It does not take long before Mark starts landing fish left and right. Our guide, Lincoln, handles the boat, sets up our fishing rigs, and carefully releases our catches. By my count Mark lands just over a dozen fish including many beautiful Rainbows and Browns as well as one hefty Whitey.

I made arrangements with a local outfitter to provide us with a drift boat and knowledgeable river guide. Mark will fish from the forward position, our guide will handle the ours from the middle seat and I will take up the rear position from which I will fish and photograph. We meet up with our guide at 9am and are on the water by 10am. The morning starts cold but the temperature quickly rises and the weather could not be more glorious.

I am up before sunrise and head out to see what the morning light has to offer. I find this nice view of the Colorado River along whose path much of our coming adventures will revolve. If this scene looks cold, I will have accurately conveyed the setting. When I return to the hotel, Mark is awake and we grab a hot breakfast before heading out for a day of fly fishing on the Roaring Fork River which will end at its confluence with the Colorado.

My brother Mark will turn 50 at the end of this month. To celebrate that milestone we will spend the next four days sharing our avocations with each other. Photography for me and fly fishing for Mark. With exactly one day of planning we rendezvous in Denver where we rent a car and make the three hour drive to Glenwood Springs. Here we stay at the Hotel Colorado and enjoy a fine steak dinner at Juicy Lucy’s. This will be our last civilized meal and accommodations before switching to gorp and a small two man tent.

Every St. Patrick’s Day the Concord Recreation Department organizes a father-daughter dance called the Shamrock Ball. There is no event on my social calendar that I look forward to more. Maya has grown taller making us more compatible dance partners and her skills have improved from last year. The result is that we looked ready to audition for So You Think You Can Dance. We started the evening with a dinner date with Lydia and her father at our local Japanese restaurant.

Tomorrow morning I have an early flight to Denver where I will join up with my brother for a five day camping adventure in Colorado and Utah. I will update the blog with another batch of photos as soon as I return.

I returned from Florida today specifically so I could attend the end-of-season wrestling banquet with Nicolai and Jeanine. Nicolai looked dapper in a suit and tie and enjoyed the celebration, which included a 10-minute slide show I put together for the team.

I finished the day with a visit to the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. By the time I arrived the sun had nearly set but it was well worth the drive and a great place to enjoy my last night in Florida.

For a change of pace from wildlife and landscapes I took in a Grapefruit League baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon. The City of Palms Park where the Red Sox train is very intimate and I actually prefer this venue to Fenway. Baseball has to be one of the most boring games on the planet to watch or play but I can handle nine innings once every few years.

This morning I set out in search of Manatees. I learned that they are very sensitive to water temperature and will seek out warmer water during the cold winter months. Power plants use river water for cooling and the water that emerges is a few degrees warmer than went in making an ideal gathering area for these gentle creatures. Their true beauty can only be appreciated from under the water but I did my best to photograph them from above. Very often the only glimpse one gets of them is of their nostrils as they come up for air. I encountered a half dozen including one baby.

After completing my kayaking tour I spent the last few hours of the day at a place called Corkscrew Swamp. Spotting the Barred Owl was the highlight of my day. If not for a well timed and distinctive call to his/her mate I would have walked right by this exquisite creature without noticing its motionless body hidden less than ten feet from where I was standing.

When I reached my original put in point I continued upstream where I found two lagoons and much more wildlife. I wanted to get a photograph of an alligator from short range and found the best way to get close was to glide up from behind them. When I took this photo the tip of my kayak was over its tail and I was still moving forward. After getting the shot I quickly reversed and once I reached a safe distance also resumed breathing. The alligator was aware of my presence but did not perceive a threat or opportunity and just remained still. I considered paddling along side of it for a full length shot but decided not to push my luck and to heed the requests of my children to not get eaten.

Does anyone think I am going to worry about the challenges of a new job after getting this shot?

At the end of the two tunnels the river widened substantially allowing me to turn the kayak around to head up stream. The return trip took considerably longer as I was fighting both the current and the tide. Thankfully I did not encounter any alligators in the tunnel which would have been very unnerving. They seem to prefer open areas such as this.

This morning I rented a kayak and paid to have it shuttled to the Turner River where I spent 6 hours on the water. During that time I encountered two other paddlers and a half dozen alligators ( a good ratio in my opinion). Paddling down stream I encountered two very long mangrove tunnels varying in width from 1.5 to 4 boat widths. The mangrove roots were so densely spaced that they would have made an effective set of prison bars. The upper branches formed an equally dense canopy creating a true living tunnel. There was insufficient clearance to paddle and it was far easier to simply grab the branches and pull myself through the tunnels.

It is hard to imagine how the day could have been any better from a photographic perspective. Even as I am heading to my tent site I am treated to a beautiful sunset. I initially feared that the Everglades might not be as interesting as some of the higher profile national parks I have visited recently but I could not have been more wrong. You simply need to get off the beaten path.