6 Oct 2017 – Blue Angels

Since today was a sea day, I could bore you with a stitch by stitch discussion of a newly started cross-stitch fractal. Or on how Jill decided that the design that looked perfectly lovely on 28 count fabric looked really sucky and clumsy when stitched on 14 count. Me? I like 14 count, but will be deviating into 22 count (these, by the way are threads per inch) for a project that I have planned in order to keep it to a size doable in my life time.

Blue Angels, right.

We were significantly late leaving San Francisco yesterday due to practice activities of Fleet Week. This apparently includes an aerial show presented by the Blue Angels (the fighter exhibition flying team for those not steeped in US Navy military lore). Well, today was practice , the day.  The Bay, apparently was closed to large vessel traffic. Or at least large cruise ships. We saw several container ships move out and through. I had heard nothing about small craft warnings so you really have to wonder.

Right after boarding we were treated to about an hour of flyovers featuring 2-4 jets in various close formations circling around, barrel rolling, climbing, diving and coming way to close to each other for my comfort. But then I most assuredly remember Flugtag 88.  The three of us detoured to lunch, found our cabins and wandered around a bit.

There was a muster drill, naturally. One of the longest and most exquisitely detailed in my opinion. Glad that it was only English and German or we would have been there a lot longer than 35 minutes.  Following that, I headed back up to the Observation Deck and grabbed a lounge chair. It was almost 1600, our scheduled departure. No movement, nothing, but a lot of noise overhead. The jets were back, six of them this time. I am sure there is a reason why the planes were numbered 1,3,4,5,7,7  I am sure there is a reason never mind that it would make more sense to have consecutive numbers? And yes they went by low enough to be able to read the tails. Even double checked the images I took with the camera.

Obviously, this crew was the source of the haze spoiling what would otherwise have been a clear day. They popped over Mt Talapis often enough that I think the air quality in Salsallito must have really sucked.

The Grand Princess was at Pier 27. She sailed out first, then we pulled out, much closer to 1800 than just 90 minutes late. But there were supplies that were loaded, all the late arriving buses from SFO managed to make it through the traffic and I had luggage by the time I got back to my cabin. I would not have wanted to be any civilian aircraft coming into OAK or SFO today. There were too many military aircraft moving at high speed, climbing, diving and otherwise taking up significant airspace over the Bay.

Oh, and one wonders exactly what modifications were made to the biplane……