Tag Archives: california

Lunge Feeding Humpbacks

This seems to be a really good year for sea life. Having had a really successful trip out watching whales from Monterey Bay, the whales have decided to come closer. There have been sightings of humpbacks inside San Francisco Bay this year. More recently, my friend Roger has seen them feeding on the coast just south of the city. I joined him for a while. We could see a number of the humpbacks lunge feeding just off the beach. They were a little far from us but we still had a good view.

The whales start below the surface and surge upwards with their mouths open grabbing a mouth full of water and fish. They then spot out the water and eat the remnants. We found that the seagulls were the guide to where the whales would be next. They would mill around, awaiting the next feeding, hoping to get a spare fish in the process. As they spotted the whale coming to the surface, they would all converge and this would be the guide to where the whale would be next. Sometimes, the whale was just coming up for breath so you never knew which it would be. When there is only one whale, it tends to alternate although not always. With more than one, it is a guess.

A few days later, I was out with Nancy and we decided to see if there was any activity. The previous spot was not showing any sign of whales inshore. A couple of spouts further out but nothing feeding in the shallows. Instead we tried Pacifica where they sometimes come in near the pier. Again, nothing. We were just starting to drive off when I saw what appeared to be a spout inshore. I parked up and wandered over to see if there was anything. Nancy stayed in the car but knew something was up when she saw me turn and run back to the car. A whale was in the surf feeding.

We moved along the beach watching the whale burst to the surface and grab mouthfuls of water and fish. A lot of people quickly gathered to watch the feeding. The birds were still the clue but now we were down on the level of the waves so sometimes things got obscured by the water. Even so, we were right there to see what was going on. Soon the whale appeared to be full and moved offshore. It was still swimming around near the pier when we headed off. I don’t know whether this was a regular feature or we got lucky but it was very cool to watch.

An Exotic Collection of Cars

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The dinner at Eagle Field was held in the large hangar. Not only does this accommodate planes but it also seems to be the home to a lot of cars. Jaguars of a variety of vintages were kept there in various states of repair. Out the back were even more cars. These were not usually looking too healthy but there were some things I have not seen before. Whether it was an old Renault or and Armstrong Siddeley, they were there gathering valley dust and withering slowly under the harsh sunlight that this area has a lot of!

Eagle Field Fly-In

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My trip in the Harpoon was to get to the fly-in at Eagle Field. This is an event that I previously didn’t know anything about so I went with few preconceptions. As it turned out, this year was not the most well attended that they have had. A selection of aircraft showed up for the event but not as many as hoped for. A few T-6s were there along with a C-54, some Navions, an Interstate Kadet and us. Some less exotic types were also there such as Pipers and Cessnas. There was also quite a gathering of military vehicles. These are not something that I know a lot about. During the day some reenactors also carried out some firefight demonstrations.

The following morning, the visitors headed back out. We were one of the last to go so got to watch the other aircraft start up, taxi out and take off. Most put in at least one pass before they headed home.

Eagle Falls

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The great thing about snow covered mountains (well, one them) is that all of that snow has to go somewhere when the temperature warms up. The melt waters result in powerful river flows and, since we are talking about mountainous areas, there are chances for big waterfalls. On the southwest side of Lake Tahoe is Emerald Bay and above the bay are Eagle Falls. These are some pretty substantial falls when the water is running off and we got them at a great time of year.

The top of the falls is up near the highway. They crash down the hillside and run in to the lake near Vikingsholme. Since we hiked down to the lakeside at this place, we were able to see the falls both from below and from above. They are spread out over a reasonably wide front and make for a dramatic view. Whether you are close in (and you can get ride to the edge of the falls at the top), looking at them from a distance or staring up from the bottom, they look impressive. I don’t know how long they run for at strength but I imagine they diminish quite soon. We did well to be there at the right time.

Incomplete JetStar

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Regular readers will know I am partial to the Lockheed JetStar. I have previously posted about shooting one at Hayward when it was taking off and another that was at the airport as a source of spare parts. This spare aircraft has moved from the location I previously saw it and is now out on the ramp near the taxiway. While out working with the HueyVets guys, I ended up by the airframe waiting to shoot the Huey.

Up to this point, the airframe looked in good shape. However, recently, one of the engines was removed so I guess it will progressively become more obvious that this jet is not going to be flying again. For the time being, though, you can choose an angle to make the missing items no longer apparent. Then the jet still looks like a great airframe. I hope it lasts a bit longer and that its sacrifices are enough to keep the other jet airworthy.

Last Skiing of the Season

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For the serious skier, nothing should get in the way of your sport – not even a lack of snow. We were in Squaw Valley at the end of the skiing season. The weather was lovely and warm with loads of sun. Shorts and t-shirts were the order of the day for many. However, in the final days of the skiing season, there was still snow on the higher parts of the mountains. We took a trip to High peak on the aerial tram and the last two days of skiing were being exploited by the faithful.

People rode to the top and then walked across the rock to get to the edge of the snow. The snow certainly wasn’t looking too great and the gentler slopes required more effort to get moving. However, you could then get across to other lifts and get higher up on the slopes. There were a lot of people making use of the few runs and lifts still open. I guess they will have to wait until the snows return so the last moments must be worth it. Watching them tromping through the town in their ski gear when others were strolling in warm weather clothes was pretty funny to see.

A340 Season

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It may be that the A340 is in its twilight years but it is still a type that is in operation with a number of airlines. Having watched a few different types disappear from service recently, I am paying more attention to those planes that might not be around for too much longer. I figure the A340 is one of those types. SFO gets a number of them on a normal day from a variety of operators. Virgin Atlantic brings in an A340-600 most days. Meanwhile, the original version shows up with a couple of airlines. Swiss and SAS bring in the A340-300 as part of their services. Philippine Airlines has been known to bring them in too but they are currently using 777-300ERs on this route and the 340s are elsewhere.

I made the effort to get the visitors both arriving and departing. Arrival shots are not great at this time of year as the heat haze starts to become a problem. However, you can still get something reasonable if you get a little lucky. You can go further out on the approach to minimize haze but you lose the context a little.

Moving around to the departure end of the 28s means you can get the planes as they come over your head when taking off. Sadly, all of them went from 28L rather than 28R which means they are slightly backlit when they come by. However, this doesn’t hurt things too much. The shots of them retreating into the distance were not possible on this day though due to the cloud rolling in off the hills which they disappeared into pretty quickly. I guess they will be around for a little longer but it won’t be too long before the A340 is consigned to secondary operators and lower utilization.

When It All Goes Wrong on (or off) the Bull

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The first few of the bull riders at Rowell Ranch Rodeo seemed to do pretty well and make it for the full duration. It turns out that this was an aberration and the remainder of the riders seemed to have a lot of problems. Some still went the distance but a lot of them were thrown off. Getting thrown from a bull is a risky proposition.

Let’s put aside the problem with falling at speed from an animal. Instead, contemplate being on the ground and a little disoriented when you need to get out of the way of a seriously pissed off bull that weighs a lot! This is where the other people come in to play. Their role is to distract the attention of the bull away from the rider while someone helps him get to his feet. It is something that looks perilous and, I imagine, it is.

Vikingsholme

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A trail runs from the highway above Emerald Bay down to the water’s edge of Lake Tahoe. It is not a long hike but it is a steady grade. At the bottom, you come across a house called Vikingsholme. It is a curious mixture of styles. Situated a short distance from the shore, this must have been a great place to live when it was a private residence. Now you can tour the house if you are interested. I was more interested in the outside than the inside. The grass covered roof sections and the ornamentation of the roof lines and the woodwork were very cool.

Riding the Bulls

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My visit to the Rowell Ranch Rodeo was the night of the bull riding. I had never seen this in person before and was curious to see how things went. It was an evening show and the clouds had rolled in so it was pretty dark, even early in the evening. They had floodlights but they were not doing too much for me so I was really testing the high ISO capabilities of the camera for the first time. I was often shooting at 51,200. I have to say that, while the shots are not super clean, they are not too bad at all.

The most dramatic moments seemed to be shortly after they came out of the chute. The bulls leap into the air and the rider hangs on like crazy. It seemed that, if they made it through the initial period, they often went the full time. If they were unsettled initially, they were struggling from then on. More to come of that…