By Vladimir Brezina

After more than a week away from civilization, paddling through Florida’s Everglades, we are back in NYC!
Every time we are away from the news for an extended period, we keep in mind the story of Shackleton, who returned from two years in the Antarctic to the news that a World War had been raging for some time. Fortunately, no such news greeted us. But we did miss all of this year’s Christmas festivities. This was our Christmas dinner of 2013 ——————————>
Here is a preliminary small selection of photos from the trip (click on any photo to start slideshow):
We pack the boats at our campground in Chokoloskee
Ready to launch!
Afternoon sunshine on the black water
Ahead, the bays open up
Afternoon silver
Sunlit clouds
We paddle on into the night
The next creek
We paddle out into glittering Alligator Bay
In the open bays, just the sea and sky
We stop for lunch on the water
The last tree
King bird
Hurricane damage at Highland Point
Calm evening seas
Last rays over the Gulf
Dawn at our campsite…
… at Highland Beach
Ready to launch into the blue Gulf
Floating on the water
We head down the coast
We follow markers through the shallow waters
But what are those clouds building up behind?
A front is coming our way!
Immediately the wind picks up
… and surf into the shelter of the Shark River
Calm waters again
Rain squall is coming our way
Double rainbow
… and the rain!
We paddle on into the night
The boats are still there :-)
A windy day
Expectant crows watch as we repack our boats at Flamingo
At East Clubhouse Beach: Christmas dinner, 2013
Milky shallows
Campsite with a view
We paddle south
Mid-afternoon
Late afternoon
Toward evening
Dock at Little Rabbit Key
Bug protection, as usual
Pink over blue
Sunny Florida Bay
New islands
A cormorant crowns each marker
Becoming pink and blue
We look back…
Soft colors of the evening
Afterglow of sunset
We turn on our headlamps
Our writeup, with more photos, begins here!