seems that the cloudy sky only slowed the burning process. Not to mention the fact that the little bit of water we were in: (a.) kept our skin temperature cool while (b.) it acted as a magnifying glass on the rays that were reaching us, therefore rendering us crispy! Of course we didn't realize it until much later that night, but my God we cooked our asses off! So here we are, our first "us" time since our daughter had been born. We're tucked away in a romantic shanty in a tropical rain forest, a mountain view out one window and a view of a blue lagoon out of the other window. The tradewinds are blowing through our cabana/tent, the candles around the place are flickering in the breeze, setting just the right mood for Leslie and I to share... SUN-POISONING. Oh shit, it was horrible! Leslie still has scars on her butt where she baked her skin off. My burn was so bad that within a couple of days the skin on the back of my ankles split open and the wounds started weeping, as did I. Thankfully I had a prescription for some really heavy pain-killers that I had brought along. The first night and the next day we were "uncomfortable", but sedated. If I remember correctly, when we ran out of the 'scripts we just started drinking heavily to dull the pain. Did we pack it up and go home like most sane people would? Ah hell no! We had spent money on a good time and by God we were going to have a good time! Pain be damned! Now we're tourists with a vengenance. Drunk tourists, gorked out on narcotics, but tourist all the same. We start looking for things to do. We walk up to Maho Bay's clubhouse to see what else the island had in store. We perused the activities list. As I mentioned before there was lots of things to do on the island, but in our sauteed state there wasn't many things that "we just had to do". One of the activities the camp offered that seemed to be a crowd pleaser was a guided, night snorkeling tour. "See the Reef at Night... It's Amazing!" read the brochure. "$125 per person" also read the brochure. We talked about it and decided that's what we wanted to do. We figured that we could handle snorkeling at night, no sun... no pain. We also figured that those Maho folks must've been smoking crack if they thought we were going to pay them $250 to take us swimming. I had noticed a dive shop in the little town on the way to the camp. I figured we could go to the dive shop and buy underwater flashlights for $30 to $40 bucks a piece and we'd be in the water for around half of the price of what they wanted to charge per person, and we'd go home with a couple of cool, waterproof flashlights! Now there is a reason why they charge $125 per person. Only at the time we never even thought to ask ourselves why. Supposedly the reef is teeming with life after dark, we were told that there are "many, many MORE creatures at play in the water when the sun goes down". Just hearing the words "more creatures" had us foaming up, eager to get on with our little National Geographics adventure. Later on that evening, with the brand new, hot pink, waterproof, flashlights in one hand and our masks and snorkels in the other we walk down to the beach to begin OUR version of the "Ocean Quest night snorkel". The sun had set, but it was still light out when we geared up and got into the water. we tooled around close to the shore for a while, always mindful of "the buddy system" we stayed pretty close to one another as we ventured out further into the bay. Time started flying by, b

This is one of the seven newly arrived Black-capped Capuchin Monkey species at Melb Zoo. These monkeys are often used in TV and movies as they look like the generic "monkey" that most people think of. I have had a long wait to get some decent photos of the new residents - firstly the have been very popular, and attracting lots of human interest, making it hard to get a clear shot, and secondly, these guys are often in constant motion, playing with each other, climbing and jumping, and thoroughly exploring their new space. Thirdly, the viewing glass has been badly smeared with lots of human handprints - ruining a number of otherwise perfectly focused and sharp photos! Black-Capped Capuchins have a large tuft of fur crowning their heads. As their name implies, this furry crown is black. Black-Capped Capuchins have very long arms and legs as compared to their body, which measures about 18 inches. The prehensile tail is also about 18 inches long. The Black-Capped Capuchin has human-like hands with an opposable thumb. The molar teeth are thickly coated in enamel to help the Capuchin crack nuts without cracking its teeth! Native to the rainforest, the Black-Capped Capuchin has the largest range of all New World Monkeys. Generally they are found in the wet, low forests of Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Guyanas, Suriname and Paraguay. Capuchins were named upon their discovery for their tufted heads, which was reminiscent of the cowl or capuche of Franciscan monks. The below information is from Melb Zoo's own web site: This species is native to South America, but these seven individuals were all born in New Zealand zoos. The four females came from Hamilton Zoo and the three males came from Brooklands Zoo. They have all successfully completed their quarantine period at the Zoo's veterinary centre. Now they have been moved into the Arboreal Primates exhibit, near to other treetops-living primates such as the African Black and White Colobus and the Southeast Asian White-cheeked Gibbons. The newly-arrived females are noticeably lighter in colour than the males, which is usual with this species. In the wild, this species also lives in groups with similar numbers of males and females, rather than forming a pair like the White-cheeked Gibbons or a polygamous grouping like the Lion-tailed Macaques. In their native South America, Black-capped Capuchins are found in primary and secondary rainforest through to semi-deciduous lowland areas. They have a varied diet, including many kinds of fruit, nuts, seeds, pith, and nectar, plus animal prey including insects, chicks, frogs, reptiles, bats, and even small mammals weighing up to 900g. Black-capped Capuchins are acknowledged as being one of the primate species that uses tools. For example, they use rocks to help them crack open the nuts that feature in their diets. Royal Melbourne Zoo, Parkville, Victoria, Australia