Category Archives: Bay Area

Mare Island Museum

Leave a Reply

C59F7901.jpgThe Society of Aviation History organized a visit to Mare Island recently and I went along.  The tour started at the museum and walked to a number of locations before ending up back at the museum which we were then free to roam around.  I will start at the end today and cover a little about the museum itself.  That should set the scene for the follow up posts about elements of Mare Island that we took a look at.

C59F7860.jpgMare Island was a naval shipyard.  From its earliest days it grew into a major shipbuilding facility.  In its later days, it was involved in building many nuclear submarines.  Ultimately, as part of the reduction in bases undertaken in various phases around the US and beyond, Mare Island was closed as a naval facility and returned to the local community.  Much ship related work is still undertaken but the location is a faction of what it once was.

C59F7843.jpgThe museum has a lot of displays of what went on at various stages in the history of the yard.  Outside there are some missiles and cannons on display covering old wooden frigates through to a Polaris missile from a nuclear ballistic missile boat.  The submarine theme shows up in many of the displays and a periscope has been recovered from a submarine and erected in the museum.  You can operate it and survey the surrounding area.  The clarity of the optics is quite amazing.

C59F7850.jpgThe running of the museum is not cheap – not least because the local town of Vallejo charges them a substantial tax each month.  Therefore, getting people to visit is an important issue for them.  If you have a free day, I would certainly pay them a visit and see a little of the shipbuilding history of the area.

Egrets in Hayward

Leave a Reply

AU0E9952.jpgThe marsh areas along the shore of San Francisco Bay in Hayward are a popular spot for birds. Egrets are certainly a common bird in this area so seeing some of them while walking along the trails in the area was no surprise. I was interested to see how close you could get without disturbing them. The area is popular with people so they probably are relatively used to having people around. Even so, I did not want to cause them any disturbance. As it was, they seemed far more focused on whatever they were going to eat next than they were of me.

AU0E9999.jpg

Zero G 727

Leave a Reply

AU0E1334.jpgIf the weather is really crap, my first thought is not to go photographing aircraft. I have experimented with going out on bad days to see if you can get an unusual view of something but when the forecast is for heavy and constant rain, that isn’t too appealing. So, what do you do when you get a notification that the Zero G Boeing 727 is coming in to Oakland. (Zero G operates flights that provide multiple short exposures to weightlessness as the plane flies a parabolic arc.) A type that is not too common any more, an unusual operator, your local large airport and it is on a Sunday morning so you aren’t at work. Everything is saying go.

AU0E1294.jpgOakland is not a great place to shoot when operations are in the normal direction. You are also on the wrong side of the runway for good light. However, the storm meant that the approaches were coming down from the north and they pass by some locations that give good views of the runway. All of these things were suggesting I need to take a chance. I headed off equipped with wet weather gear. I chose to get there a little early to get some practice in.

Oakland is a pretty busy airport during the week but the weekend schedules are a lot lighter. I figured I wanted to shot a couple of approaches before my plane came in to view to get things set up right. The light was crap so I had to ramp up the ISO. Also, while the sky is dark, a lot of exposure compensation helped to get detail on the fuselage itself. Having found a combination I was happy with, a heavy belt of rain came in and the visibility rapidly diminished. By now the 727 was not far out so I figured I might just have blown it.

AU0E1374.jpgFortunately, the rain came in fast but eased off just as quickly and soon I could just make out the outline of San Francisco in the murk which told me I should be able to get my picture. They checked in with the tower for landing clearance so I knew it was time to get out and get wet. Initially, everything looked really grey as the plane came in to view. Fortunately, as it ran down the approach, it was in the clear all of the way and I was able to get off a burst of shots. Once it was down, the weather was not going to get better and there were not many movements scheduled anyway so I decided I was happy with the catch and preferred to warm and dry indoors.

Huey at Hayward

Leave a Reply

AU0E0932.jpgGiven the number of times that I have been specifically trying to catch something out in the wild, it is a little funny when I get completely lucky and come across something cool without ever trying. I was out walking along the shore in Hayward through the parkland that includes the marshes out there. The weather was not particularly nice but I was checking out the area as a place to walk on another occasion. While I was walking along, I heard the unmistakable sound of a Huey in the distance. I scanned the horizon for a sign of the helicopter and picked it up low and coming towards me. Could I be so lucky as to get it coming right by me?

No, as it got closer, it turned away. I was a bit disappointed but not too surprised. It dropped out of sight and I figured it had landed at Hayward airport. I went on with my walk and didn’t think much more about it. Before too long, it popped up again and a similar situation occurred. As I headed back to the car, the same thing happened again.   I was a bit closer at this point and got some shots but it was still some way off and the sky was a bit grey so still nothing worthwhile.

AU0E0888.jpgAs I got to the car, some rain started to fall so I figured I was heading home. As I drove away, the rain stopped again and I figured I was going to be coming right by the airport so I might look and see if I could see the Huey or not. When I got to the fence, the sound returned and right behind me was the ubiquitous shape on its downwind leg. It turned in to the field and ended up hovering a short distance from me. Not only that, but the sun came out! A dark background with sun on the foreground is always a great combination. They were flying a bunch off circuits so I stayed around for a while to catch a couple of them before the light went away and my desire for lunch started to take over.

The aircraft is a restored airframe run by a volunteer group to commemorate the emergency medical service provided in Vietnam. They are called EMU Inc. and are based around here. I hope to spend more time finding out about what they do so watch out for more in the future.

AU0E0953.jpg

New Apple Campus

Leave a Reply

C59F8742.jpgThe bottom of the peninsula runs in to the San Jose area and it is full of the tech businesses that are dominating the news these days.  The departure from Oakland if you are heading south takes you out to the coast and then back over this part of the world.  If you are sitting on the left side of the plane, you get a good view of the area.  One of the most high profile companies is Apple and they are in the process of building a huge new campus.  This is like a giant spaceship shaped as a circle that has landed in Sunnyvale.  Given how big it is, it isn’t hard to spot from the air.  We might have been high but it was still conspicuous.  Here is the view I got.

Ano Nuevo Island

Leave a Reply

C59F2728.jpgI have shot Ano Nuevo Island a few times on previous visits. It is out of bounds to visitors and very popular with the wildlife. In the past, it has been a bit gray or misty and not so easy to get a good shot of. On this visit, the conditions were very nice and I got some of the better shots I have managed there. It certainly looks like a place that it would be pretty cool to explore.

C59F2729.jpg

The Blimp is in Town

Leave a Reply

DSCN0147.jpgThe Super Bowl was taking place in Santa Clara and I guess Goodyear had some sort of sponsorship activities underway. Consequently, one of their blimps came to the Bay Area. It was based out at Livermore. I didn’t get a chance to see it on the ground although Nancy drove past it a few times. However, it did fly over us on a few occasions so I stepped outside to get some pictures. These were taken with Nancy’s new camera. It is a Nikon P900 and it seems to do a pretty impressive job. It has a very long zoom range and good stabilization. So far I am impressed.

DSCN0150.jpg

Sunol Wilderness Park

Leave a Reply

AU0E8879.jpgHead south along I-680 from us for a short distance and you came to an area that includes Sunol Wilderness Park. A large expanse of land with many trails across it, this is a fun place to go hiking, particularly early in the year. The recent rains meant the hills were quite green and the temperatures have not got too high yet. The sun is always strong but the conditions were great for a hike.

AU0E8890.jpgThe area is distinctly lacking in flatness. Every trail we took seemed to be a climb or a descent but that was part of the fun. Our initial route took us up a lot. We seemed to always be going up – sometimes rather steeply. Even as we were getting in the homeward stretch, we still seemed to be going up. I guess with hindsight, a hill called Flag Hill was always likely to be one of the highest points!

AU0E8847.jpgThe downside to all of this is that the last section is a steep descent. I actually prefer climbing to descending. The knees have to work a lot harder on the way down and it seems harder to have a steady footing than when hauling yourself upwards but, with the end in sight and our food back at the car, we were motivated to get finished. A lot of the time we were away from any other walkers so it was a very relaxing place to be. No doubt we will be back there again before it gets too warm.

Elephant Seals

Leave a Reply

C59F3055.jpgFor the last two years I have been to Ano Nuevo for the sunrise photo tour amongst the elephant seals. This year I decided I didn’t need to get there before the sun came up. However, Nancy was interested in seeing them and she wanted to try getting some shots with her new Nikon P900. Therefore, we decided to take one of the other tours that occurs during the mating season, albeit during more sociable hours. We still went for the morning event and it turned out to be a good plan.

C59F2724.jpgUnlike the sunrise tour, the groups are much larger and you are not driven out. Consequently, you have to carry everything you want with you. It makes picking your gear a slightly more careful decision process. The sun was out and it was a very pleasant morning. There were a few locations that the docents took us to and, while the males had picked some good locations right on the paths, we were still able to get to see a lot of the seals.

C59F2828.jpgThe weather had been wet which meant there was a lot of water inland and this appeals to the males who come to find a puddle to rest in and, occasionally, practice fighting. This is clearly not serious combat as the whole thing is a bit halfhearted. When you see the real fights, you are left in no doubt they mean it. We did get to see a lot of the colony and enjoy the nice weather. All in all, a pretty good second option.