Coastal Greetings!

This next gallery is filled with images from the first day of the trip south, flying along the coast. It was a spectacular day for flying! And it was a wonderful day to be alive, doing what we were doing. Flying from the Anchorage area down to Petersburg is arguably one of the most incredible routes on the planet, especially flying low in a small plane.

You’ll notice that Rick and I are wearing inflatable life vests. Rick bought them the day before we left, because we would spend time flying over open water, sometimes with no possibility of gliding to land if there were an engine failure. The life vests increased the level of perceived safety, even if only a little. They would not help at all if we had to crash land in the mountains. On the coastal route we planned, we would spend most of the first two days flying over inhospitable terrain, with almost nowhere along the route to put the plane down and expect to survive. We both knew, understood and accepted the risks involved, and we both felt the reward was worth it. Here’s a link to the gallery:

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Alaska-Day-12/

This gallery has many more photos in it than usual, so be warned! The way I suggest viewing these photos is on a computer, not a handheld device. Click on the ‘Slideshow’ button on the upper right corner of the screen, circled in red in the image displayed above on the right.

Looking at the photos this way, you might even get the feeling you’re flying along with us. It will take 20 minutes to see all the photos this way. There are captions on some of the images; it might be easiest to go back and look at them after viewing all the photos.

I hope you enjoy this special Sunday, June 18th cruising.

Bill

PS on our way home – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLQox8e9688