cazalea
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We Walked Up Where the Growler Went Down
I know that title might not make sense to some - the “Growler” is nickname for a Navy jet, and a few days ago one just crashed into the bay where we have spent many hours splashing, paddling and motor boating.
The pilots ejected safely, but the jet went into the water like a dart falling short of the dart board. The water’s only about 20 feet deep here so the nose might be 100 feet into the mud.
Videos on YouTube show the “arrival” which of course has upset the local community because it was SO CLOSE.
(I have a personal interest in this, as my father died in just such a crash, many years ago in Galveston Bay.)
We left the house quite early.
There was enough light to see a bird as we pulled up to park.
We walked over to the bay just as the sun was rising:
Dogs were being walked
Hummers waking up.
Here is the barge with crane for lifting parts from the bay.
Security with absolutely no-nonsense demeanor; say the locals.
I can’t make this stuff up - as I stand there with camera, a Pelican shows how landings should be done.
Wider views from farther back. Tide is the lowest I have ever seen here. The plane went down right next to the Sally Ride Marine Research Vessel we visited a year or two ago. I will look up the post and put a link here.
I’m standing next to the garage of a house, in in front of the house that owns this dock.
That house, owned by a friend of a friend (I guess all houses are owned by friends of friends).
This one, a couple hundred feet higher on the hill is reported to have 40,000 bottle wine cellar, so perhaps trumps the lower one on the bay.
Back to our walk now. When you stand and stare up into a tree like this you eventually lose balance and fall down OR spot something interesting.
I have to look around and down to get my balance back. But things seem a bit fuzzy and other-worldly at the moment.
Another spot of looking up results in a generous harvest of weathervanes.
Look at the shaft of this rooster vane. It’s not easy being on salt water’s edge.
A hummer flashes his collar at me.
A RARE catch in midflight and in focus! Yay
Now he settles down. I saw at least a dozen different Anna’s Hummingbirds today.
I LOVE this red collar, but they rarely stay still and look right at me. I’m sure the camera’s infra-red focusing mechanism bothers them.
The bees have no time to worry about showing off for photos. Look at the pollen on their leg baskets!
Keep finding more birds. Just look up at the top of bushes and trees.
Lavender and Oranges. Lovely.
No wrist photo because my GS Snowflake died on this walk. Sob.
We Walked Up Where the Growler Went Down
I know that title might not make sense to some - the “Growler” is nickname for a Navy jet, and a few days ago one just crashed into the bay where we have spent many hours splashing, paddling and motor boating. The pilots ejected safely, but the jet went i...
Utterly fascinating epilogue.
Seeing the high-speed footage (aka slow motion) of that airplane hitting the water is astounding. The bird pictures are a perennial treat my friend . Cheers, Filip
This is a nice walk!
Perfect lighting for the sun rise and the hummingbird pix at the start 👍🏻.
The hummingbird pictures were excellent today, especially the red collar one👌🏽
But I was turned off by the jet story precisely because my first thought was what if this happened where all the civilians are. I figure/hope there must be rules about naval practices designed to protect all the civilians, but this jet was scary. I’m just...
It was a rare event compounded by winds & fog
The jet was down from Whidbey Island in WA, maybe unfamiliar with the runways when mechanical problems occurred. Military jets use only the North Island airfield, and the patterns are shown here. Takeoffs are to the South West away from the city and landi...
Very nice
I thought we were in Nantucket for the first whale weather vane. Excellent choice of time piece as well