Blue Angels Cruise
/We made reservations for a Dolphin Cruise before we left home…but were notified that there were not enough people for the cruise so we were rescheduled for the same time the following day which happened to be the time the Blue Angles practiced!
It was a coolish April morning – sunny. We were boarding at Quietwater Beach (in the Pensacola Beach community). I took pictures of birds before the boat arrived: A immature ring-billed gull (past its second winter),
Laughing gulls (the last two on the pier as we were walking down it to get to the boat that had arrived!),
A Royal tern,
And a sandpiper (maybe a sanderling).
The boat headed out going under the Pensacola Beach Bridge. The older bridge minus its central section (lower than the new one) was retained as a fishing pier. I looked for bird nests in the structures but didn’t see any.
The boat headed toward the Fort Pickens (on the barrier island) and the Navel Air Station (on the mainland)…past seaside developments.
The Coast Guard Station and lighthouse (mainland) and Fort Pickens (barrier island) were recognizable landmarks from the water when the boat reached the viewing area.
Soon the Blue Angles C-130 known as ‘Fat Albert’ appeared to begin the show.
I noticed that the lighthouse had people on the viewing deck! They would have a unique view of the Blue Angels!
The F/A-18 Super Hornets of the Blue Angels appeared. There were 5 planes in all but most of the patterns were done with 3 or 4 planes.
Evidently the lighthouse is the landmark for many of the stunts. It must have been loud and a bit scary for the people on the viewing deck of the lighthouse.
The brown pelicans flew low over the water while the Blue Angles practiced above.
And then it was over and everything was quite again.
We made the return trip under the bridge. The only dolphins we saw were the ones painted on the sides of storage tanks.
As we crossed under the bridge, I took two pictures….I was surprised to see the damaged support beam at the end of the old bridge!
Overall – it was an excellent morning to be on the water. The passengers were a wide range of ages. One little girl fell asleep on the top deck and her mother simply moved into position to shade her while she slept! A family with an elder in a wheelchair and a baby probably about 6 months old enjoyed the trip but the elder, grandfather, and child also snoozed for part of the trip. A group of women from Tennessee were talkative and took pictures of each other and the views from the boat; they were keen on restaurants. Everyone enjoyed the Blue Angels practice!
