Beards Creek, Pamlico County, N.C., January 2016 by Chuck Sprague.

No matter how much you like to go fast on the water, sunsets are worth slowing down for. The combination of the sun melting into the horizon while lighting up the sky and waterway below never gets old. It’s simply magic.

For our latest Speed On The Water Facebook Friends page photo challenge, we asked the members of the group to send us their best sunset images. We received so many images posted in that thread that we had to separate them into two galleries. Though three came from professional photographers, the rest were supplied by amateurs from around the country, as well as a few abroad. The response was so strong we had to separate this gallery into two slideshows.

Contributing photographers: John Caparell, Brett Wagner, Doug Adcock, Elijah Kingery, Krissy Black Smith, Nick Nuhn, Jeff Ziemer, RZ Zee, TJ Bailey, Chuck Sprague, Kevin Templeman, Alan Kranczoch, John Sherwood, Jeff Dorhauer, Al Lake, Jeff Ziemer, Tiffany Morris Brooks, Mike Yowaiski, Randy Ott, Eric Anderson, Josh Wolstein, Keith Dee, Jeremy Rigs, Tim Johnston, Steve Kimball, Ryan Herrington, AJ Bogino, Katie Rose, Chris LaMorte, Ryan Beckley, Brad Putman, Niegel Phelps, Kyle Ripley, Ted Ginnity, Tristan Collins Garvin, Brian Buckmeister, Rick Schildknecht, Nikki Cushman, Peter Kleban, Jimmy Fourtwenty, Micheal Stancombe, Keith Dee, Sarah Jenkins, Cherilyn Teague Noack, David Gamble, Helmich Hillen, Jeremy Collins, Rob Markovich, Kadi Deckard, Wayne Colb, Chad Collier, Mike Morgan, Morgan Sjogren, Kyle Ramsey, Pete Boden, Karl Steger, John JB, Lindsay Annmarie, Chuck Sorenson, Frank Claudio, Ron Shelton, Anthony Grisham, Brian Hatch, Randy Sivett, Bob Mathers, Justin Jenkins, Todd Jurik, Stephen Morris, PJ Taylor, Chester Lester, Bob Barnhart, Glenn Labor, Thomas Anselmi, Russell Joseph, Kevin Bitikofer, Michele Carmack St. Peters, Greg Vamplew, John Mosetti, Selena Schubert, Stephen Miles, Chris Pyne, Tim Maloney, Crystal Crittle, Conn Saloumidis, Angela Hunter, Michael Battley, Kim Southerland-Keene, Tyren Edwards and Todd Taylor.

Locations: Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.; Illinois River, Ill.; Galveston Bay, Texas; Sandusky Bay, Ohio; Lake Wylie, S.C.; Beards Creek, Pamlico County, N.C.; Pahokee, Fla., Charlotte Harbor, Fla; Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees, Okla.; Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada; Put-In-Bay, Ohio; Clearwater Beach, Fla.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Chesapeake Bay, Md.; Kemah, Texas; Lake Ontario, Canada; Niagara Rive, N.Y.; Lake Powell, Utah; Sault St. Marie, Mich.; Lake Ontario, N.Y.; Highlands, N.J.; Sarasota Bay, Fla.; Orleans, Mass.; Muscatine, Iowa; Lake St. Clair, Mich.; Thomas Point, Md.; Land O’ Lakes, Fla.; Lake Tenkiller, Okla.; Miami; Lake James, Ind.; Parker, Ariz.; Lake Havasu, Ariz.; Lake Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Lago Maggoire, Italy; Stockton Lake, Mo.; Lake Cumberland, Ky.; Port Fourchon, La.; Key West, Fla.; South Bay, Long Island, N.Y.; Punta Gorda, Fla.; Lake Lanier, Ga.; Gloucester City, N.J.; Lake Charlevoix, Mich.; Lake Michigan, Mich.; Magothy River, Md.; 1,000 Islands, Canada; U.S. Virgin Islands; Lake George, N.Y.; Grand Island, N.Y.; Fort Erie, Lake Erie, Ontario, Canada; Penobscot Bay, Maine; Bowen, Queensland, Australia; Upper Niagara River, N.Y.; Lake Anna, Va.; Broome, Western Australia; and Allegheny River, Pa.

Here’s what we didn’t tell our contributors: The top three amateur images—and our art director hasn’t selected them yet—will end up in our Speed On The Water 2016 Year In Review print edition. We don’t envy our art director. Choosing the top three sunset shots won’t be easy.

We’ve been blessed and lucky to catch the sunset over waterways in places from Arizona to Qatar. Like you, we have our favorites. But there really is no “best.” There is only the sun melting into the water at the end of the day and, regardless of where you catch it, the view doesn’t get any better than that.

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