Vacation Special: Take the Plunge
If you hope to make it through the dog days sane, suntanned, and satisfied, you need to get to some wild water, and quickly. May we offer a few suggestions?

Chasing Abbey
Even as he stumbled over the foggy passes of the Himalayas, he felt close to the secret Arizona grave where he'd buried his friend. Far too close, it turned out.
By Doug Peacock

Cheeky Bit of Ocean There, What?
Monty Python meets Magellan, as two enterprising Englishmen pedal, skate, and bluff their way around the globe. Tally ho!
By Brad Wetzler

The Chilling Effect
Inside the burgeoning new underworld of Freon smuggling, where the ill-gotten gains have gotten big and the holes in the ozone have gotten bigger.
By David Sheff

Departments
Dispatches
A stone's throw from the hordes of lounging sunbathers, the military and the EPA wage war on Cape Cod. Eight deaths — and a bunch of close calls — mar another season on Everest. Tornado artist Ned Kahn brings nature's rococo to a museum near you. New York Governor George Pataki cuts a smoggy Faustian deal. Banking on an ancient boat and the whims of wind, an intrepid crew sets out to play Viking.
Plus: The beach-volleyball tour gets booted from the California shore, a plan to bring skiing to Florida's Everglades, sport climbing's wunderkind notches another first, Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth says ... what? and more.

Out There
Deep in the jungle on Colombia's Magdalena River, our man and his pal find just the booty they came for: a rust-streaked freighter that, to maritime salvager Alvaro Sierra, means a chance to make something beautiful out of his nation's drug-addled flotsam.
By Randy Wayne White

The Wild File
What's the world's largest living organism? What is the record for time aloft in a hang-glider? Do spiders ever get caught in their own webs?
By Elizabeth Royte

Bodywork
How to work in a workout when you're out of town: A trio of expert road warriors explains how to keep you in shape wherever you go. Eight ways to sweat without leaving your room, as taught by Houston Astros strength guru Gene Coleman. The secrets to finding rigorous exercise in any size pool, from Stanford men's swimming coach Skip Kenney. Triathlete Ray Browning's advice on getting your running, biking, and skating fixes on foreign terrain.
Plus: A strength regiman to keep your shoulders in balance; the case for that simplest of training aids, the medicine ball; and a particularly, well, attractive, method for mending your sore joints and muscles.

Review
Tools for riding the waves, in whatever way you choose: eight worthy surfboards, bodyboards, and kayaks that'll help you tame the swells. From watches and goggles to fins and wetsuits, wave riding's essential extras. Four grand for a mountain bike? It's not as absurd as you might think, considering Ibis's velvety, dual-suspension Bow-Ti.
Plus: The bright yet compact headlamp for serious backwoods duty; a diving knife with the added swagger of titanium; Kingbird Highway: The Story of a Natural Obsession That Got a Little out of Hand, by Kenn Kaufman; Legends of the American Desert: Sojourns in the Greater Southwest, by Alex Shoumatoff; and more.

Between the Lines

Letters

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