Everglades Area Tours - Mangrove Tunnel Kayak Eco Tour

This is a premier learning experience in the Everglades Area and is superb for the entire family... from toddlers to the grandparents. Every day is different in the Everglades 10,000 Islands so we try to be very flexible and dynamic. The tour may/will include a bit of birding, some photography, strolling thru tidal pools on a remote beach, exploration of one of the 10,000 Islands. The first part of the experience is a guided boating eco tour in search of dolphins, manatees and other wildlife. The second part is a hands on: interpretive, guided walk on a remote barrier island to explore the beaches, tidal pools and inter-tidal zones. For parents and grandparents wanting an active role as educators, our naturalists will help you be the instructor.

Artists and photographers have been drawn to Zion for the past 100 years in an effort to capture its infinite variety of moods. The incredible landscape of Zion is a magnificent display of beauty that is a perpetual source of inspiration and renewal for us all. Zion is a spiritual experience that will forever move you. A hundred million years ago the Virgin River started cutting its way through the sandstone of southwestern Utah. Now, if you listen closely, you can hear “You’re welcome” softly echoing through the canyons of Zion. Zion National Park is a nature preserve distinguished by Zion Canyon’s stunning rock formations it’s multitude of colors and steep red cliffs. Zion Canyon’s Scenic Drive cuts through its main section, leading to forest trails along the Virgin River. The river flows to the Emerald Pools, which have waterfalls as well as a wonderful hanging garden. Zion National Park is like the set of a movie that’s so grand you know it must be a painted backdrop, but you don’t care because it’s delicious to look at; the kind of flick where the art director was given carte blanche and didn’t worry about believability. Zion is both the oldest park and the oldest National Park in Utah. It was opened 1919 and shows off the oldest geologic layers this side of the Grand Canyon (150 million years old). It’s also Utah’s most visited national park with more than 3 million visitors each year. Zion means “the heavenly city” and although there are no churches in Zion Park, there is much to inspire reverence.

Shearwater is a classic Newport-style schooner yacht, only recently recognized as a national landmark in 2009.  The vessel was built by Rice Brother Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine, back in a time when yachting was a rare combination of elegance and adventure; Rice Bros. were well known for building luxury pleasure yachts and produced some 4,000 hulls over a period of 64 years. The keel was laid down on January 4, 1929 and a news clip from the Boothbay Register reflects alongside a photograph "Tyler Hodgon at the old Tide Mill is getting out timbers for the schooner to be built at Rice’s. Vessel to be built of native white oak." Traditionally built from hand-hewn native white oak, she was the last boat to be constructed at that yard - likely due to the ensuing Great Depression brought on by the Stock Market Crash that occurred later that autumn.  East Boothbay was a small coastal town with shipbuilding being its only industry. About 40 workmen were employed for the construction of SHEARWATER. Her designer Theodore Donald Wells was born in Hudson Falls, N Y on October 22, 1875. He was a naval architect and marine engineer, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and also the Institute of Naval Architects London. His education included post-graduate work at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He began his career as a member of the firm Herreshoff and Wells, N. Y. City in 1902. Working with Herreshoff no doubt had an influence on his designs, which bear similarities to many of the famous Herreshoff designed yachts of that time. From 1903 to 1907 he worked for Wintringham and Wells and then began practicing his profession under his own name. Mr. Wells joined the Navy Department in March 1917 and became Superintending Constructor of the Baltimore District U. S. N. Notable yachts designed and constructed under his supervision are "Viking" a 272 foot steel motor yacht built for George F. Baker in 1929 by Newport News and "Karina" a three masted schooner built for Robert E. Tod in 1932 by Staten Island Shipbuilding. Mr. Tod was a well-known offshore yachtsman as was his former yacht ‘Thistle", which competed in the Emperors Cup ocean race. SHEARWATER was launched on May 4, 1929 and photographs in the Boothbay Register reflect her graceful and elegant lines. Her first Captain, Leon Esterbrook of Edgarton, MA, arrived to take charge of the fitting out. Her owner Charles E Dunlap was a member of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY and this became SHEARWATER’s first homeport after her completion in late September 1929. It was there in Oyster Bay that she first started to thrill those who sailed in luxury aboard her and those who were privileged to crew her on race day. Since her launching and documentation in Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts in 1929, she has had a colorful history and has been carefully maintained and restored to standards that few contemporary vessels are able to match and is truly a piece of American Maritime History. On November 7, 1942 SHEARWATER was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and became a member of The United States Coast Guard’s Coastal Picket Patrol during World War Two. She was painted gray and bore the numbers CG67004. Based at Little Creek, Virginia she patrolled the waters east of the Chesapeake Bay entrance and south towards Cape Hatteras. Her skipper during that period reflected on how they used their free time while out on submarine patrol to race against other yachts and in his own words "sailed in tandem with the schooner Lord Jim, racing in and out of port, up and down the east coast and winning." She was designed and built as a gaff rigged schooner but during this period was changed to a Marconi rig. She carries over 2,550 square feet while under full sail. A true veteran world cruiser, she first transited the Panama Canal in July 1946 and in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s completed a two and a half-year global circumnavigation. In December 1971 Mrs. John B. Thayer of Rosemont, wife of a former trustee and treasurer, donated SHEARWATER to the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Environmental Medicine. She was used by the university as a laboratory for research on physiological responses to the stresses of living and working underwater. Captained by James Shearson, she was fitted with compressors, generators, monitoring instruments and a small decompression chamber. She has participated in many Ancient Mariner and Classic yacht races in U S waters as well as racing in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand while on her circumnavigation in the early 1980’s. It is rumored she was once dismasted in the famous Newport to Bermuda race. She was last raced by the current owners in San Diego in May 1995 in the American Schooner Cup and finished second overall. She entered the yacht charter industry in 1966 whilst on the West Coast sailing to the Channel Islands and was again used to generate income to keep her shipshape while owned by the University of Pennsylvania. During the chartering industry’s infancy in the Caribbean, SHEARWATER was known as the " Queen of the Fleet". Today she continues this tradition offering the most unique sailing experience and has passed rigid Coast Guard inspections and can carry up to 49 passengers. We welcome you to join us for an excellent opportunity to experience the ambiance of a vintage sailing vessel while delighting in the splendors of The Manhattan sky-line, the Statue of Liberty or the beauty of the oceans beyond.

Admission to KSCVC includes all of the exhibits, attractions, the IMAX theatre tickets and a very comprehensive bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.  It is easy to spend a full day at KSCVC, particularly if you would like to add on 'Lunch With an Astronaut*' or one of the special interest guided tours. Hotels are plentiful in nearby Titusville or the Cocoa Beach area, just south of Cape Canaveral. *Additional fee, to be paid direct at KSCVC. Orlando Balloon Rides Orlando Balloon Rides is the Premier Balloon Company in Central Florida and is the largest passenger ride operator on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. The well established companies of Blue Water Balloons and Orange Blossom Balloons have merged to form Orlando Balloon Rides. They fly thousands of people a year in balloons specifically designed and engineered for passenger comfort. Their balloons are all 2007 models or newer and have all the latest safety features with you in mind. Orlando Balloons are most proud of their 100%, unblemished safety record. Their reputation has been built over many years and Orlando Balloon Rides is held with great regard not only by the ballooning community but also in the travel and tourist industry. The company holds contracts with more than 80 national and international tour and travel operators as well as many local guest service organizations. These contracts cover many American and Canadian operators, every British Tour Company, the top 7 Japanese Tour Companies and many other European operators. They are the only company in the South East US contracted to fly guests from AAA motor club.

This BBQ trip from Albufeira is a full-day experience. The BBQ boat tour, on the pirate boat Leãozinho (little Lion), will most likely be the highlight of your holidays in the Algarve. It’s one of the most popular boat tours in the Algarve as it’s a lot of fun for families and groups of friends. Sail with us to the most beautiful and hidden spots of the coast of the Algarve and observe the magnificent rock formations and the paradisiacal white sandy beaches. “Leaozinho”, our most beloved boat, complies with the latest safety and rescue equipment according to the EU regulations. At the beginning of the cruise, our crew will share important safety information. On board, you’ll find your comfortable seating place in the mid-deck or the shade of the deck. In the “Pirate Bar” we can serve you a variety of drinks. At 10 o’clock in the morning this BBQ trip from Albufeira starts in the new Marina of Albufeira. The pirate boat will head from Albufeira to the Atlantic, passing by Praia do Castelo and Praia da Galé. We’ll then pass the Fisherman’s village of Armação de Pêra, the Rockchapel Senhora da Rocha and reach the beaches of Marina and Benagil. The beaches of Marina and Benagil are worldwide known for their impressive rock formations. These rockformations can be enjoyed perfectly from the perspective of the boat. Then, we’ll anchor next to an isolated beach. Here you’ll have some free time for a refreshing swim and enjoy the beach. Our friendly crew will serve you a typical Portuguese BBQ on the beach. When we’re finished, we’ll return to the Marina of Albufeira.

Over 200 works by iconic Dutch artist M.C. Escher Most of his most iconic and recognizable masterpieces, including Hand with Reflecting Sphere, Relativity, Belvedere, Eye, Metamorphisis, Day and Night, and Waterfall. Scientific experiments, play areas, and educational resources will help visitors of allages to understand the impossible perspectives, disquieting images, and seemingly irreconcilable universes which Escher combined to create a unique artistic dimension. Among these special installations will be massive photo booths constructed to emulate Escher's hypnotic environments. Visitors will be able to photograph themselves "inside" the worlds of M.C. EScher. The "Relativity Room" turns normal size and scale on it's head. The "Infinity Room" shows visitors their reflection repeated, semingly into infinity.