Blue Angels Air Show at Pensacola Beach

 Blue Angels Air Show over Pensacola Beach on July 12th.

Today was the practice run for the Blue Angels Air Show at Pensacola Beach.   As always, it was an incredible show. Simply breathtaking!


Yesterday at 8:00 am was the first practice run for some of the maneuvers over the beach. Today it was a full practice run for the Blues at 2:00 pm. Tomorrow, Friday the 13th, is a full dress-rehearsal at 2:00 pm.


The big Air Show is Saturday, starting with the pre-show at noon followed by the Blues, with the show ending around 2:00 pm. If you have any plans to attend the air show on Saturday, be sure to get there early in the morning. Otherwise you could be stuck on one of the bridges for hours in bumper to bumper traffic.


My husband and I never go to the Saturday show.  Too many people, too much traffic. Today, on the other hand, was just perfect. The parking lots were full. We had to park in the sand, which is okay when you have 4WD. Some people made the mistake of parking their cars in the sand and the vehicles were buried up to the axles. Pensacola Beach is huge, so in spite of the crowds there was plenty of room to spread out.

Fat Albert heading for the clouds.

Well, it couldn't have been a prettier day for a beach air show. Cerulean blue skies dotted with white puffy clouds. Off to the north dark clouds were building for a storm, but over the beach it was perfect.


The show opened with Fat Albert, a C-130 Hercules, flying just over the top of the pier. Awesome! After a couple passes, Fat Albert climbed almost straight up toward the clouds.


The Blue Angels, F/A-18 Hornets, came screaming in minutes later. They did more complicated aerobatic maneuvers than I've ever seen before. A full hour of jets going every direction, including straight up and straight down and then pulling out at the last second.

Blue Angels performing the cobra.

Unfortunately, my digital camera isn't the best when it comes to taking pics of the Blue Angels. The shutter speed isn't quite fast enough, but I still managed to get a few good pics. When two Angels did the cobra, they were going slow enough that my pic turned out great.


My husband took much better pictures with his digital movie camera. He plans to put some of the clips on YouTube. In the meantime, my pics will have to do.

The Blue Angels were awesome!

If you're within driving distance of Pensacola Beach, then you ought to head on down to see the air show on Friday or Saturday.  The traffic shouldn't be too bad for Friday's show, but be sure get there early in the morning for the Saturday show.


I've seen the Blue Angels fly over Pensacola Beach more times than I can remember. But I still head to the beach to see them perform every chance I get. I have to say, today's show was awesome.

A beautiful day for an air show.

The Gulf couldn't be more beautiful today. Gentle surf at the perfect temp. Lots of people, but plenty of room to spread out.


No swimming was allowed while the show was going on, but the minute it ended nearly everyone headed for the water.


Note: Yes, I did swim today. No, I don't wear a bikini, heaven forbid at my age (old, but not too old).  No, my husband and I are not in any of these pictures.