It was to be a very warm day, with temperatures well into the 30s (90s).
We had to figure out how to load seven people and all their junk into the boat.
All the boats are on these cool automatic lifts so that they don't sit in the water and get all barnacle-y. Or whatever.
The water was nice and calm up here.
The cool lift things are all solar powered too.
Ducks!!! There was a serious duck party going on over there.
The boat turns out to be a bit of a gas guzzler, so Greg had to fill it up and watch the fuel guage most of the day.
And they're off!!!
And taking photos of absolutely everything!
GIRL! (Well, there were a few girls on the boat today).
Fatou!
Greg!
Aliya (extremely cool name!)
Greg takes looking cool very seriously.
It turns out that traveling the 15 or so miles (25km) down to I-90 takes a little while, especially when you don't want to go TOO fast on account of all the people.
Some beautiful views of where our betters live.
Everybody and their dog was out on th ewater today.
Roaring along towards the floating bridges
First floating bridge: The 520. You have to go under one of the highrises at each end to get underneath it.
TRAFFIC JAM! Did I mention that everybody and their dog was out today?
Hahah. All the suckers stuck on the bridge (they close the 90 bridge for the Blue Angels so traffic gets even worse)
Pretty much everybody had the same idea as us.
You know your boat is big when you're carrying another boat.
These ducks looked a little nonplussed that we were screwing up their agua.
Holy crap! Look at all da boats.
On account of all the boats, the water actually started to get REALLY choppy and rough. The wind had actually been dying all the way there too.
Down by the 90 bridge, we tried to find some calm water, and there were all sorts of army and navy and coast guard boats yelling at people who came too close to the bridges.
Everybody's waaaaiiitiinnng ....
You can see the masses on the sidewalks on the I-90 bridge too.
Waaaaaaiiitttinnnngggg....
FRRRROOOAARRRR. The Blue Angels' supply plane.
This is Kevin and his girlfriend, Jen.
Greg and Fatou. What a cute couple.
FRRRROOAAARR! The big boys.
They were flying about 500' (150m) or so above the water. Loud as hell, and extremely cool.
Very cool.
You literally had no more than about 25m (100') on any side of you without a boat. Worrying about running into other boats was a constant problem, actually.
Landing gear down.
One of the many party boats out today.
FFFRROOOOAARRRR!
They use cool smoke trails and all that jazz, which makes a bit of a mess of the air.
Upside down flying time. Show offs.
More party boating.
I call this "giant floatie town". It's like "Waterworld", only way less sucky.
Uuuuuuuuuuupppp!
And Uuuuuupppp!
PRAISE JESUS!!!!! Either this turned into some weird Jesus-freak fest ....
... or everybody was looking up to see the planes.
Doooooooooooowwwwnnnn!!!
Ooooh. Purdy flower!
You can actually see the air condensing around this guy's wings as he turns hard. Cool.
Fatou was having a blast taking photos.
Greg was busy looking cool.
Here they come!!!
Great name for a boat.
Last pass!!
FWOOOOAAARRRR! And they're outta here.
Fatou didn't really want to get in the water, but we cajoled her into at least dipping in a little bit.
The verdict from this boat: "Mr. Dolphin liked the Blue Angels" (really).
Did we mention that Greg takes looking cool very seriously? It's hard work being this hip.
You can see how unbelievably choppy the water was. We decided to head south to see where the hydroboat (= a GIANT TURBINE with a steering wheel) races and other boats.
The traffic down here was brutal. But extremely festive, so nobody cared.
It was about here that things degenerated into open warfare. Or seafare. Or seawarfare. Or whatever it's called.
These guys were just trying to keep it all safe and fun.
Some other planes actually came out to performa, and it was pretty sweet. We were all getting a bit tired (4+ hours in the sun is actually quite draining) and ready to start heading back.
Cool car boat.
This is us getting PWN3D by pirates ... I mean people with waay the hell more ammunition than we have.
CUTE BABY DUCKS!!!! ALRIGHT!
They're so cute.
Getting the gear together for the ride.