Same but Different?

I like both images, but for my tastes I would go with #2. I like how the rocks stand out and the closer water is accentuated. There seems to be a little more detail in the clouds as well, but that is just my humble opinion. When I look at a photo, I start looking at the foreground and it carries me throughout the photo, if that makes sense.

Both nice and the HDR is very subtly done so it's hard to make a comparison as you could of taken it further.

I agree the second is the nicer of the two as I do like the water in it, slightly lighter.

Like you, I love my grad filters

My preference for no.2 as well David... if only because if you hadn't declared the 3 bracketed exposures, I wouldn't have guessed, which is always a good sign imho... also, it has slightly more punch in the foreground, which for me helps the story that you're telling with this particular location... don't tend to do much exposure bracketing (it's right at the edge of my photoshop ability), but when I have done it (eg when using a fisheye with no grads available), and it involves water, I've found it a bit hit and miss... difficult to tell from the photo size in this instance the effect it's had on the water, but that's always the thing that I have the closest look at...

Best

For me the no 2 is the winner,it looks more natural