Any time at McCarran is likely to include some Janets. The use of the 737s to transport staff to the various locations in Nevada at which spooky things happen is well established and you can see the schedule online if you want. They have moved on from 737-200s to 737-600s but the service is much the same. They may be 737s but the spooky nature of the operations makes them more interesting than the average airline.
The reef by our hotel was home to some green turtles. They seemed to have developed a good schedule. Morning was feeding time. They would go out on the reef and spend their time nibbling away at the plant life growing on the rocks and coral. By early afternoon they would have pulled themselves up onto the beach in an area the hotel had fenced off to keep people away. There they would sleep all afternoon and into the night. Come by during the afternoon and you could see them. In the evening, lights on the beach would be switched on and you could still make them out a little way above the waterline.
No pictures from me of them in action. I saw plenty of them while snorkeling on the reef and sometimes they would come and check me out. You are meant to avoid disturbing them but when they come after you, it is hardly your fault. However, I did kill my GoPro while out snorkeling so the photo opportunities were lost and will have to remain as memories. Shots of them on the beach were a lot easier though so that is what we have here.
Getting repetitive here. My never ending quest to capture and demonstrate the unusual gear articulation of the Boeing 777-300ER gets another outing. Similar animation of some stills as before. This time the light was good and the distortion was limited so here we go again. I won’t bother with the technique aspects this time. Instead, here is the animation with the rotation about the rear axle pretty easy to see.
The active volcanoes are cool to see but the landscape on the Big Island is dotted with plenty examples of where the earth has had a previous effort at disgorging its contents. The mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea look exactly like you would expect a volcano to look with a nice big flat conical structure. However, the eruptions have not all come from the top of the mountain. There have been regular eruptions from weak points along the surface of the mountains and these eruptions have left their mark in more ways than just the lava flows scarring the slopes below them.
When the lava breaks out, it hardens as it reaches the surface. The deposits around the opening grow and you create a mini version of the mountain. These are called cinder cones. They are scattered all around the landscape and each was the site of a previous eruption. The center is hollow where the lava flowed out and sometimes the weakest side may have collapsed to leave the cone a little more exposed. The color of the rock can be pretty dramatic too. They look so benign now but at their most active peak, these places would have been spewing forth huge quantities of red hot molten rock. They would not have been a good place to be.
Changing the colors of an airline is usually something that happens infrequently. It always gets a lot of comment when it happens but brand continuity is often a big deal. This is where Spirit is different. They flew for a long time in their gray scheme that had a digital block pattern going on. They changed to have something that was far brighter with a white fuselage and a blue fin with some color accents. When I saw a yellow jet at Oakland, I thought it must be some special livery. It turns out that it wasn’t and that this was their new “new” scheme. I’m not sure what the problem was with the previous one but obviously it didn’t last. I wonder whether they even had time to repaint the fleet?
Watching the surfers trying to catch the big waves was cool but, even when they didn’t make it, I wasn’t disappointed. The waves themselves were fantastic to watch. The color of the water as the waves built up as they came into the shallows and then became unstable and broke was fantastic. The spray from the breaking wave would fly back up the face of the wave and over the crest. Sometimes you would briefly see into the tube and the wave rolled towards us. Fantastic stuff and so powerful!
Our trip to Vancouver was not one for me to spend time photographing aviation. However, I did manage to sneak some shots in while I was there. Watching the floatplane operations was a lot of fun but it meant I didn’t get to go to the heliport further along the shoreline. This was fine by me but I did still see some of the Helijet S-76s as they departed and arrived since they came across the harbor albeit at a distance. I grabbed a few images for now. I guess I have multiple reasons for making a return trip to Vancouver before too long. I know Nancy won’t object to returning! Better not mention the helicopters just yet though.
Qantas comes into SFO most days. They bring a 747-400ER in and, while most of the, are on the standard colors, I happened to see one that has special colors. I assume it is related to some sporting association but I don’t know what team it is. However, they have Team Australia markings on the side along with some graphics of a boxing kangaroo. It arrived early so the light was harsh but it was cool to see. Interestingly, when it was further out on the approach, the sun was reflecting off the graphics so they were impossible to see.
With the big waves coming in at Santa Cruz, the surfers were working in a way we had not seen before. They were split into two groups, both of which were further away from us than normal. I assume that being closer in to the rocks with such waves was not good for your health! One group was further in to the bay and I assume that they were the less skilled/adventurous surfers. They seemed to be doing okay with the waves that were coming their way.
Another group was a lot further out. They seemed intent on picking up the biggest waves as they came in. Getting on to these big waves was not a straightforward exercise. Plenty of the surfers started paddling as the waves came in but they weren’t all able to get up to speed. The big waves with their long wavelength must require a different technique. Once up, some of the surfers were getting a long run as the waves didn’t always break right away. Other times the wave would break and they would head either towards us or away from us. When they went away, we often couldn’t see much of what was happening to them unless a board flipped up in the air. When they came our way, we had a far better view.
The trip to photograph Eric’s Clipper that I described here included a bonus (as if the flight wasn’t bonus enough). Eric had talked to another Clipper owner, Scott, and he had brought his plane across to Sonoma. Scott is not a formation pilot but Eric landed after the shoot with his plane and jumped in to Scott’s plane with Scott in the second seat. We orbited overhead until they joined up and then we got a bunch of additional shots.
Since it was a bit later in the day, the light had got a bit better. The colors of Scott’s plane were particularly receptive to the evening light and, while it was a totally stock aircraft and therefore not possible to get too vertical with (see the roof mods in Eric’s plane in the other post), we could still get some great shots. Thanks Dave and Eric (and Scott for bringing your plane).
