Overlooking The Airport

Rusty is a dog who knows his own mind and he knows tis part of the Little Hamaca City Park does not interest him. Boo hiss, because I like to wander around here at the very end of the road.

Rusty wasn't with me on this lunch break so I decided to wander where he doesn't like to go. Good job I did too as I haven't been here in a while and probably won't again for a long while.

This area of Little Hamaca was transformed into an industrial landscape by the placement of Hawk Missile Batteries during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After that fiasco blew over the missiles left and the battery sites were abandoned to revert very slowly to nature. Below we see the Salt Pond condos at the eastern end of Key West:

One of the things they left behind were these tall piles of rock and gravel which were designed to limit damage in the event the Russians or Cubans landed their own missile here to blow up the Hawk missiles. These berms would have limited the blast and thus the effectiveness of an attack.

In the flatlands of the Keys these protective walls give an ardent photographer  a leg up on the surrounding scenery. It's not often you can climb a dozen feet in the air in the Keys and look around at the flatlands.  Above you can see the remains of Bravo Hawk Missile Battery.

The berms give a view across the salt ponds between Little Hamaca and the airport. The waters are very very thin but kayaks and paddle boards can wander pretty much at will as long as they fon't get too close to the airport.

Time is passing and the shrubs out here are inexorably starting to cover the path that has formed on top of the berms. Seagrapes provide food for birds and the Australian pines  provide shade.

I was quite surprised how many planes were coming and going from the airport on the other side of the pond:

A lot of engines revving and taxiing going on.

The city used to have a paintball field here but that rather fun use of the open space ended and now there's nothing much here except odd piles of discarded dirt and some grass.

There's that nice view of the airport.

And in the far distance the surreal vision of a control tower wrecked in Hurricane Irma in 2017 and never rebuilt. There is a "temporary" control tower in a trailer on Government Road that appears to my jaundiced eye to be rather permanent.

And the planes they come and go. 

For me the fact that the paintball field has gone is good but I don't see this as the best possible use of the place. I wish Rusty would come out here and give me time to scramble up the berms and wander around aimlessly.

I ran out of time waiting for the damned plane to take off picturesquely through the trees so I barely caught it as it lifted up into the sky veering north toward Atlanta (maybe). 

I had a made scramble to get back to work on time. Much slower than an airplane.

Flying

I was thinking about how people leave Key West after I read a Facebook comment from someone ending their vacation and returning to Canada for the summer. I like to take Rusty to Little Hamaca in the middle of New Town, especially now the winter residents have left and the place is mostly empty as summer heats up. 

Little Hamaca is right next to the airport which as you can see is heavily fenced in along Government Road, the roadway that leads all the way to the back of the city park.  It is actually a peaceful spot wedged between the Riviera Canal and the airport fencing, however you do get to listen to the aircraft coming and going, and aeroplanes are not really peaceful if meditative silence is what you are looking for.

What I mean is, there is open space in the park, trees and shade and room to wander with your dog, and aside from the aero engines there's not much going on among the trees. Little Hamaca used to be renowned as a pick up place for closeted gay men and perhaps it still is for all I know but  Rusty and I walk there unmolested.  

And yet, through the impenetrable fence there is a surprising hive of activity. Planes are taking off and landing all the time. I see helicopters, commercial airliners and tons of private planes coming and going. I used to know an air traffic controller who worked there for a while and to him it was a sleepy little backwater and I suppose he knows what he is talking about but it looks busy to my untrained eye.

I think of all those people in the planes looking back as they leave, some looking forward to their next visit, others lamenting their departure and I suppose some who are glad to be escaping this claustrophobic little island...And as I watch the take offs and struggle to photograph the flying machines in some interesting and previously unimagined way I recognize I am glad to be the one staying behind.  

I cannot say I am a fan of flying in commercial airliners as I find the process dismal and out of my control, thinking of all the lines, the inspections, the lack of dignity in the process. Air travel is a means to an end for me and I would love to cross oceans as a passenger on freighters in my retirement instead of flying. My wife would beat me up if I suggested that but the dream lives on. 

So I feel rather sorry for those in the planes looking back wishing they were here or looking down wishing they were driving and of course I am glad to be the one left behind.

Then there are those planes I might like to fly in like the Dry Tortugas tour planes which fly low over the multicolored waters and give you a short half day to wander the ruins of Fort Jefferson out in the ocean. 

The float planes take off from the airport whence they return in a few hours, but at the fort they land on the water and taxi up to the beach to avoid their passengers getting wet feet. It's actually pretty cool.

 And there are the little privately owned bluebottles buzzing back and forth around the skies, what pilots call "general aviation":

 In between the relatively large machines:

 And I even saw an odd looking experimental type machine take off:

And then there is the plane that will never fly again. It was hijacked to the US during an internal Cuban flight. Instead of being returned to Cuba  a Miami federal judge awarded it as compensation to an exile Cuban family in the city and the plane sits behind the fence in Key West and seems to be slowly fading away. Weird.

And to wrap up this Thursday's look at Key West and the Keys here are a couple of gratuitous dog pictures.

 Rusty enjoying yesterday's sunny afternoon at Little Hamaca City Park.

A dog shadow flitting hither and yon.

Airplanes

I wasn't even thinking about airplane crashes or anything when I took this photos, idly watching my dog running through the mangroves and chasing his nose. The plane below reminded me of the blind horse at the Sheriff's  zoo at the jail, the one with the hood over its head. It was found starving when Dade county deputies raided a home and it was rescued and brought to Key West for a new life.

I am always surprised by how much activity there is at the airport with airliners coming and going and  lots of private planes.

Standing at the Hawk Missile farm at the end of Government Road you can see the planes lined up at the airport across the Salt Ponds: 

It was not a brilliant day for photography, leaden skies and not much definition.

And then the helicopter, that miracle of flight, like a bumblebee. It looked out of place hovering daintily before picking a precise spot to land.

Years ago I pondered briefly the idea of learning to fly. In the end it seemed impractical and somehow unnatural. I decided I preferred to sail.

I still like to look from time to time, and wonder where they came from and where they go so fast.

Things Go Wrong

I don't know what is going on but the newspaper has had stuff to report lately. Just yesterday a small plane with two adults and child on board had engine failure shortly after take off and according to the news the pilot tried to ditch in the ocean near Key West airport. He failed and somehow landed on a  tiny street near the airport almost blowing up the car rental fuel pumps. Amazingly enough the plane landed upright, stopped a few feet short of incineration and everyone walked away from this:

Two military flyers weren't so lucky earlier in the week when the fliers ejected as they tried to land at Boca Chica Naval Base on a training flight. They died at the hospital. It's hard to imagine what could have gone wrong with those sleek fast darts in the sky. I watch them circling while I travel on Highway One approaching Key West and I always feel glad to be firmly on the ground. Yet I never think of them actually failing and killing their young strapping occupants. Death in combat maybe, death in training...how is that possible? According to CNN the witness who took this picture of the recovery saw the plane explode. I can't imagine what that felt like.

Then there was the fire at Rockland Key, Mile Marker 9. It was  a home being rebuilt after Hurricane Irma damaged it. The fire was complete and spectacular  and the home was destroyed, helped aong by the strong winds we've been having all week.

We got lots of calls where I work for the Key West police but it was a Monroe County fire and they were on scene. It was apparently quite the blaze and there were lots of 911 calls. Then on my way into work yesterday I came across a vehicle crash, and not your average Spring Break madness either. I was the only caller according to my colleagues at Monroe County dispatch. I drove past a steaming white van nose first in the mangroves, the driver slumped over the wheel. After I called I walked over and the driver came out. She was all bundled up against the cold and told me she had fallen asleep. She was not wealthy looking as you might imagine. I figured she was another of those who work two or three jobs to survive in these absurd islands. I left when the deputy arrived. And I took no pictures. Great photographer I am!

And then in Miami yesterday a new footbridge designed to get university students safely across SW 8th Street (Calle Ocho) collapsed suddenly and crushed five cars and some pedestrians. They were saying up to a dozen people may have died. 

I have no idea what to make of it all. I am alive and well and feeling lucky. It's been cold enough all week I've driven the car to work.  That and all the bizarre distracted driving I'm seeing around Spring Break. This weekend I'm off to the mainland to get away from it all. Another whole weekend off! I can hardly believe it after all the overtime I've had to do. Lovely.

Airport

The day before Thanksgiving enjoying some greenery in the city of Key West.

 The airport as seem from across the Salt Ponds at the Hawk Missile site.

 I stood on the berm built in the Cuban Missile Crisis era to protect US Hawk Missile installations.

 

 A couple were out enjoying the sun and the (relatively) cool breeze.

 It is a mildly mysterious place worth exploring.

 Hawk Missile installations:

 Salt Pond condos at the eastern end of the island:

 A friend remarked this view does not look like Key West, the city:

 Joe Cool chasing chimeras in the bushes,. 

 He had a grand time, and these days he no longer feels compelled to kill iguanas. 

We take care of his dietary needs now. No more stray dog hunting for Rusty.