KEY LARGO, Fla. – Fifty years after it was designated the first underwater park in the U.S., John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park looks much as it did when it was founded: Tropical fish swim through the coral reef and kayakers can still get lost in the maze of mangrove swamps.

And that’s no small feat, considering five decades of development have changed the face of Florida, and the decline of coral reefs around the globe due to ocean warming and other factors.

Concerns about conserving the reef here began in the late 1950s, when researchers and preservationists realized increases in tourism and the coral souvenir trade, the coral reefs were in danger of being destroyed.

The park, named for a Miami Herald editor who helped spearhead its creation, was established by the state legislature in 1960.

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Fortress of San Felipe de Barajas

During the seventeenth century, the Spanish paid for prominent European military engineers to build the fortresses which are today Cartagenas most significant identifying features. Engineering works took well over 208 years and ended with some eleven kilometers of walls surrounding the city, including the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas shown below.

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with contributions from Kim Wise, Jeff Farinosi, Tracy Cundiff, Jason Noto, Laura Skolozynski

Every year, thousands of travel agents anxiously await our Apple Vacations Catalogs. We print a catalogue for Mexico, The Caribbean, Hawaii and Europe each fall. Our new editions are Hot off the presses! So we asked the amazing design staff that puts them together, just what the process is to get these beautiful catalogs done each year.

Every year, our Elk Grove Office design team works with the entire office to create these Apple Vacations.

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The new Legoland theme park soon to open in Florida can expect to see a significant number of UK visitors through its gates, according to predictions from one travel site owner.

Oliver Brendon, owner of DoSomethingDifferent.com, said he expected that between 5 and 10 per cent of visitors to Florida from the UK would buy tickets to the new Lego-themed attraction. With 1.3 million Brits flying to Florida on their holidays each year, the new park looks set to be a hit with UK guests when it open in mid-October.

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It feels like Los Angeles has more independently owned doughnut stores than most American cities (remember, they don’t have Dunkin’ Donuts), and then there’s the cool factor of the leftover architecture from the defunct Big Donut Drive-In chain. Any discussion of L.A.’s best doughnuts (and even some of the nation’s best) inevitably brings up many of the same characters, among others: Stan’s, Bob’s, Fritelli’s, Donut Man, Tang’s and … Randy’s Donuts.

Randy’s is the best-known of the four remaining shops of Russ Wendell’s original Big Donut Drive-In shops, topped with the old-school, 32.5-foot doughnuts (not to be confused with the smaller versions atop Angel Food Donuts).

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