Slickrock and Shadow

Humpback Whale Breaching out of the water Humpback whale watching is a popular in Maui and other Hawaiian Islands.  On my first trip to Kauai many years ago I enjoyed sailing the surrounding waters and finding humpback whales.  The whales are typically in Hawaii in January through April. This year I investigated some other options.  A small speedboat instead of a large sailboat has some obvious advantages.  Ultimate Whale Watch company out of Lahaina offers a great whale watching tour.  We rode quickly out to sea and found several mothers with calves, groups of males and some loner whales. The photo above shows a distant whale fully breaching.  On the left side there is a tour boat.  This shows how much larger these whales are compared to the boats.  Amazing. Breaching Humpback Whale off coast of Maui

Pine Glade Lake at Sunset (wonderful scene from the Everglades National Park) Everglades National Park is unlike any place I have ever visited before.  Much of this national park is a wide slow moving river.  It goes so slowly, it is imperceptible.  Miles and miles of soggy land never dry out.  It is like a continual flood.  I had great desires to visit this national park during my recent trip to Florida.  It is well known for amazing birdlife as well as unique scenery.  I did not have extensive time to see everything.  Instead I was hoping enjoy one full day. I started at Pineland for sunrise.  I heard this was a good location.  After driving around the entire day, I saw that there were many places that would be good for sunrise, several of them better than Pineland.  Wisdom comes with experience.  Skies were cloudless at sunrise which made this disappointing. Immediately after sunrise, I drove to Anhinga trail.  T...