Mike in the Wild

I just traveled over three hundred miles across and around Oahu seeking out its best snorkeling sites.  No place was more renowned on my list of eleven locations than Hanauma Bay.  It was also the most difficult to visit, requiring lots of preparation: a reserved ticket, a specific entry time, long lines, multiple check-ins, a reef-etiquette lecture, and, finally, an educational/safety video.  While its landscape set within a sunken volcanic crater was breathtakingly beautiful and its extensive reef's marine life magnificent, Hanauma Bay turned out to be much less impressive of a snorkeling spot than Shark's Cove, another spot on my list. Hanauma Bay on Oahu. In a snorkeling comparison, another Hawaiian island, Maui, has probably spoiled me.  Its northwestern and southern coastlines contain a multitude of resorts and guest lodgings that front miles of coral reefs laying an easy swim from shore.  Its not uncommon to leave your hotel room with your mask, snorkel, ...

After eight months away from the mountains of northern Arizona, I was eager to visit Watson Woods as soon as I settled back in my summer home in Prescott in late May.  The riparian preserve has always promised sightings of migratory birds like tanagers, grosbeaks, and occasionally even orioles.  Just as exciting have been the nesting great horned owls that I have witnessed.  However I wasn't expecting the posters along the park's trails alerting me to nesting bald eagles in the vicinity.  After scouring the landscape over the course of two visits, I was thrilled to observe both a fledged eagle and at least one of its dedicated parents.   Several summers ago while kayaking, I watched a bald eagle as it perched within the Dells, an expansive range of boulders and rock formations that border the northern end of Granite Lake.  Watson Woods lie at the southern end of the manmade lake, where Granite Creek normally fills the reservoir.  (A dry winter has...