Ten Thousand Islands

A still-water mirror en route to Lulu Key.  

At sunset, a sky pregnant with showers.

A nearly full moon made for a very low tide at dawn, and a chance to glimpse the temporarily-exposed domain of echinoderms and gastropods.

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I had the rare opportunity to ring in the New Year on a 3-day kayak camping trip through the Ten Thousand Islands -- a portion of which lies inside Everglades National Park.  Such an adventure requires acceptance, and tolerance, of biting insects, sticky air, the drone of passing boats, and the visual monotony of the countless mangrove islands.  But the rewards are many: the sound of forced exhales as sea turtles and otters surface, the escalating chatter of osprey overhead, the serenity of easy passage on a strong flood tide, a sky full of color at dawn and dusk, and the camaraderie of fellow paddlers.  

Over the next few decades, the sea will rise steadily. This, like Arctic sea ice, is an imperiled landscape.  To take it all in now -- at a quiet, leisurely pace -- was a privilege.