Blue Angels over Pensacola Beach

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks with family visiting, the Fourth of July celebration, and the Blue Angels Air Show on Pensacola Beach. It has been great to see crowds back at the beach, helping local business owners make it a profitable year, and trolley stops being put to good use as people save a little gas by taking advantage of free rides.

I've taken time to catch my breath, had a little quiet time while I cleaned the house and worked in the yard, plus check out and download  photos and video I've taken recently.

There are tons of great photos on the web and on Facebook of the Blue Angels performing over the beach, so I'm just going to share a few video clips I took of Team RV, Fat Albert, and the Blue Angels performance so you can get a taste of the excitement last weekend. Our thanks to Mike and Chrissy Cook who invited us to attend their Blue Angels party and family reunion! Chrissy is a wonderful hostess!


Fat Albert



Here comes Fat Albert again!


Blue Angels


How cool is this!!


Team RV in their brightly colored planes.

Blue Angels Air Show

At last, the date for the Blue Angels' performance on Pensacola Beach this summer has been finalized. It will be July 11th!

For some reason tentative dates kept shifting between July 11 and July 18, but you may now mark your calendars!

For folks visiting during that second weekend of July, this means the Blue Angels will be also be practicing over the beach Thursday morning, July 9th. A dress rehearsal with other participants will be held on July 10. In the past that list has included favorites such as the AeroShell Aerobatic Team, Gary Ward in his MX2, Julian MacQueen in his vintage Grumman Widgeon G-44, Vortex Aerobatic, and the Geico Skytypers (I'd really like to see them again!).

"For want of grass..."

"For want of grass, the sand is lost; for want of sand, the dune is lost


"for want of the dune , the island is lost."

-- Sign on West Ship Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Please, use walkovers when possible. Don't walk over dunes and be careful not to damage sea oats.

Heading home

It was a beautiful day on the beach. After a bike ride, I decided to drive down toward Park East, hike east a couple of miles, and get a few shots.

It was a beautiful day, as you can see. Not many folks were down this way until after 10:30 a.m., then they started trickling in, trying to find a solitary spot to call their own for a while. It's not a difficult thing to do on Pensacola Beach. The real challenge is to avoid nesting birds, who will dive bomb you when you get close to their territory. This is when it's very helpful to be wearing a hat!

As I turned to go back home -- for a tall glass of water and a nice cool shower -- I stopped for a few minutes and just enjoyed the experience of being able to stand in the middle of the road like a fool. Guess you never get past some childhood pleasures.

Disoriented!

I am so appreciative that our 'Traveling Turtle Girl' (marine biologist, Kirsten Dahlen) shared these photos with me. You can see first-hand one of the magnificent creatures we try so hard to protect.


This beautiful loggerhead turtle was disoriented when Dr. LiMarie Rodriguez discovered her wandering in the Opal Beach area a couple of days ago. Thankfully, she and Kirsten found volunteers to help hoist the tired turtle back to gulf waters. You may read more about the adventure in Kirsten's blog.


Happily, this loggerhead lives to see another day, another nest. Seeing her return to the sea we understand the impact we can have on them/their environment. This is why we try so hard to raise awareness, reduce lights on the beach, pick up our trash, fill in holes dug in the sand, reduce recreational equipment on the beach overnight, eliminate plastic bags/Styrofoam/balloons on the beach.

Blue Angels practice

I had a great time at the Blue Angels practice this afternoon. Thanks to my friend, Lila Cox, who encouraged me to come down and watch from Casino Beach for the first time, I got some very nice shots. You may click on any of the photos to enlarge them and see more detail.


Fat Albert comes in over the Coast Guard boat.


Fat Albert is extremely impressive as he flies low over the crowd. Difficult to believe something this big cruises at 360 mph (320 knots).


Looking up at Fat Albert's 'belly', I can see where they got the name. He's massive.


Look how close the Boeing F/A-18 Hornets fly to each other during maneuvers. Check out the Blue Angels website to learn more about these jets and the officers of the team.


Four Blue Angels look like they've been lined up with a straight edge.


You can almost see the pilots in their cockpits as they pass over in diamond formation.


Whoa, look at the burners!


Two Blue Angels come over the crowd from the north.


Tip to tail.


Girls love diamonds and we especially appreciate it when they're offered by the Blue Angels.


Think this nice man would scoot over and let me share his shade? By the way, he is a very smart man. The first thing he did after sitting down was to cover his feet with sunscreen.


Awesome! I barely have time to capture them with my camera!


Blowin' smoke!


A Blue Angel streaks over the Hilton to rejoin the team. Those staying at the Hilton had some of the best seats on the island to watch the Blue Angels perform.


The beautiful fleur-de-lis formation.


A dramatic way to close the practice today.