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Follow the Lock Staff Instructions

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The smaller of the locks at Ballard has mooring points that float with the water level so the boats can tie up and wait for the process to be over.  In the big lock, the boats have to let out or take in their lines as the level changes because they are tied to the lock side itself.  When the boats were down, the lock crew shouted out clear instructions to everyone to keep their lines tight until instructed to do otherwise.  As the boats had come in, we had watched with some amusement a guy who didn’t seem to know how to handle his boat.  Judging by the text on the boat, it was a share scheme of some sort.

I wandered away as they started to move out of the lock but Nancy and Mum stayed to watch.  Judging by the shouting that followed, one of the boats had let off his lines early.  When the gates open, there is a flow out of the lock which starts to take loose boats with it.  One of them started to rotate and take the other boats with it.  I missed the whole thing but I was able to guess who was the one that hadn’t followed instructions.  Hmm…

Hellcat Surprise Pattern Work

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I had gone to Paine Field for an Antonov arrival that has its own post here.  We got a nice bonus while there.  A Hellcat was up for a Check flight of some sort which I didn’t even know about until it flew a pattern overhead.  I had figured it was just another light aircraft making a midfield departure.  The overhead was nice to see but a bit distant.

However, whatever the check flight was for was obviously done quite quickly as they called for an approach.  As they came down final, another light aircraft was ahead of them and was not going to vacate in time so they were told to go around.  Two approaches!  Thank you.  The first had been straight in but the second was a nice curving approach with a good top side view.  That will do nicely.

 

Floatplanes from the Space Needle

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While the Space Needle is a great place to view the city of Seattle, it is also good for seeing floatplanes.  Lake Union is a base for many floatplane operations and the routes take the planes close to the Needle.  On the day we were there, the wind was quite strong from the south so the planes were water taxiing to the other end of the lake before taking off.  We had quite a procession with a stream takeoff from a couple of them.

Once airborne, the commenced a turn towards Elliott Bay which took them just north of us and pretty close.  I wasn’t well set up to get shots but I managed to get a few.  I tried my best to shoot through the gaps between the glass panels but sometimes I shot through the glass which was surprisingly good.  You get the feeling of being air to air, even while standing on something solid.

Tourist Boat in the Lock

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While watching a bunch of leisure craft heading through the locks at Ballard, a tour boat was coming from the opposite direction and was fed into the smaller lock.  I headed across to watch it come into the lock.  It was a pretty snug fit.  All of the people onboard were out on the deck watching the lock process.  I was watching them watching us.  They were below me when the boat entered the lock but, once the water level was up, they were looking down at us on the lock side.

Dreamlifter at the Other End

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When planes are arriving at Paine Field from the north, I am usually up near Future of Flight.  However, I was down at the south end when a Dreamlifter came in.  They used the full length of the runway and turned on to the taxiway when they reached the end. This meant I got a good chance to shoot the plane from a place I had not done before.  The weather was overcast which actually helped to show some of the textures associated with the modifications that the base 747-400 had received.

Space Needle Rehabilitation

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At some point last year I was driving downtown in Seattle and I realized that the Space Needle had changed.  A scaffolding arrangement had gone up around the saucer at the top of the needle and it seemed to be fully enclosed.  I figured that a rehab program was underway but I guess I don’t see enough of the local news to have found out how much they were updating.  With my mum coming to visit, I was hoping that they would have concluded the project before she came since a Space Needle visit was going to be on the cards.

Memorial Day must have been the target for getting things ready because, shortly before she arrived, things started getting opened up around the top.  Part of the scaffolding was still there but it was getting a lot more open.  I thought we would be in good shape.  It turns out we were but they are certainly not yet finished.  The wire fencing at the deck level has been replaced with glass screens.  These lean out so you can look straight down.  There are glass benches which means you can lean back on the glass – something that certainly seems to upset a few visitors.

Meanwhile, construction work continues.  The level inside the viewing deck is still undergoing a lot of work.  The restaurant downstairs is not yet open but I assume these will all get sorted out as summer progresses.  I was a little worried that the glass screens would impede photography.  The old wire fence provided clear access.  However, there are gaps between the panels that you can shoot through.  A big lens might not fit but my mirrorless did fine.  We shall have more visitors so I will get to see how the whole thing looks when it is finished I suspect.

Finally, an Antonov Antonov

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There have been quite a few appearances of Antonov AN124s on this blog.  They all have something in common.  They were operated by Volga Dnepr.  There is another operator that I have not had much success seeing.  That is Antonov Design Bureau.  They never seem to be operating near to me.  That was why I was so pleased when one was scheduled in to Everett.  I was taking a week off work anyway so no reason not to go.

The weather wasn’t great but how many chances would I get for an ADB AN124?  A genuine Antonov Antonov.  Time to go.  They were arriving from the north and it was morning so the only option was Future of Flight which wouldn’t normally be good for a morning flight.  However, with a grotty overcast, sun on the wrong side wasn’t going to be such a problem.

There was a bit of a breeze from our side of the runway so the early approach looked like they were coming straight for us.  They floated down the approach and touchdown of all of those wheels resulted in plenty of smoke.  Then they taxied back to the Boeing ramp (after some confusion with air traffic) and shut down.

Tranquility By the Shore

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The walk along the beach in Deception Pass State Park starts out in amongst a lot of people.  The West Beach near the parking lot had a lot of people enjoying themselves while we were there.  However, they didn’t want to go too far it seemed as, when we started walking along the shoreline towards the North Beach, we rapidly found ourselves a lot more isolated.  There was the occasional person passing the other way but we were, for the most part, on our own.  Standing on the shore and looking out across the water on a sunny afternoon was really relaxing.