The location I choose to go to for watching Seafair is very close to where the Coast Guard keeps their MH-65 Dolphin.  They participate in the display, but I guess they can also be used if any emergencies occur.  They park the helicopter on an area that juts out into the lake.  It is normally a sparking lot but is closed off for their use during the show.  There is fencing around the area to keep us out of the way.  During the show I was slightly further north but had a good view of them as they crewed up and departed and then returned after their display.

One everything was over, I moved close to the location because I knew that they would be heading off for the overnight before returning for the following day’s display.  This was a good opportunity to get a closer view of them as they crewed in, started up and took off.  The fencing was a bit of a nuisance, but the uneven ground meant it was possible to find some gaps where the fence elements were not tight together.

It was nice that, unlike during the display itself, when they departed away from us towards the south end of Lake Washington, this time they turned around and head north along the lake shoreline.  This gave us a great view of the helicopter as it climbed away.