Jan Arabas

Bowman Lake.

The Beehive.

A paddle through a mature mangrove swamp like this one in the South Florida Everglades is quiet and green. 

Small crabs climb the mangrove "straws," the air breathing tubes that the more mature limbs send out. Tiny fish huddle in the roots. Baby mangroves grow in the shadow of their parents.

Marine sanctuaries like this one are nurseries for fish. The babies live in the coral gardens in shallow bays protected by rocky shorelines until they are big enough to move into deeper water. The only channel into this bay on Culebrita is filled with underwater boulders. The local water taxi drivers have the safe routes memorized.